Tehran/Beijing: Iran on Wednesday rejected a US religious freedom report critical of Tehran as "hypocritical", coming from a countrwidespread.
Washington released its annual religious freedom report on Tuesday, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson criticising Bahrain, China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Turkey.
Tillerson charged that Iran had used "vague apostasy laws" to execute 20 members of religious minorities over the past year. "Iran considers it an unrealistic, baseless, unfounded and biased report which has only been made with the intention of certain political gains," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi hit back on the ministry's website. He said Washington should focus on improving its own record of discrimination, particularly regarding its Muslim population.
Meanwhile, China also denied violations of religious freedom after the United States accused Beijing of persecuting Christians, Muslims, Falun Gong members and Tibetan Buddhists in an annual report.
"All Chinese people of all ethnic groups and all regions are fully entitled to religious belief. The so-called report ignores facts," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing.
"We see that the United States is not a perfect country either. We urge the US to... manage its own affairs," Hua added.