Iran yesterday accused Canada of violating the rights of its indigenous people, after Ottawa proposed a UN resolution condemning human rights violations in the Islamic Republic. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi also chided Western countries for talking about human rights at the same time as they were selling weapons to conflict zones.

"Their biggest revenue, sometimes, comes from the export of arms," Mr Qashqavi told a news conference, in comments translated by Iran's English-language Press TV television station.

"War is the most blatant violation of human rights and talk about other human rights violations is more of a joke," he said.

Western nations claimed a success last month when a UN General Assembly resolution on human rights in Iran passed through a key committee more easily than in the past.

The resolution goes to the full assembly this month, but diplomats said the key vote was in the committee. The non-binding resolution, put forward by Canada and sponsored mainly by Western countries, expresses "deep concern at serious human rights violations" in Iran.

It urges Iran to end alleged torture and cruel punishment of detainees, executions of juveniles, stoning to death, violent repression of women demonstrators, discrimination against ethnic minorities and members of the Baha'i faith, and restrictions on freedom of religion and belief.

Iran's UN mission said the resolution "contains a number of falsified and unsubstantiated elements that contradict the realities of (the) human rights situation in Iran."

Iran regularly rejects such accusations and points to what it says are US rights violations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. "These human rights resolutions are purely political, everyone knows that," Mr Qashqavi said.

"And Canada itself, based on very specific reports by international organisations, is one of the largest violators of human rights against the indigenous people and Muslims and other communities," he said, without giving further detail.