The US State Department has lambasted Iran’s human rights record, accusing Tehran of repressing the rights and freedoms of its people, while Washington itself is under harsh criticism over police brutality, torture and other human rights violations.

"Iran continued to severely restrict civil liberties, including the freedoms of assembly, speech, religion, and press, and to execute citizens at the second highest rate in the world," the US said in its annual human rights report on Thursday.

The report listed a catalog of abuses that allegedly took place in Iran, claiming that the Islamic Republic restricts citizens’ civil liberties and subjects them to inhumane or degrading treatment as well as politically motivated violence.

It also highlights the issue of capital punishment in Iran as an example of impingement on human rights.

The hypocritical report was released against the backdrop of the UN Human Rights review on the US back in May.

The UN body criticized the US for committing numerous kinds of human rights violations, ranging from police brutality against African Americans to racial discrimination and detention without trials of inmates at Guantanamo Bay facility.

Washington was also slated for continually using the death penalty and failing to protect the rights of Native Americans.

AT/AT