U.S. uses "defending human rights" as tool to cover its own violations: Tunisian experts

TUNIS, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The slogan of "defending human rights" raised by the United States is nothing but an umbrella to cover its serious human rights violations inside the country and the rest of the world, Tunisian political experts have told Xinhua.

On the one hand, the United States is always ready to launch accusations against other countries, showing no respect for their basic human rights, Zouhair Maghzaoui, general secretary of the People's Movement of Tunisia, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"But on the other hand, the United States does not hesitate in many cases to commit the most heinous crimes in the field of human rights or to remain silent if the matter is concerning practices involving its allies," Maghzaoui added.

For his part, Hicham El-Hajji, a political activist, said he believes that declarations of support for human rights issued by the United States around the world "are failing to persuade even children."

Khaled Obeid, a political academic, said the U.S. human rights violations are "both an old and constantly renewed issue that the U.S. administration deals with through a logic of double standards."

The experts agreed that the human rights situation in the United States, which has notorious records, has frequently exposed U.S. officials to repeated vitriolic criticism in the corridors of the United Nations.

The U.S. government does not hesitate to use the issue of human rights to put pressure on other countries, in accordance with a policy of double standards, said the experts.