TEHRAN - Jomin Shal, first deputy of the Chinese Supreme Court, during a meeting with Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Shahroudi, explained the Chinese judicial system to the latter.

He said the National Parliament of China is the supreme legislative branch, which is equivalent to the Iranian Majlis and which selects the supreme court's judges and general prosecutor.

The Chinese official stressed the fact that the Chinese Supreme Court is an independent institution and judges are not under the control of any political party, group or person.

He added that all hearings are open to the public in China except secret files, cases where the party involved is under eighteen years of age, and personal affairs of people.

In other developments, Jomin Shal met with Minister of Justice Hojjatoleslam Shoushtari as well.

The minster recalled his visit to China in 1994 during which they visited Beijing's prisons and various departments of the country's judicial branch.

Shoushtari remarked: "Unfortunately, today the United States is using human rights and the fight against terrorism as political tools." He thanked China for its support of Iran during meetings of huma

Shoushtari pointed to the need for Iran and China to have more contacts to expand their cooperation in the legal and judiciary fields.

The minister also explained the Iranian judicial system to the Chinese official.

Jomin Shal, while praising the good level of cooperation in the economic and cultural fields by the two countries, said that in judicial level their cooperation is not satisfactory.

Jomin Shal added that his objective in visiting Iran is to get better acquainted with Iran's valuable experiences in the judicial field and then to transfer them to China.

He said that the human rights issue is a "hot" one in the field of international relations and that the United States also intervenes in China's internal affairs by using the human rights pretext.