TEHRAN- The forcible repatriation of asylum seekers, including a few Iranians, from the United Kingdom to Rwanda has been described as a historical shame for London, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Saeed Khatibzadeh on Tuesday underlined that the move is a shame not just for the British government, but also for all those who have worked hard to hide Britain's imperialist background and portray a clean face of London.

“Forced deportation of the asylum seekers to a third country and the deadly silence of the self-proclaimed flag-bearers of human rights and the concerned international organizations is not only a shame for them all, but also obvious breaching of the asylum seekers’ human rights,” he remarked.

The ongoing process, according to the Foreign Ministry official, is the other side of London's deceit, which attempts to show an unrealistic, contrived face of Iran's reality through a systematic media campaign.

He asserted that London-based Persian language opposition media portray and construct a misleading picture of Iran, as well as a spectacular false image of living circumstances in Europe, paving the way for the risky and deadly exodus of certain Iranian individuals from their homeland.

Although those few people act unjustly against themselves and, as a result, against their own country, Khatibzadeh stated that the government of Iran, in the context of its sovereign responsibilities, emphasizes that those people have rights that must be respected under Convention 1951 and its related protocol and that deporting them to a third country is a dangerous method that eliminates the remainder of the international regime to protect asylum seekers.

He reminded the international community that, despite Iran's economic difficulties, the country generously hosts millions of asylum seekers from various countries, including Afghanistan, but the self-proclaimed flag-bearers of human rights cannot tolerate the presence of a few thousand of them who have been duped and tolerated the hardships of homelessness.

Earlier on Saturday, Khatibzadeh condemned the British government's stated strategy as a retreat from the country's international duties.

He added that transferring persons outside of British territory is against the spirit and text of the Refugee Convention.

This British plan to shift responsibility for refugees to a third country exposes refugees to infringement of rights guaranteed by refugee treaties and human rights accords, and utterly disregards human and moral concerns.