GENEVA (Reuters) Oct 31, 2014 – Britain, Australia, Canada, France and the United States spoke out at a more than three hour-long debate in the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva to review Tehran’s records of rights’ violations as part of the U.N. council’s regular examination of every U.N. member state every four years.
 “There are continued reports of government harassment towards members of religious minorities. Journalists have been arrested, detained or prevented from doing their work, “U.S. ambassador Keith Harper said in a speech. 
He urged Iran to release Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter detained since July, “to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of expression”. Rezaian, a dual Iranian-American national, has been based in Tehran since 2008.
Britain’s deputy ambassador Mark Matthews voiced concern at a “sharp increase in executions in Iran over the past year”.
“We note with concern continued widespread discrimination against minority religious groups, particularly the Baha’is and Christians, and the reported harassment, interrogation and detention of journalists and human rights defenders,” he said.
Canada raised the case of Jabbari, regretting “Iran’s failure to apply standards of due process and rule of law”.