By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor in Geneva

UNITED NATIONS GENEVA 4 Apr. (IPS) "The Persians, who were given the world’s first code of laws in about 3600 BC and many centuries later the famous king Sirius proclaimed what is perhaps the world’s first declarations of human rights, deserve better than they have today", thus said Dr. Maurice Capithorne, the United Nations Representative for Human Rights situation in the Islamic Republic.

Confirming this view expressed in his report during a press conference at the European HQ of the world body in Geneva on Thursday Mr. Copithorne said that compared to previews years, the situation of human rights have deteriorated in Iran, where imprisonment of dissidents, long solitary confinements in unknown prisons, psychological and physical tortures and suppression of freedoms are on the rise.

He also denied that he had asked to retire, saying indirectly that the rumours comes from the Islamic Republic itself, hoping to make away with special representative.

But a resolution to be debated here in Geneva, the European Community has reiterated that Mr. Copithorne should be reconfirmed in his position to monitor the situation in the Islamic Republic.

Talking about the changes the Iranian society is witnessing, Mr. Copithorne said though the development is irreversible, but at the same time there is, in his view, nothing the outside world could do.

"The world should continue to criticise the worsening situation of the human rights in the Islamic Republic, but it should not author, or tend to bring any change, for, not only it cannot, but it may as well be counterproductive", he explained.

But he said that in his view, threats like the one by President George W. Bush did recently by placing Iran in a basket of evil states would "force the dissidents and opponents to retreat and the people to tally around the flag"

In his view, the present government of Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami has not been able to keep up with wishes of the Iranian people, mostly the young ones, the students and the women.

"The clashes in Iran are between the elected, but powerless and un-elected bodies of the Iranian system in its totality, that’s why the evident will of the people is still being frustrated.

However, he immediately added, the Iranian society has become more dynamic, more vibrant, walking straight towards changes", he said.

"There are signs that he incorporation of human rights values into Iranian society is proceeding at an accelerating rate. However, the implementation of such rights by the government continues to lag behind evident public expectation", Mr. Copithorne, a Canadian lawyer, further indicated.

In response to journalists questions, he confirmed that imprisonments, abductions, floggings, stoning, tortures, both physical and psychological, long period of solitary confinement of dissidents, political prisoners, journalists, intellectuals, artists and scholars not only continue unabated, but are on the rise, with some of them, like the cases of stoning and floggings not reported by the press.

"I have to say that in Iran, those in control of the governmental process do not by large see the law, in its many shapes, as being a primarily a vehicle to protect the people from the state by constraining its power", he pointed out.

The debates on the situation of human rights, expected to last another week or two, were overshadowed Thursday by the Middle East conflict and the war between the Israelis and Palestinians. ENDS IRAN HR 4402