The resolution received 86 votes in favour, 32 against and 59 abstentions. It showed a decrease in support for Tehran compared with last year, when a similar resolution received 80 votes in favour, 44 against and 57 abstentions.

"The substance of (this) resolution is absolutely unfounded and a shameful fabrication of baseless allegations and totally preposterous," Mohammad Javad Larijani, a foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told the General Assembly's Third Committee.

"The document is an onslaught on the good conscience of the international community and an unforgivable insult to the whole institution of the UN," Larijani said.

The resolution, which was introduced by Canada, ‘expresses deep concern at serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran’.

Among the abuses listed in the resolution were torture, excessive use of the death penalty, discrimination against women, persecution of journalists and religious minorities, including members of the Baha'i faith, as well as the detention of key opposition leaders from the 2009 presidential election.

Reuters