TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Wilmer Leon, an American political scientist and commentator from Washington, DC, said there are obvious contradictions between the words and actions of the US government on human rights.
"The United States holds itself out as being the bastion of human rights, the arbiter of human rights, the shining city on the hill as President (Ronald) Reagan tried to characterize it," said Wilmer in a Saturday interview with NBC News at the venue of "New Horizon Conference" underway in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

"And there are incredible contradictions between what America is supposed to stand for and the practices and atrocities that America continues to engage in,� he added.

He also hailed the opportunity to appear at the third edition of the international conference.

Twenty American activists, writers and commentators flew to Iran this week to participate in the two-week conference on US police brutality and racism.

The deaths of unarmed African-Americans by the US police officers have sparked widespread outrage, with the shootings of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Florida and 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, among those inspiring protests under the "Black Lives Matter" moniker.

By Tasnim News Agency