Part of the rhetoric of Iran is that the human rights record of Iran is fine, but that western countries under the influence of American and Zionist circles are using this as an issue to denounce the Islamic republic and the sovereignty of the Iranian people. It's extremely important to demonstrate that this is not the case, that it is a wider global concern. The Iranian government has gone to great lengths, even with respect to small South Pacific states, such as the Solomon Islands, basically to give them small aid packages in order to make sure they don't vote against Iran in the General Assembly.
So the fact, for example, that Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani human rights expert, denounces the persecution of the Bahá'ís is far more damaging, in a sense, than western leaders doing so, because they are expected to make these remarks.