Tehran, Oct 7 (IANS): Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has criticized Western countries for what he called their use of human rights as a "tool" to exert pressure on other countries.

"When human rights are turned into a plaything and a tool to apply political pressure on others, the media empire of the hegemonic system also helps to replace the accused with the plaintiff in the case of systematic human rights violations," Kanaani wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday.

The spokesman's comments followed Western media's reports about recent protests in Iran, which were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Iranian girl Mahsa Amini, who died while in the custody of Iran's morality police.

Following the recent protests in the country, the Canadian government has slapped sanctions on Iranian institutions and individuals for alleged "rights violations," Xinhua news agency reported.

Kanaani referred to the reports of the separation of thousands of indigenous children from their families in the past decades in Canada and the discovery of children's mass graves in Canada's residential schools, saying that the people of the world have not forgotten "the sad saga".

"Blurting out words about other countries and hiding behind accusations against others will not change the fact that behind the window of human rights in one of the American government's closest allies, child-killing and disregard for humanity is showing off," he added.