GENEVA (AFP) - Western powers accused Tehran of waging bloody repression since elections last year as they challenged Iran to open up to international scrutiny during a UN human rights meeting on Monday. In a public review of Irans record at the UN Human Rights Council, Britain, Fra-nce, the United States and other Western nations expressed deep concern about reports of killings, arrests and torture in a clampdown on dissent. The authorities are waging bloody repression against their own people who are peacefully claiming their rights, French ambassador Jean Baptiste Mattei said. France recommends that Iran accept the creation of a credible and independent international inquiry mechanism to shed light on these violations, he told the Council. Senior Iranian official Mohammad Javad Larijani rejected a barrage of accusations and accused some Western nations of double standards following their support for repression under the Shah of Iran. Definitely there is problem of credibility, said Larijani, secretary general of Irans High Council for Human Rights. The United States and Britain called on Iran to open up to visits by the United Nations investigator on torture as well as other human rights experts. The UNs independent rapporteurs say they have been unable to gain access to the country for five years despite an open invitation the previous Iranian president, reformist Mohammad Khatami, made in 2003. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay also asked Tehran to allow experts from her office in before she is able to take up a new but tentative Iranian invitation to visit next year, her spokesman said on Monday. British ambassador Peter Gooderham said that despite Irans stated commitments to uphold fundamental freedoms, grave human rights violations continue to be committed. Western countries also urged a halt to executions of child offenders, disproportionate use of the death penalty against political opponents, violence against women, discrimination and a clampdown on free speech. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads disputed re-election last June plunged the Islamic republic into one of its worst ever political crises, with the opposition refusing to abandon the streets despite often deadly crackdowns on protests. Backed by Cuba, Syria and Venezuela, Larijani defended Tehrans legal safeguards and accused foreign nations of supporting terrorist groups on its borders. The situation of human rights has consistently been used as a political tool to apply pressure against us and to advance certain ulterior political motives by some specific Western countries, Larijani told the UN Council. Iranian officials also highlighted steps to improve womens access to education, health and social status, and to protect children as well as the representation of religious minorities, and bolster courts. The Iranian society is a successful model of brotherly and amicable coexistence, Larijani noted, claiming cultural or religious differences with some Western values.