The Cuban government has rejected as "discredited" a resolution passed against it by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

The Commission voted by 22 votes to 21 to express regret at the Communist run state’s imprisonment last year of 75 political dissidents and journalists. It also called on Cuba to allow a human rights inspector to visit the island.

The resolution put forward by Honduras was strongly backed by the United States.

Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque dismissed the resolution and said that his government would not adhere to the Commission’s key request - that a human rights investigator be allowed to visit.

The BBC’s Stephen Gibbs in Havana, said relatives of Cuba’s recently jailed dissidents have welcomed the vote.

While there was anger in Havana, Ambassador Benjamin Zapata told BBC Caribbean Service, Honduras has no regrets about its resolution.

"We would like the Cuban government to cooperate with the Commission especially with the request made by the 2002 Commission to allow into Cuba the special representative of the secretary general that the commission recommended go to Cuba to discuss with the government different issues concerning human rights concerns," Mr Zapata said.

'US pressure'

In the weeks leading up to this vote, Cuba has repeatedly portrayed the Human Rights Commission as a body that is shamefully manipulated by the United States.

It says that the countries that voted against it, including seven in Latin America, failed to stand up for themselves in the face of enormous pressure from their all-powerful Northern neighbour.

Mr Zapata said Cuba’s position that the Honduran resolution was a due to US pressure was "unfounded criticism".

"I think if they don’t want to see any such type of resolutions they could take the steps themselves to assure that it doesn’t happen. One thing that is important to bear in mind is that if there is a country resolution in the public eye, a lot of things have happened before to get to that point."

"Whenever a question is posed to us on human rights, at first it is done in a confidential manner. You have lots of opportunities to explain the situation concerning any question on human rights. And once you get to the point of resolution it’s because there are serious concerns," Mr Zapata said.

Other factors

Referring to the closeness of the vote, the Honduran ambassador said it was not the first time this had happened.

"That’s been the case the last couple of years. The problem is you know there are a lot of agendas, there’s a lot members, it’s not a reflection of what’s been going on, the type of debate we have been holding in the Commission."

"It’s more a reflection of certain concerns of certain members and certain working procedures that we probably will have to look into in the near future to make sure that every item agenda is working properly because the most important thing is to maintain the credibility of the Commission on Human Rights," Mr Zapata said.

Havana has retaliated by filing a resolution saying that America was committing widespread human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay.

Cuba has also announced the release of an activist jailed in March last year for 20 years, to have hospital treatment.