Don't Sacrifice Human Rights for Iran Diplomacy
Middle East Forum / Michael Rubin
07-Oct-2009 (3 comments)

Iranians who took to the streets this summer to protest electoral fraud failed to win a new election. But they nevertheless returned concerns about the Islamic republic's human rights record to the international stage.

On June 20, U.S. President Barack Obama declared: "The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."

Today, the debates sparked by the summer unrest remain fierce. Inside Iran, politicians call for an investigation into torture and murder at the Kahrizak detention center. Meanwhile, within the Iranian parliament, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's supporters call for new prosecutions of alleged "velvet revolution" plotters.

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Ostaad

Shifteh,

by Ostaad on

Please see my reply to didani's post on this IHRDC topic.

It's not that hard to separate the wheat from the chaff...


Shifteh Ansari

Ostaad

by Shifteh Ansari on

I have to agree with you.  Human rights in Iran, systematically and pervasivly violated over the past 30 years, has all of a sudden become a good hot topic.  To give pundits the benefit of the doubt, I would say that after the June uprising and the following bloodshed which was viewed online by the world, it is unconscienable for anyone NOT to mention the gross violations of human rights in Iran.  But I get a creepy feeling when, for example, foreign governments provide funding for human rights organizations which are researching and exposing atrocities in Iran.  For one thing it is passive, and for another it is a political faucet--it runs when the supporting country's priorities allow for it and it is turned off when they don't, completely disregarding the subject of the effort--human rights in Iran. 

Take for example the organization, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.  They are engaged in documenting human rights violations in Iran with funding from a few places including the US government.  They were just informed that they won't be receiving funding from US government.  Some people think this is a completely political move, driven by US government's new policies pertaining to Iran.

//www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/10/06/us_cutoff_of_funding_to_iran_human_rights_cause_signals_shift/

At any rate, I think we should all see the range of rhetoric and positions that are out there in order to make informed decisions.


Ostaad

I am amazed how...

by Ostaad on

"concerned" those, who would rather have Iran blown up " back to the stone age", pretend to be about IRI's human right records!

This means they have given up on THAT objective for now.  The MEF has never given a damn about Iran and human rights in Iran. Their main goal is preserving Israel hegemony and its Apartheid regime. No amount of synthetic "concern" for the plight of Iranians can hide their enmity against Iran, and there's not enough wool in the world to let Michael Rubin, a career Iran-hater, to pull over our eyes.