Friday, November 29, 2013

Shirin Ebadi and Payam Akhavan, "In Iran, Human Rights Cannot Be Sacrificed for a Nuclear Deal": A Must Read

In a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "In Iran, human rights cannot be sacrificed for a nuclear deal" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-iran-human-rights-and-nuclear-security-go-hand-in-hand/2013/11/29/e131a7dc-578b-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html?hpid=z3), Shirin Ebadi and Payam Akhavan write:

"Even as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sat with his Western counterparts last weekend in Geneva, shaking hands and celebrating the interim six-month nuclear deal, the lifeless body of a young man hung from a crane in a bleak public square in Tehran, spreading fear among Iranians, who suffer the world’s highest per capita rate of executions.

. . . .

If anything, the alarming rate of executions seems to have increased in recent weeks. A handful of political prisoners have been released as a symbolic gesture, but many still languish in inhumane conditions. The torture of dissidents and the censorship of the media both continue as before. The persecution of religious minorities such as Bahais and Christians and of ethnic groups such as Ahwazi Arabs, Balochis and Kurds likewise continues unabated. The hard-line leadership is letting Iranians know that a strategic retreat in nuclear negotiations to end sanctions does not translate into reform at home."

How can this be?  We've been told by Obama and his friends in the media that Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, is a "reformer."

President Obama, who sat in silence during the Green Revolution, doesn't give a damn about what happens behind the walls of Evin Prison.

Sadly, Obama is now only concerned with his "legacy." Given that Obamacare is a disaster, a "deal" with Khamenei is all that is left.

2 comments:

  1. Apparently, for Israel, the situation is even more dire than it seems. Now that Iran is a done deal, it looks like Hezbollah is next in line to gain the backing of the current US administration.
    My guess is that the Hezbollah clause was part of the small print in the secret Geneva agreement.

    http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/The-road-to-Tehran-333444

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  2. Congress must not go through with this “peace" agreement until human rights considerations are written into to this deal. The Appalling situation of human rights in Iran must not be ignored. You just have to look at similar Cold War deals with the Soviets where we always extracted human rights considerations. Trying to do a nuclear treaty with Iran without human rights considerations is like negotiating a treaty with the Nazis and not talking about concentration camps.

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