Humen rights in Iran, not just a domestic problem
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| more then 2500 execution since Rouhani took office in Iran |
Last week, together with 270 other colleagues in the European Parliament, I signed a statement condemning the ongoing, rampant human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We have called on EU and Western governments 'to condition any further relations with Iran to a clear progress on human rights and a halt to executions.
Iran is today the
world leader in number of executions per capita. It has also been declared by
the U.S. State Department as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
The rate of
hangings has increased in recent years with the arrival to power of the
so-called 'moderate' president, Hassan Rouhani . Nearly 1,000
people were put to death in 2015 alone, according to the UN Special Rapporteur
on Human Rights in Iran, Ahmad Shaheed, who declared it as the highest number
of executions in Iran in 27 years.
In the streets of
Tehran and other Iranian cities, morality police and the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps have intensified their efforts to root out and punish various forms
of deviance from the country's repressive religious laws, including the forced
veiling of women and the criminalization of labour unions and other forms of
peaceful gathering. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime's unwavering support for
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has made Iran part of the problem rather than a
solution to the Syrian war.
Iran's fingerprints
are also deepening in Iraq, where Iranian-backed Shiite militias have recently
been accused again by international rights organizations of systematic
torturing and killing of the Sunni population in the battle to take over
Fallujah. This will further alienate the Sunnis and drive them toward extremist
groups such as the Islamic State.
And as if to
illustrate the danger of being caught as a bystander in the middle of Tehran's
contest for dominance of the region, Iraq is also the site of a community of
exiled Iranian dissidents, who have been stranded since 2012 in the former U.S.
military base of Camp Liberty. Described by the UN as a 'detention center,' the
camp has been the target of attacks utilizing Iranian-made rockets, as well as
an ongoing blockade of medical supplies and other lifesaving provisions.
When the
defenseless camp residents who belong to the main Iranian opposition PMOI were
forcibly relocated to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf under a deal overseen by
the UN and United States, it was done with the promise that they would soon be
relocated to stable homes, presumably in Europe and North America. Four years
and dozens of deaths later, no nations other than Albania have made a
significant effort to relocate those people.
At the same time,
following the nuclear agreement that has provided the Islamic Republic with
extensive sanctions relief, several EU countries have both sent and received
political and trade delegations and have actively pursued investment in Iran
without any precondition.
As it has been
admitted by the U.S. president and other Western officials, and given the
dominance of the IRGC over the Iranian economy, there's little doubt that most
of the money, instead of being used for the well-being of Iranian people and
the development of the country, is funneled directly to support terrorist
groups in the region.
On July 9, together
with other many other parliamentarians and political figures from around the
world, I will attend a rally organized by the Iranian democratic opposition led
by Maryam
Rajavi . In doing so, we
will strive to reassure the Iranian people that not everyone in the West has
forgotten their righteous struggle for freedom and democracy.
Iran's human rights
record is of global significance and it is very much the responsibility of
Western nations to address that issue.
In fact, our
essential values as Europeans ought to be reason enough for us to demand that
Iran improve its domestic human rights as a price for any expansion in trade
relations. But as foreign investment gives Iran the opportunity to reach its
hand further across the region, it should be clear to us that the stakes are
much higher than we might have once imagined. And if we refuse to respond to
this situation, we will bear responsibility for the loss of innocent lives not
only in Iran but also in Syria, Iraq and other places in the region where
Iranian proxy fighters seek dominance.
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