By Heshmat Alevi
Discussions
over United States foreign policy vis-à-vis Iran are continuing as we speak.
The Trump administration and Congress have been busy slapping a variety of
sanctions, some unprecedented, on Iran for its conglomerate of belligerence.
Tehran’s
pursuit of ballistic missiles, controversial nuclear program, support for
proxies across the Middle East and fueling sectarian strife has gained
widespread attention across the international community. Gone somewhat
unnoticed, unfortunately, is Iran’s atrocious human rights violations record.
The
appeasement policy in practiced in the West for more than three decades now has
left the Iranian people without any support in the face of ongoing executions,
detentions, torture and other abuses at the hands of the ruling mullahs.
While
strong measures against Tehran are necessary and in fact long overdue, emphasis
should be placed on Tehran’s Chink in the Armor: human rights violations.
Recent
actions are raising concerns amongst human rights organizations and activists
across the board.
“Iran’s
judicial and security bodies have waged a vicious crackdown against human
rights defenders since Hassan Rouhani became president in 2013, demonizing and
imprisoning activists who dare to stand up for people’s rights,” Amnesty International reported. “…activists have
been sentenced to more than 10 years behind bars for simple acts such as being
in contact with the UN, EU or human rights organizations including Amnesty…”
Recent
reports also indicate a woman being executed on July 26th in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia, bringing the
number of women executed during the tenure of the so-called “moderate”
President Hassan Rouhani to 80. To twist the knife, the “reformist” Rouhani is
not appointing even one female minister for his cabinet.
Speaking
of executions, human rights activists have reported 102 executions in the month of July in Iran, while
120 death row inmates await imminent hanging. The first six months of 2017 in
Iran was marked with 239 executions, including seven women and three
individuals arrested while under age at the time of their alleged crime.
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