Speaking at the UN General Assembly during the past week, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad professed concern for justice, freedom and human rights. He claimed that Iran is “one big and unified family” with full legal rights for religious minorities.
How interesting that Mr Ahmadinejad should decide that it was time to try to sweet-talk world leaders with the most egregious lie about religious minorities, a time when the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran is being stepped up in a highly systematic fashion.
Of course, in the Iranian regime’s calculus Baha’is are not a religious minority but a deluded sect. In fact, legally speaking Baha’is in Iran are “unprotected infidels”, so it’s OK to attack them, set fire to their homes and businesses, bully their children, stop their young people going to university and publish scurrilous articles inciting the people of Iran to hate their Baha’i neighbours – the police won’t arrest you and the courts won’t condemn you for doing these things. This is called “impunity”.
An interesting article in today’s Christian Science Monitor highlights the link between Iran’s appalling human rights record and its nuclear ambitions.
One issue that should be put on the table was displayed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week in New York: Iran’s religious minorities.
Iran’s deplorable record on human rights is often treated as separate from the nuclear issue. It’s not. If Iran’s government can’t be trusted to treat its own citizens with basic dignity, how can it be trusted with nuclear technology?
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s theatrics involved including five religious minority parliamentarians in his entourage to the UN General Assembly, this week. This act shows how eager Tehran is to be accepted back into the community of nations. Thus, the human rights card could be considerable leverage for Western powers in coming weeks.
When he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23, Ahmadinejad professed concern for “justice, freedom, and human rights.” He apparently thought his five props would help him project a tolerant, peace-loving face. It was a stiff performance.
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Apart from the four heritage religious minorities (Jews, Armenian Christians, Assyrian-Chaldean Christians, and Zoroastrians) that are allotted parliamentary seats, there are other groups who have even fewer rights. Bahais, treated as heretics from Islam, have no constitutional protections. They can be robbed and murdered with impunity since Iranian law declares that their blood is mobah or can be spilt. Major Bahai shrines have been demolished and the people can assemble only in secrecy.
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If Ahmadinejad’s regime meets obligations to its fellow Iranians, then it is more likely to fulfill agreements with the international community. Transparency and well-being, rather than secrecy and aggression – as reflected yet again by the recently revealed nuclear facility – are necessary in Iran’s national and international affairs.
Ultimately, when free to express their beliefs and ideas, Iran’s people will be the best guarantors of their nation’s fidelity in world affairs.
In this article, Jamsheed K Chosky and Nina Shea neatly highlight the hypocrisy of Ahmadinejad’s public performance in New York. It also highlights the confusion amongst Western governments about how to deal with the challenges that Iran poses.
Iran’s human rights & the international community
Naturally everyone is concerned about the possibility that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons, but, as Chosky and Shea point out, this cannot be regarded as somehow separate from Iran’s appalling human rights record and its egregious treatment of religious and other minorities, including the Baha’is.
The 64th session of the UN General Assembly offers the world’s governments the opportunity to voice their condemnation of Iran’s calculated disregard for international human rights covenants to which it is a party and which it has never repudiated.
Human rights are matters of principle – speak or be complicit
This is a matter of principle. I know that “realpolitik” and principle are not comfortable bedfellows, but if the international community remains silent on Iran’s truly appalling treatment of the Baha’is and other minorities, who are, after all, Iranian citizens, this will be tantamount to complicity with these abuses.
Do read the rest of the Christian Science Monitor article.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, UN, Ahmadinejad, religious freedom
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