This is a timely event, as it is this day in 1999, when there was a pro-democracy movement in which many students stood up against the regime, one of which was a student who held up the bloody t-shirt of his friend who was imprisoned. For nine years he stayed in prison. He was one of the lucky survivors, whereas others have mysteriously died in prison. Many are still in jail. A few political prisoners were supposed to be with us today but unfortunately they did not get their visas on time. I imagine that they will come in the next few months to speak to you.
I was born in Iran in 1979 when the Revolution happened. My father was the General Manager of the Sheraton Hotel at the time. He allowed music to be played, and alcohol to be served like any other Western chain. He was imprisoned by police and military forces under the command of Ayatollah Khomeini, who tortured him. We were lucky to get him out and we fled the country immediately. We went to Spain for a year, and then moved to Canada, where I live today.
That time was significant for my life, and that is why it has been my mission ever since to change that situation in which we found ourselves. That is why I studied political science and international relations; and I went off to become an international human rights activist. I receive thousands of e-mails from people around the world, particularly Iranians confiding in me the problems they face under the current regime. I feel it is my responsibility to be their messenger, and to speak their concerns to the general public. So today, I am not here to be a political analyst, I am here to speak their concerns; to be the voice of the voiceless. And I believe it is my duty because the unelected Supreme Leader Khamenei is not the voice of the Iranian people; nor is President Ahmadinejad.
Since a very young age I have been involved in humanitarian issues. I started a global issues club in my high school, and went off to work for the International Red Cross as a global educator. So that has always been my passion. After I travelled to different high schools and universities, I realised that I was reaching 30 people here, 50 people there, and that these issues were bigger; I had to reach more people. So looking around me, noticing that people do not even know the name of the Secretary General of the United Nations, but they know the name of Paris Hilton, and whoever else, I thought to myself, where do I get a platform where people actually listen to me? That’s why I even entered the Miss Canada and Miss World contests, which gave me that platform and a stronger voice to speak on these issues.
The Iranian regime
The election system is set up so that candidates trying to run for election are pre-screened by a council, which is made up of about a dozen jurists and Islamic clerics who basically scatter through the list and take who they want, and put away those they do not want. That makes the name, ‘The Islamic Republic of Iran’ a bit of a misnomer. Most Iranians despise the regime, and they turn their heads in shame when President Ahmadinejad goes abroad and makes ludicrous claims that homosexuals do not exist; or dangerous remarks that the holocaust did not exist, or suggests wiping Israel off the map. All such remarks are provoked in order to try and instigate a colossal war to precipitate the coming of Imam Mardi, believed by Islamic Sheiks to be the holy prophet, who is supposed to come and save the world, and is believed to come at a time of great chaos. In a speech in November 2005 Ahmadinejad himself admitted that his aim is to expand Islam. In his own words, he said “to pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mardi, may Allah hasten his reappearance”. Most Iranians do not share this sentiment. In fact, Iran is the most secular country in all of the Middle East, and given the choice, Iranians would choose the separation between religion and state.
Ahmadinejad’s intensions are not to look after the welfare of his people rather it is to fulfil his deluded mission at all cost, and that explains why millions of dollars of the Iranian people’s money is being spent on Hezbollah, Hamas and other factions. This would explain why they are willing to spend 15 billions of dollars on nuclear facilities. Iran is one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of oil wealth, and yet again, they do not listen to the needs of the Iranian people, 30% of whom live under the poverty line. Most Iranians have to work two jobs just to make ends meet. This would explain why there is massive unemployment, about 25%, excessive inflation, a spike in prostitution, HIV/AIDS and drugs; the people are disillusioned and they do not know where to turn to.
Demonstrations
The people are actually fed up, but unfortunately under a totalitarian, theocratic regime, like the Islamic Republic of Iran, dissent is nearly impossible. And anyone that tries is faced with harsh consequences: imprisonment, torture and execution. The numbers of those trying are however not few. Just a few weeks ago there were massive demonstrations in Tehran and Mashhad against corruption and demanding freedom. Last year, there was a demonstration where Ahmadinejad came to the Polytechnic University in Tehran to give a speech. Some brave students held a picture of Ahmadinejad upside-down while chanting “down with the dictator”. You have to be pretty brave to pull a stunt like that.
Hardliners and the vast majority
In order to properly analyze the problem of Iran we have to divide the country into the Iran of the hardliners, and the Iran of the vast majority. The former we have to isolate, the latter empower. In the last 30 years we have noticed that Iran’s human rights have considerably deteriorated, and most Western governments have turned a blind eye to this in exchange for short-term economic benefits. The human rights situation has further been shadowed by the West’s obsession with Iran’s nuclear question. The irony is that had a principled foreign policy been written, in which we actually listen to the Iranian people rather than legitimising the current regime with talks and appeasement, there would be no nuclear threat. And the solution remains the same. What many foreign governments may not consider is that the nuclear question is inextricably linked with human rights and democracy in Iran. The most powerful tool at the international community’s disposal are those Iranian people who want freedom, who want democracy, human rights and the rule of law, more than anything else.
Empowerment
I would like to suggest today that the only long-term solution for Iran and peace and security world- wide is the empowerment of civil society; an Iranian solution to an Iranian problem. And before addressing the problems and solutions, I would like to dismiss two solutions right off the bat. Firstly, for the West to compromise a grand bargain deal with the Mullahs, which will leave the Iranian people in the same, if not worse, state of affairs than they are already in. And secondly, any talk of a military attack. Iranian scholars will agree that if there is talk of any military attack this will only play into the hands of the Mullahs, because the regime knows how patriotic the Iranian people are, and they know the Iranian people will feel pressured. They will feel their sovereignty to be under attack and will have to side with the regime on this issue. Any advancement that women’s or labour movements have made on human rights thus far will be wiped away. The only real solution left is to concentrate on empowering the Iranian people within Iran.
A police-like state
Every year thousands of students stand up to fight for freedom. Women fight for equality, workers fight for the right to unionise and receive equal pay, and they are detained, imprisoned and persecuted. Just like those ethnic minorities, of which the Bahai’s are currently the most discriminated, whose students cannot even attend university unless they defy their faith. Seven Bahai leaders in Iran were recently molested. And the list goes on including other groups: Jews, Christians, Sufis etc. The reason for the recent severe crackdowns on these specific groups and on women in the streets has everything to do with fear. The regime understands that it is standing on its last steps, and they fear that they are going to lose control. The only way they can retain such control is through a police-like state. And that is why executions have skyrocketed. After China, Iran is the state executing the most citizens in the world with 377 executions taking place last year alone. However, in terms of per capita Iran is number one, and this includes child executions.
I am the President and co-founder of the organisation “Stop Child Executions”. We are trying to put an end to child executions in Iran and around the world. We have recorded eight executions that took place last year. Two have already taken place this year. A total of 138 minors are currently on death row in Iran. This is a huge distance beyond other countries. Sudan and Saudi Arabia have three each, and Yemen one. Iran is by far the worst offender. And this is despite the fact that they have signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Charter of the Rights for Children which expressively forbids the execution of those who have committed an offense under the age of 18. Victims include a 16 year old girl executed for immoral behaviour, a Bahai girl executed for teaching Bahai to children, a 13 year old boy hung in public for engaging in homosexual activity. Now this last case was even against Iranian law, because Iranian law uses Sharia law, and Sharia law states that a girl is an adult at age 9, and therefore criminally responsible at that age. Boys are adult at age 16. So the 13 year old boy was supposed to only get 74 lashes.
International human rights law was ignored once again last year, when two people were sentenced for adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. There is no reasoning in the court system. Trails are often unfair, and judges can sometimes rule on ‘divine knowledge of the judge’. They do not even have to open the file if they feel that the accused is guilty, they can just give a decree, and that is it.
Another type of execution that has not been seen since the middle ages but has now been re-introduced in Iran is throwing people from a height. They bind people and they will throw people off a cliff or a building. Amputations still exist for theft, and flogging still exists for numerous offenses including acts incompatible with chastity. The methods for torture are purposely intented to cause the most amount of pain; even these public hangings, which are conducted from cranes slowly lifting the person from the neck, so the person is slowly asphyxiated. It is not like the drop measure where the neck is broken right away. The same with stoning; they bury a man up to his waist, and a woman up to her chest and people take turns in throwing stones at them till they die. It is brutal, and talking about it makes me emotional.
International pressure
A few years ago, I heard about a 17 year old Iranian girl, who was in a park with her 15 year old niece, when three men attacked them and tried to rape them. Out of self-defence she stabbed one of these men. As a result he died and she was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. No media was picking up the story, so I decided to start a campaign to bring her plight to people’s attention and slowly the petition grew: in the end we raised about 350,000 signatures. With that pressure I could lobby other groups, like Amnesty International. The Canadian government had a big press conference, and we went to the United Nations and presented the boxes. They assured us that action was being taken, and that they were reminding Iran of their obligations under international treaties. So with all this pressure coming from all around the world, she was ultimately exonerated and released from prison. Now we have noticed time and time again that the cases that we bring to light, create diplomatic pressure and bring to the media’s attention are the ones that are not executed in the end. So we know that international pressure does make a difference. What I want to express is that the power of the individual is strong but the power of a united group is that much stronger. So I can only imagine what we could do if there was a support worldwide, including foreign governments, for the Iranian people. A lot of people think change is not possible in Iran but I say change is inevitable.
Iranian law
Under the Shah, human rights conditions were not perfect either. There were executions and human rights abuses taking place. But, comparatively the regime now is by far worse in terms of repressing people’s rights. As an example, under the Shah women could run for presidency, they could even become judges. Immediately after the revolution these rights were taken away. For women, in order to travel you need to get permission from your husband or father now. And as regards custody cases, divorce and inheritance, there is no equality. Women cannot even go to a stadium and watch the local football game. I am not concerned about the past. We are always striving to be better. And I think until we have a free democratic Iran that follows international law, then we have not done our duty as people. I believe that this will happen in the future.
There are many interpretations of Islamic law and under the Iranian interpretation of these Mullahs; they have established that it is acceptable to execute minors under Sharia law. Once again, Sharia law is open for interpretation, which is why other Islamic countries do not execute minors, and are not stoning women. In Pakistan a women can run for the presidency, in Iran they cannot. There is a lot of variety.
A new bill is being proposed, which means that if your neighbours know that you have converted from one religion to another, they can either tell on you, and you will be executed, or, if I am not mistaken, they can even take it upon themselves to kill you. Iran, as brutal as it is, is not North Korea, where you are scared of your own neighbours – but in this case, you would be. The extra-territorial part of this bill is the section that sounds a bit ludicrous: that Iranian converts abroad can be subjected to execution. I do not know the end of this story. It is a major bill and we need to become involved now. Once it becomes law that is it; it is part of a new section of legislation called ‘mental security’. Anybody involved in prostitution, corruption or apostasy could be subject to execution; and the word corruption could mean anything! So this would basically give a free rein to those in power, they could charge anyone on any grounds to breach national security. They would not even have to give an excuse.
Lack of freedom of expression
President Ahmadinejad has admitted several times that his biggest fear is a velvet-style revolution, and rightfully so. Iran has a fervent civil society, and demographics are on the side of democratic change with 70% of the population under the age of 30. The Iranian youth has got so much energy, it is modern and wants a connection with the West; it is a thriving population. There are about 70,000 Iranian blogs on the internet. That is the second highest amount of blogs, excluding those in English, than in any other language. This is testimony to how much the Iranian youth want to reach out to the world. But what is scary, is that there is a new bill being proposed stipulating that any web-blogger that writes about apostasy or prosecution or corruption, whatever their definition of corruption is, can be sentenced to death. So you have taken that last bit of freedom away that people enjoyed. Unfortunately, newspapers and all mass media in Iran are controlled by the government. Nothing gets through.
The women’s movement
The other side of Iranian civil society that is very active and very strong is women. They have always played an important role; they are strong and highly educated. Around 65-70% of Iranian women are occupying seats in university. Despite any kind of threat, they still stand up. There is one campaign that has caused quite a stir. It is called the one million signatories campaign to end discriminatory law in Iran. A total of 50 of the most prominent women activists in Iran gathered together to form this movement. Grassroots movements go door to door empowering women, teaching them about their rights and collecting these signatures. It has a significant following and shows encouraging signs. On International Women’s Rights Day there were demonstrations by these groups, and a considerable number of women were detained, only released with a hefty bailout. So the government try to control women who are gathering to make peaceful protest.
Worker’s Unions
The next group of civil society that is significant are the worker’s unions. A leader of one of these movements had his tongue sliced in order to silence him, and he is still in prison now. The important part of this story is that the international trade union movement organised a huge campaign across Europe with his picture posted on buses and billboards, raising awareness on this issue. This is the only reason he is still alive.
Human rights defenders which represent these political prisoners are sometimes thrown in jail as well. Even some of the more liberal Mullahs are held under house arrest, if for instance they advocate the separation of religion and state. Expats that return to Iran also face security threats. Some have been charged with breaching national security and they had done nothing. They were forced to make false confessions. Thankfully they are out of the country now. Again these are attempts to stir fear among the Iranian population.
Solutions
I have outlined so many of the problems. Now what are the solutions? Like I said at the beginning: we have to tackle the two sides of Iran. We have to isolate the hardliners by imposing targeted sanctions that will only paralyse them and not hurt the population. What I mean is visa restrictions and travel bans.
For the vast majority, we have to empower them. We have to train them to stand up and take action in non-violent acts of civil disobedience as we have seen in other types of velvet revolutions, the Orange Revolution and the Rose Revolution, where thousands of students marched on the streets in order to bring down their dictator.
How do we, you and me, help? We can do it through track-three diplomacy; with NGOs from here working with NGOs from Iran. A little side note on that: we cannot just send them funds because then they can be charged with breaking national security, accuse of being spies. That will not help anyone.
We need more media and communication, especially more satellite media, like Voice of America, Radio Farda and BBC Persia. Two-way communication is needed so that people from within Iran can share their stories.
Foreign governments must also be willing to grant more student visas so that students can take part in cultural exchanges here, and attend universities. The other part is indictment of those Iranian officials who have been involved in crimes against humanity, including Saeed Mortazavi. When the new human rights council of the UN was established in Geneva, the Iranian people sent Saeed Mortazavi as their representative of human rights– can you imagine what a slap in the face this was for the international community? But, the positive outcome was that the Canadian government sent an international arrest warrant to Interpol. Unfortunately, he went through a different route than was expected, so he returned to Iran. But it still sent out the message that these crimes against humanity cannot go without impunity.
Support opposition groups; and this is something particularly for the Iranians present in this room. Please, stop bickering amongst yourselves. There is so much fighting among opposition groups that they do not confront the real issue, which is the regime. So we have to learn to unite and work together towards what really matters; and that is bringing about changes in human rights, and freedom to the Iranian people. I do not know if there will be one leader or one strong opposition group that can unite the Iranians. They are always looking for some kind of saviour, some kind of leader. As you have seen from our history, we have always had a king in power; one or another form of strong leadership. But if we keep waiting, nothing is ever going to happen. We need to bind together, and create something. A wave of change will be through the youth of Iran.
For the general public in this room, now is the time to get involved however you can. It does not have to be through political groups. It can be through artistic groups writing poems, writing songs. Whatever talent you have, you can put into this.
Lastly, another approach that I believe deserves serious consideration is by the British parliament. I would like to suggest, giving an unwavering commitment to the IRI, Islamic Republic of Iran. That they can continue with their nuclear programme so long as there is a free and fair referendum or election in Iran, monitored by international observers, like the UN. Because the problem is not so much nuclear capability, it is the nature of the regime that makes this nuclear question such a big issue. If the Iranian officials are so confident in their leadership, then they will be happy to proceed with elections or referendum. But if they are not, then the Iranian people will know that their intentions are not honourable; they will have no more excuses. They cannot use the excuse of double standards. We know that neighbouring countries, Russia, Iran and Pakistan have nuclear capabilities. Well then so why can’t we Iranians? Well, in this scenario, they do not have that recourse anymore. The IRI would as a result no longer have any power to rally the masses around them. This deal would eliminate any talk of double standards.
So here is an opportunity for the UK to adopt a principled foreign policy that understands the links between security and respect for human rights. As I see it, the British government has three choices. One, they can do exactly what President Ahmadinejad wants and draw the Iranian people away from domestic affairs by instigating an expensive military attack in terms of cost and human life. Two, they can keep the talks going, buying time for the Iranians to continue enrichment for whatever purpose they want. Or three, you empower civil society which is more eager than anyone to fight for freedom in a peaceful manner.
Conclusion
I’d like to conclude by reading the political testimony of one political prisoner in Iran. He summarises what I have been saying:
“I truly believe that freedom, democracy and justice are as vital to human life as the air we breathe. I thus permit myself to ask you not to abandon our just fight against the oppressive regime of the Mullahs. I also have a few words for the leaders and minions of the regime. We will never resign ourselves to surrendering to your repressive dictatorship – even if it will cost us our lives.”
Nazanin Afshin-Jam, international human rights activist, recording artist and former runner up, Miss World