Friday, April 27, 2007

Khatami on Gays and Religious Minorities in Iran

From Harry's Place: "Killer Khatami gets capped"


[...]The dry facts of the matter are that for the majority of Khatami's Presidency the country that he represented was condemned for human rights abuses by the UN General Assembly or the Commission on Human Rights or both. The Iranian regime under his tenure was brought to book for a whole range of human rights issues; death sentence, use of torture, arbitrary arrest etc.

I suggest that what is specifically relevant to this whole rumpus with St Andrew's is the Iranian record on religious tolerance from 1997 to 2005. Khatami is receiving an honorary degree for his contribution to interfaith relations, and his record on this needs to be scrutinised.

Iran has one of the worst records on freedom of religion or belief of any state on earth. 4 religions, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, are recognised in article 13 of the constitution. All other systems of belief are not, and this translates to inferior status or non-recognition in the eyes of the law - "unprotected infidel" - does what it says on the tin.

Iran is home to 350,000 members of the Baha'i religion. All of these people are denied legal equality by reason of their beliefs. In 1998 a 52 year old man, Ruh'ullah Rohani, a Baha'i, was executed for the crime of apostasy. He did not have access to lawyer and was given oral notice of his death sentence 24 hours before being hung. 6 other Baha'is were on death row that year, but an international outcry saved them from the same fate. A Christian pastor, Hamid Pourmand, was also sentenced to death for apostasy during Khatami's period of office, and only saved by similar pressure. That is the kind of interfaith tolerance that existed in Iran under Khatami, that is the reality.

The annual reports of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the FCO Annual Human Rights report, human rights NGO reports and UN resolutions throughout the years 1997 to 2005 all record serious problems of religious tolerance in Iran for Baha'is, and some problems for Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, as well as for Sufi and Sunni Muslims.

There is ample evidence that St Andrews University and Sir Menzies Campbell could locate with ease that prove conclusively that whatever honeyed words were coming from the Iranian Presidency on interfaith relations OUTSIDE of Iran, for religious minorities INSIDE Iran, there was a lack of equality, repression and frequent human rights abuses.

Khatami has been one of the most effective PR managers for the IRA (Islamic Republic of Ayatollahs)for over a decade now. This minister of propaganda has no shame to promote "dialogue among civilization" while his government only allows monologues inside the country. He is even more appalling than the egomaniacal Ahmadinejad.

http://amir.irani-tehrani.com/?m=200609&paged=8

http://samiramohyeddin.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_samiramohyeddin_archive.html

The IRI(Islamic Republic of Iran) spends $150 mil. per year on it's propagnda machinary from lobbying the academics in the most prestigious universities in the US to journalists in Wapo and NY Times to manufacturing 'fake dissidents' who are later unleashed (mostly reformists) to the West and become activists on behalf of the mullahs.

And

The dishonouring of St Andrews
By Dean Godson
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2420043,00.html

At very last, someone who actually understands the dynamics of the Iranian regime. Dean Godson, has definitely got Khatami worked out. Indeed Khatami was nothing more than a figure head whose job was largely to lull the democratic opposition into a false sense of security.
His legacy, more than anything else will be his callous indifference to repression and his attempt to legitimise a wholly illegitimate regime. As Dean rightly says, he is part of the Islamic Republic, to which his loyalties lie. I think Sir Menzies’ Judgement shows disrespect not only to the Iranian democratic movement, but also to all those who strive for democracy and rule of law around the world. We need more articles like Dean's to name and shame people like Khatami and at the same time honour and solute dissidents like Batebi who unfortunately are largely unknown here in the West.

Please checkout amnesty internation library on Iran:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-irn/index

5 comments:

Gayle said...

I'm a bit confused because I always thought the President of Iran could always be overruled by the Supreme Leader. How can he be more dangerous than Ahmadinejad if this is true?

Serendip, I'm not arguing with the articles... only showing my ignorance. Their form of government is so foreign to my poor little brain I really do have a hard time keeping up.

I will return for your answer. :)

SERENDIP said...

Dear Gayle: Khatami was the former President of Iran. K H A M A N E I,
is the Supreme Leader. However, this is an excellent question. Why is he more dangerous than Ahmadinejad? Because he is the darling of the left and they love to portray him as a "moderate", which he is not. He tells what the liberal/left want to hear and goes back to Iran and says hateful things about the U.S. and Israel. He has a forked tongue and actually I have more respect for Ahmadinejad because he is honest and he is not a two-faced liar like Khatami.

SERENDIP said...

Gayle: My latest post in regards to Khatami have been a response to a moonbat who had invited me to go over to her blog and discuss Khatami, which I don't have time for. I have better things to do than to debate with a liberal who thinks Sharia law is good enough for Brown people and not good for Liberals. That's why I said, "Sharia Be Upon you", dear Lesly....LOL
I'm so mean...

Gayle said...

Thank you for your answer. I don't focus a lot on the politics of the Middle East (as you know) like both you and Roxie do, but you're helping educate me in that respect and it's appreciated. I understand now what you mean by him being more dangerous. He's dangerous in the same way many of the liberals in this country are dangerous. They lie!

You're not mean. You feel exactly the same way I do. Running a blog is hard work which we are not paid for. We are doing all we can to fight back in the only way that is open to us. We don't have time to be pestered to death by these people.

Unknown said...

GREAT piece...very insightful and right-on indeed. ONE small nitpicky point though - and it is a rather important one - Khatami's "concept" if you will, is called the Dialogue AMONG Civilizations and not OF civilizations (OF civilizations is actually a very decent project being done in Tunisia). The name of the hideously corrupt organization that has cropped up out of Khatami's concept, which is managed by ALL of the most horrible individuals surrounding Kofi Anan, who are all also implicated up to their ears in the oil for food scandal is ALLIANCE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS. It is said that $120 million of Iranian money financed this ridiculous operation.