Thursday, June 22, 2006

Calls for the Arrest of Mortezavi in Geneva

Well the news was beyond belief, it was like putting salt on the wounds of children who have lost their mothers and fathers, good men and women beaten to death at the hands of or by the orders of Iran's notorious prosecutor-general, Saeed Mortezavi. Words fail me, it was just a slap on the face of justice. It is as if Dr. Josef Mengele led a delegation of children's Rights to the UN. This was the shameful news :

"Saeed Mortazavi this week led Iran's delegation in Geneva to the first session of the United Nation's newly reconfigured human rights panel on Monday"

But thankfully, finally the calls for his removal are growing. The Canadian government have expressed outrage at Mr. Mortazavi's presence in Geneva. A group of dissidents still languishing in Iranian jails have written a letter to the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan. Amir Abbas (Siavash) Fakhravar, an ex-political prisoner and Iranian dissident, now in Washington, is co-ordinating more protests from the victims of Mortezavi.

The Canadian foreign minister, Peter MacKay, said his nation was "disgusted" that Mr. Mortezavi would show his face in Geneva, and that the decision to include him in Iran's delegation to the human rights council "demonstrates the Government of Iran's complete contempt for internationally recognized principles of human rights."

He went even further, noting that the information Ottawa has compiled on Mr. Mortazavi's role in the murder of Kazemi was being shared with the government of Switzerland, hinting that Canada may be rallying support not only for international isolation of the Iranian judge but possibly for his arrest by Swiss authorities.

Joe Stork, deputy director of Middle East and North Africa division for Human Rights Watch also echoed MacKay saying "Iran's decision to send Mortazavi to Geneva demonstrates utter contempt for human rights and for the new council, Iran has just confirmed why U.N. members refused to elect it to the Human Rights Council."

Lynn Tehini, of the journalist's rights group Reporters Without Borders, told AFP:
"His presence at the Human Rights Council is really shocking. It is an insult to the victims of repression in Iran," .

Today Stefan Hashemi, the son of murdered Iranian born Canadian photo journalist, Ziba Kazemi, also called for the arrest of Mortezavi in Geneva.

Islamic Republic's other delegation member Jamal Karimi-Rad, the clerical regime's Minister of Justice. A ruthless judge who was assistant prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court, Prosecutor General and the General Prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court for Kurdistan, Zanjan and Qazvin provinces respectively, as well as the prosecutor of the Judges' Disciplinary Commission. He has held key senior positions in the campaign to crackdown on the Iranian people, including thousands of executions especially of political prisoners.

Mortezavi's arrest will be a great boost for the Iranian dissidents and the pro-democracy movement in Iran. It will show the people of Iran that they can win!

For any protests to reach that critical mass, it is essential for the people to gain enough confidence. People must believe they can win in order to come out in the streets in their millions.

A unique opportunity has come about for regime change in Iran, handed on a plate by the sheer stupidity or sheer arrogance of the clerics in Iran. It is better than invasion, better than sanctions, better than useless expensive conferences of ineffective diaspora opposition who come out with umpteen joint declarations but nothing afterwards, better than stirring up ethnic unrest, better than supporting the "reformists" whose intention is just re-packaging of the Islamic Republic, it is the immediate arrest of Judge Mortezavi in Geneva.

This will give the confidence needed to the Iranian people that they can win and the Islamic regime is vulnerable.

1 comment:

Azarmehr said...

An excellent article by Brian Whitaker in the Guardian:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2006/06/a_mockery_of_human_rights.html

cut the crap UN and stop wastingour money!