Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN and author of The Problem From Hell, raised objections to a recent UN election.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power protested the election of repressive regimes including Iran to the U.N. Committee on Non-governmental Organizations which deals with civil society groups accredited to the United Nations.
Iran’s U.N. Mission responded Thursday by rejecting “baseless accusations” raised by Power on the status of human rights and civil liberties in the country.
Did it? Iran thinks the status of human rights and civil liberties are pretty good in the country?
Power accused Iran in a statement Wednesday night of regularly detaining human rights defenders and “subjecting many to torture, abuse and violations of due process.” She called its unopposed candidacy “a particularly troubling outcome” of the election.
Is she wrong? Rayhaneh Jabbari would say no she’s not wrong.
While it is heartening to see US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power protest Iran’s recent election to certain UN bodies, her objections only scratch the surface of what is wrong with Iran’s embrace by certain members of the world community. It is fool’s gold for those who believe open moderation will have any kind of effect on a regime that has long been ruled not by the desires of its people, but by the religiously inspired decrees of a select few ruling mullahs.
It’s long history of human rights oppression has if anything gotten worse under the term of President Hassan Rouhani. Since his election almost 700 dissidents, political prisoners, homosexuals, women and even children have been executed, most in grisly public hangings and all over the objections of the international community, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Rouhani is no moderate and Iran is not run by any moderates. Until the international community wakes up and links relief from economic sanctions to human rights improvements, then its willingly condones the continued inhumane treatment of Iran’s people by this regime with more to come.