Video – Letters from Iran
While winds of change have been blowing through the Arab world, Iranians have been forced to wait for political reform.
In 2009, in the aftermath of elections that saw Ahmadinejad’s return to power as president, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest the result. But the demonstrations were brutally repressed and the hopes of the “green revolutionaries” dashed.
Since then Iran has closed itself off to international media, making it difficult to determine what happened to the many thousands of dissidents arrested and imprisoned during the protests, or the current scale of political opposition to the regime.
Yet this film reveals that opposition is still alive and kicking and just as eager for change as before. Letters from Iran paints a fascinating portrait of the aftermath of the Green Revolution and a country holding its breath.
Letters from Iran – YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How will this campaign help Iranians?
- Why another petition?
- What is the purpose of One Million Voices for Iran?
- You say your mandate is from people in Iran?
- What is the timeline for completion?
- Who runs the campaign?
- Don’t you know that sanctions only hurt Iranians?
How will this campaign help Iranians?
To date, advocacy campaigns and petitions which aim to address these issues have two main limitations: they are primarily reactive, and they have tended to focus on a single individual or specific group. Consequently, their aims tend to be short-term ones such as obtaining medical treatment or release of a particular prisoner. Others call for the attention of groups such as the UNHCR or EU Parliament. The specific request tends to be limited to calls for these organizations to issue stern statements of reprimand or to send an investigative team to Iran to review prison conditions. In the latter case, we know that permission for a UNHCR Special Rapporteur to enter Iran has been requested repeatedly since at least 2005 and continues to be denied by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In all cases, the aims of these campaigns are based on assumptions made by people outside of Iran about what needs to be done for those inside of Iran. One Million Voices for Iran is different: It takes its mandate from people inside Iran’s prisons, and has concrete, achievable goals.
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The petition is central to the campaign, but it is not the only facet. The people most interested in this work certainly include international human rights activists, but in the course of the campaign ordinary citizens will be educated about human rights violations, the international courts, and social activism. Activists throughout the world have been drawing attention to the Iranian regime’s flagrant and repeated violations of human rights, but these abuses have tended to be overshadowed by geo-political considerations in the region. The One Million Voices Campaign is sharply focused on building support for the prosecution of these unconscionable abuses of human rights. In doing so, it will forge a global chorus to amplify the Iranian people’s own compelling demands for international justice.
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What is the purpose of One Million Voices for Iran?
The purpose of this campaign is to deliver on the demands of those in Iran whose message we are relaying. They want increased sanctions specifically related to human rights issues and a recourse to legal action. In the course of our work we will raise awareness about the campaign goals, educate the public about the atrocities occurring in Iran, and promote social activism. Through these efforts, we will help to fulfill the Iranian people’s mandate and bring those responsible for human rights abuses to justice.
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You say your mandate is from people in Iran?
The people of Iran are no longer asking for their votes back. Nor are they asking for a major Western power to invade the country and wrestle control from the regime by force. They remain peaceful and resolute in their desire to be masters of their own fate.
What they do ask is:
- for world governments to support increased humanitarian measures, for example restricting travel to their country and freezing assets of individual regime leaders who are guilty of human rights abuses.
- that countries maintain and if necessary strengthen those humanitarian actions until all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners are free
- to find support for them from human rights defenders to press charges against these individual regime leaders in an international court so they can be brought to justice for their human rights crimes and violations.
The creation of an international court could either be approved by the UN Security Council, or by the government of a country which has ratified the Rome Statute and is sympathetic and supportive. This method, too, requires states to be members of the UN Security Council. A coordinated, systematic campaign would be essential to convince the UN or a national government to champion the creation of such a court. One Million Voices for Iran is intended to be just that campaign.
The One Million Voices Campaign echoes the demands of human rights activists, prisoners of conscience, political prisoners, and ordinary Iranian citizens seeking their deserved rights. Those demands are documented here.
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What is the timeline for completion?
To obtain a million signatures on anything naturally requires a lot of time. However, the petition is only one aspect of the campaign. That portion of the timeline ends when the campaign’s goals are met.
To create an arbitrary timeline would hurt the campaign and limit its effectiveness. We cannot predict what international actors (governments, human rights organizations, and the Iranian authorities) will do, or when. We will continue to advocate for the Iranian people until they are granted their deserved rights.
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The campaign is independent, non-political and run by volunteers of different nationalities and based in different countries. The campaign’s work is not designed to exist in one geographic area; in fact, the international nature of the campaign lends to its strength. By working in the global arena, the campaign stresses that human rights violations are unacceptable to the world community and no single government or culture directs this initiative. None of the people volunteering their time on this campaign are looking for personal publicity. Some of them are Iranians and they or their families would almost certanily be placed at risk if their identities are revealed.
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Don’t you know that sanctions only hurt Iranians?
There is evidence to suggest that broad economic sanctions do only strengthen the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who are quickly becoming the strongest economic power in Iran.
The One Million Voices Campaign does not call for sanctions. What we advocate is humanitarian actions, applied to individuals within the government who are documented human rights abusers, for example barring them from receiving travel visas and freezing their assets. These actions are powerful because they prevent the responsible individuals from doing business in foreign countries, or from representing the regime in the international scene, but do not punish ordinary Iranians. Furthermore, they are a recognition by the country taking the action that human rights abuses are occurring in Iran and that government leaders are aware of and responsible for the atrocities.
It is worth noting that we are strongly opposed to any form of military intervention or aggression against Iran.
Our Mandate from the Prisoners of Iran
The One Million Voices Campaign echoes the demands of human rights activists, prisoners of conscience, political prisoners, and ordinary Iranian citizens seeking their deserved rights, including:
-A group of political prisoners who released a statement from Evin Prison in April 2010. Through the statement and a hunger strike, they demanded the ‘annulment of post-election sentences handed down to political prisoners during show trials,’ improvement of health and sanitary conditions in prison and the government to respect its own laws and constitution with regard to prisoners. Furthermore, they demanded an investigation into the inhumane and illegal judicial procedures perpetrated by the government after the 2009 Presidential election.
-17 political prisoners who held a hunger strike in July and August 2010. Despite pressure and intimidation from prison authorities, these prisoners continued the hunger strike for 16 days.
Among their demands were that prison officials recognize and fully comply with their rights as prisoners, the ‘immediate and complete implementation’ of all laws regarding the rights of prisoners, and that those who do not uphold the rights of prisoners, as guaranteed by law, are held legally accountable.
–In October 2010, a group of 14 political prisoners from Evin Prison again released a statement calling for the establishment of an independent body to investigate the government’s handling of post-election events. The prisoners assert that all Iranians are entitled to an independent investigation to ‘clarify the role of Intelligence Ministry officials and military and security forces’ and identify which members of the government, specifically the judiciary, are responsible for the violence.
-Student leader Majid Tavakoli, who has written a series of compelling letters condemning the government’s treatment of its citizens and political prisoners. In a September 15 letter he wrote, “our people are still hopeful and eagerly awaiting the day when their enemies, who are the enemies of democracy and freedom and human rights, are denounced and unveiled and their faces are known to all.”
-Political prisoner Heshmat Tabarzadi’s defense against his charges in September 2010. Mr. Tabarzadi said, “I reserve the right to indict at the right time all those who have violated the parts of the constitution that guarantee the rights of citizens.”
He released a follow-up letter in October 2010 calling for exiled Iranian lawyers to take his case before the international courts and prosecute Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for the Islamic Republic’s crimes against political prisoners. Mr. Tabarzadi asked all human rights organizations and activists to pursue this action.
-A letter from the wife of condemned political prisoner Jafar Kazemi. Mr. Kazemi’s lawyer, Nasim Ghanavi, said that her client’s appeal was never seriously considered and the charges against him have no merit. Despite this, the Minister of Justice told Ghanavi that the Supreme Leader is the only one who can pardon Mr. Kazemi’s sentence. Supreme Leader Ali Khameni’s involvement in the trials of political prisoners demonstrates that he is aware of and responsible for the treatment and executions of these prisoners.
-From the depths of his prison cell, Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi , beaten and tortured, thanked the US and European authorities for targeting regime officials for their serious abuses of human rights and solemnly asked all organizations defending human rights to help political prisoners in Iran and bring the regime before an international tribunal.
About the One Million Voices Campaign
This new campaign, One Million Voices for Iran, seeks to raise one million voices for human rights in Iran. The world’s attention was focused on the millions who peacefully protested in the wake of the fraudulent June 12, 2009 presidential elections and the subsequent crackdown on students, women, religious and ethnic minorities, and those with any political leanings contrary to the hard-line government. This brutal crackdown continues, and the situation in Iran deserves continued global attention.
We are collecting one million signatures on a petition to demand global action against human rights violations in Iran. Our petition calls for European and other governments to restrict freedom of movement and freeze overseas assets of individuals in the Islamic Republic of Iran, targeting them specifically in protest of their documented human rights abuses and demanding the release of all political prisoners.
Additionally, it will demand from all potential sources of help the creation of a special court of human rights to prosecute the Islamic Republic’s leaders for their abuse of human rights, as described here by the Green Lawyers Movement.
We echo the demands of those in Iran working tirelessly for civil and political rights, and we are inspired by the many other human rights based initiatives that pursue goals in line with the One Million Voices for Iran campaign. We are open to the idea of affiliating with any like-minded individuals or complementary causes.
Please feel free to Contact us with questions or comments.
Please sign the One Million Voices Petition.
The campaign needs volunteers to help produce materials, complete essential tasks, and promote the campaign widely.
Voices on Video
They Need Your Voice
Video from wonderful campaign supporters
One Million Voices – “Shiny Things” – jadt65
Million Voices Campaign – greenthumbnails
How and where to prosecute the Iranian Regime?
This has been written after the [US State Department's] named 8 individuals involved in criminal activity of the last year and a half in Iran in their initial list of human rights abusers. Looking the list of names against whom the US is imposing financial sanctions, and regardless of questions about why names such as Mr. Ali Khamenei’s and his allies are missing, or why only financial sanctions are being applied, many people raise the question of how, and under which authority, these individuals and their allies could be prosecuted?
An abstract and simplified answer, sparing the technical details of the process, follows. First, we need to mention those international authorities who, contrary to common assumption, are not authorized to try these individuals for their crimes:
1) International Court of Justice, also known as the Hague (Den Haag) Court is only authorized to settle international legal disputes between States and is not authorized in criminal cases of individuals even if they happen to be the head of State.
2) International Criminal Court, which is also located in the Hague (Den Haag) in the Netherlands, is also not authorized to investigate the crimes of the above mentioned listed names and their allies. This court, based on the Rome Statute which was signed by many members of the United Nations on 17 July 1998, and entered into force on 1 July 2002, is only authorized to exercise jurisdiction over criminal acts which took place after 2002, the year of its establishment (as a result, investigation of the Islamic Republic regime’s crimes of its fist two decades cannot be pursued by this court).
Furthermore, this court is only authorized to exercise jurisdiction over the countries who have finalized ratification of the Rome Statute. Therefore, since Iran has not ratified the Rome Statute in its Parliament yet, and until it happens in Iran, crimes which take place in this country cannot be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (except for the case issued in the article 4 below). Ultimately, the court’s authority is of a “complementary authority” which, under certain circumstances, can exercise its jurisdiction against the consignatary countries. Due to the limitation on scope of this article these circumstances are not mentioned here.
3) There is another court in the Hague called the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This is the first criminal court that, after ratification by the Security Council of the United Nations in 1993, was established to exclusively investigate the war crimes, genocides and crimes against humanity that took place in the 1990s in the Balkan countries. Following the establishment of ICTY, other similar courts were established by the U.N. Security Council regarding some other countries such as Rwanda and Sierra Leone, whose authority was uniquely specific to the particular circumstances of these countries. As a result, none of these specific international tribunals which are known as “third generation courts” or “specific criminal courts” (Ad hoc) have the authorities to investigate the crimes of the heads of the Islamic Republic.
4) Currently only two methods are available to address the crimes of the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran:
A) via the approval of the United Nations Security Council for the formation of special criminal court, or
B) granting special authority to the International Criminal Court under the authority contained in paragraph b, Article 13, of the Rome Statute. This requires the scheme to be proposed by member states of the Security Council.
It requires action from liberal organizations, political parties & groups, and human rights advocates, to demand world governments to take action.
Everyone must tirelessly pursue this matter.
Charges can be brought by victims (whether Iranian nationals or citizens of other countries) or their representatives in the case of criminal damages or abuse of their rights and also cases of crimes against humanity can be brought to trial in countries where international law is upheld. Most European countries and North America are members of this group, which defends International Law.
In such a case, sentences issued by these Courts can be enforced in these countries in the first place and in other countries under certain circumstances.
The important point to note is that both these paths can be pursued simultaneously by whomever is able to do so.
Moreover, it should be mentioned that criminials condemned for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes cannot escape the responsibilities associated with these crimes in relying on rights of a governing regime and/or the national law of their country. This has been established by various treaties (including the Geneva treaties, documentations of the preliminary negotiations regarding these treaties, the international judiciary procedures including stipulations of the trials of Nuremberg, Tokyo and higher international criminal courts mentioned above). It is backed by statements and resolutions of an individual or group of countries together with other sources and authorities of international law. Justice has closed the escape door for these perpetrators.
On our part, we try to prepare documentation and evidence to present to the international audience. In some cases we try to provide help to our compatriots to present their complaints in other countries. In order to succed in this task and have a real and genuine impact, we need continuous and extensive efforts by a broad group of people, as well as by political, social and human rights institutions. We should all call loudly for the trial of these criminals, such that our voices are heard everywhere. We do not doubt that these criminals will be tried in a court of justice either abroad or in the country after the fall of this dictatorial regime. The progress of this work relies on the hard efforts of every freedom-loving and justice-seeking individual. Let us include this task in our individual and social agenda until we reach a fully successful result.
Signed
Green Lawyers Movement
October 2010
Source : [Farsi] http://bit.ly/9tz7iL
