A Public letter to UN Human Rights Commissioner

A Public letter to UN Human Rights Commissioner

Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran

SMCCDI ( Information Committee ) - http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org

Her Excellency Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights UN Representation office (Iran) 185 Ghaem Magham Farahani Avenue Tehran - Iran

February 19, 2001

Your Excellency:

We Welcome you to Iran. Your visit, at the occasion of the Racism conference, comes at a critical time in Iran's history.

The Islamic regime recently celebrated the 22nd anniversary of its imposition to power. It is a regime with a notorious record of years of stoning, hanging, execution by shooting, mutilation of body parts, rape, physical and psychological torture, summary imprisonments and executions, and the assassination of free thinkers, intellectuals, students, university scholars, and opposition figures in Iran and abroad.

It is a regime that has banned newspapers, imprisoned journalists, violated the sanctity and dignity of authors and artists, is behind a wave of political assassinations, and violated the rights of ethnic and religious minorities especially, the rights of women.

Moreover, it is a regime that has ruthlessly shot, beheaded and knifed people. It is a regime with a record of economic bankruptcy, unemployment, poverty, prostitution, drug addiction, murder, suicide, and has caused the displacement of millions of Iranians worldwide. It is a regime whoses leaders have plundered Iran's national resources to enrich their own personal bank accounts.

It is a regime whose leaders have been condemned by an independent European tribunal for masterminding and perpetrating governmental terrorism.

This regime, with its backward, religious and despotic rule is a nightmare, and a stain of disgrace in the face of the world community at the dawn of the third millennium of human civilization.

Your Excellency,

over half a century ago, Iran decided to become a UN member. By ratifying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Iran made a commitment to respect human rights and related international conventions.

However, the regime that occupies the UN seat on behalf of the Iranian people today, considers that it has no obligation to abide by or implement international conventions ratified in the past.

In fact, the present regime has systematically violated the fundamental principles of human rights, and has never hesitated to mock the international community (the UN and international humanitarian organizations). In the past years, The Islamic Republic of Iran has refused to allow Maurice Copithorne, the Special Reporter for Human Rights, to visit Iran, to investigate and reveal the regime's extensive violations of human rights.

Your Excellency,

the charter of the 1968 Human Rights Conference, which was convened in Tehran, clearly stipulates that all members of the international community are obliged to respect their commitments to promote and support human rights and political freedom without any discrimination as to a person's race, color, gender, religion, political affiliation etc."

Article Fifteen" of the above-mentioned charter also reiterates that discrimination against women in any society, is against the UN Charter and its amendments.

Is it not high time for the international community to remind Iran's present regime to respect and fully implement the international conventions Iran has ratified?

Your Excellency,

on behalf of all Iranian students, who are fighting for their freedom, on behalf of all Iranian ethnic groups, and on behalf of all political prisoners who have either been sentenced to long prison terms, and are being tortured or, are lying in unidentified mass graves, we expect you to assist us to achieve the following:

1) The immediate and unconditional liberation of all political prisoners (students, writers, and intellectuals),

2) To organize a fact-finding mission headed by yourself, to investigate murders perpetrated by the regime's Intelligence Ministry and other intelligence organizations, the identification of all those who have masterminded and perpetrated the murders, visiting the regime's official and secret prisons, the identification of torturers, a detailed investigation as to the whereabouts of mass graves, and missing or kidnapped individuals,

3) The identification and public trial of those responsible for tortures and assassinations especially, those behind the wave of political assassinations,

4) The identification and public trial of those who masterminded and carried out the bloody attack on Tehran University's campus, and university dormitories in Tabriz and other Iranian cities,

5) A full restitution of the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran especially, the rights of Jews and Bahais, and an unconditional and immediate liberation of innocent Iranian Jews, who were sentenced to long prison terms in a shameful show at the Shiraz tribunal,

6) To guarantee the freedom of expression and thought, and allow all banned newspapers to resume their publications,

7) To put a halt to injustice committed against women, who constitute half of Iran's population and are treated by the Islamic regime as second-class citizens, and grant them their full rights as equal human beings.

Your Excellency,

we agree that human rights, freedom and democracy in the world stretch far beyond geographical, religious, ideological and traditional boundaries, and should not be sacrificed for business transactions because they transcend short-term economic profits. Safeguarding and implementing human rights and democracy are one of the most basic responsibilities of governments in the world community.

Your Excellency,

as one of the pioneers of human civilization and culture, the Iranian people expect the world community to rush to their rescue, and support their struggle for freedom and individual rights during these dark days of despoticrule in their country.

Your Excellency,

the eyes of every Iranian youth, student, artist, writer,merchant, military man, woman, and members of religious and ethnic minorities are pointed at you. After 22 years of life under a despotic regime, their eyes are filled with tears, but full of hope and more determined than ever.

Your Excellency,

obtaining freedom and the establishment of a sovereign and popular government in Iran, is an inevitable path that has to be traversed.

We invite you, the international community, and all humanitarian organizations to join the Iranian nation and its noble aspirations in traversing this path.

Yours respectfully,

The "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran" (Iran Branch)

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org

ENDS

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