During the Iranian calendar year 1389, which ended on 20 March, 1,256 persons were imprisoned for their opposition to the government and their political views, Human Rights House of Iran (HRHI) reported today. To read the complete HRHI report in Farsi, please click here.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
HRHI Report on Political Detentions in Iran
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15 comments:
A very low number compared to the 30,000 political prisoners imprisoned by US President Lincoln during the early 1860s.
In the historical case of the US, Lincoln was fighting sedition and a Civil War. In the current context of Iran, the Islamic Republic is waging a struggle against cold war, economic war (sanctions), soft war and sedition.
what a pile of nonsense!!
140 years ago US had 30,000 political prisoners and that was before industrial revolution. So it is justifiable to put people in prison for their political beliefs in 21 st century Iran. It does not matter who they are. They must be members of opposition, a member of green movement, a US or Israeli agent or they are against god. For thirty years this wretched ideology which has kept 40% of population under poverty line and turned Iran into a pariah state has been claiming a struggle against hypotetical enemy whoever that might be and with that pretext is naming and jailing any opposition to itself. This fucked up government is supported by ignorant like you who have no respect to other peoples's view and do not know the meaning of democracy. It is pretty disappointing that we have ignorant brain washed people like you around!
How is it nonsense? Lincoln is revered as our greatest President, not the least of which is for his success in reestablishing political integrity. The Iranians have resorted to far less drastic means in maintaing theirs.
And you want to talk about political refugees? How man are there today from Iran? A few thousand. During the late 60s and early 70's there were 100,000 from the US!
So please, spare us the agenda-driven demonization campaign.
The Islamic Republic has executed at least 20,000 of its own citizens since coming to power in 1979, an exponentially higher number than any other regime in Iran's modern history (and several orders of magnitude higher than the number executed by the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the preceding 38 years). Given this reality, the propaganda spouted on behalf of the Islamist regime by West-residing enthusiasts of this regime (whose enthusiasm does not involve actually living under the rule of the IRI, but under that of the state branded by the IRI as the Great Satan) should be seen for what it is.
An ignorant said:
...Lincoln is revered as our greatest President,..
By the sound of it you live in US and you are using the privilege that a free society like US is offering you.
In a free society you can be ignorant and stupid as much as you like. However, it appears to me that you are abusing this privilege!
I suggest that rather than you waffling about American history you should take a trip to Iran and see for yourselves the brain drain and exit from the country because of repressive measures of the administration and that fucked up religion Islam! I am sure you can lecture the political prisoners in Iran about their rights and wrongs!
Those ex-Iranians in diaspora (all in the USA) have brought Iran one giant step closer to it being militarily attacked and destroyed, then torn apart.
Shame on you NIAC
too much trita p. too little Hooman
Human rights are the outcome of ongoing struggle by the people across the world to limit the power of the governments to arrest and execute their citizens for their beliefs and political activities. These rights were not given to people overnight and decades and indeed centuries of struggle and fight for individual rights have brought us to where we are, and will progress as we move in the 21sr century.
Having said so, it is so sad to see some commentators in this blog to be ready to go back to the 18th century to justify the repressive policies of the government against its people in the 21st century. Instead of condemning the imprisonment of nearly 1300 people in Iran (and many executions which were not part of the subject for this post) for expressing their political beliefs in the past year alone (more than 100 per month), some of the commentators see themselves obliged to go back to the American civil war and count the number of political prisoners at the time to justify the actions of the regime in power in Tehran.
Meanwhile, they use words like “sedition” to describe the Iranian people’s movement for greater freedom and democracy. Their hope is that they can justify the repression in the country by the use of such words. I have a hunch that they would not use the word “sedition” to describe the current democratic movements that is going on in Bahrain or elsewhere in the Arab world!
The democratic movements that started in Tehran in June 2009, continued this year in Tunis and Cairo and now has spread to Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Syria attract opposition both from the right and the left in their respective countries. The rightists in those countries oppose them for obvious reasons: supporting the regime in power, with all its benefits for them.
The leftists oppose them in countries that the regime in power is considered anti-US and anti-West, like in Iran, Syria. Their rationale is that the weakening of these regimes will help the US and weakens the “anti-imperialist movements.” This is along the same justifications that some liberals and leftists justified the repressive and murderous policies of Joseph Stalin in the name of fighting the Fascism, even though Stalin’s human rights policies were as fascistic as Hitler’s. We’ve seen this movie before!
Aside from the foreign policy implications of a democratic movement against any of these regimes, the principles of human rights in the 21st century call for our support of these movements and support for greater freedom and democracy.
The Iranian "freedom movement" don't help their cause when they collude and get support from foreign countries whose stated goal is to destabilize Iran. They even go as far as helping Iran's enemies in demonizing and sanctioning Iran which further makes things worse for the common man..
Yes, they have legitimate concerns but the way they go about it doesn't win them any support in Iran.
And the West's "holier than thou" attitude towards human rights issue is just sickening. Human rights issues must/should never be politicized but unfortunately, that's become the only tool they can use against Iran as military option is not in the cards.
Politicizing the issue only hurts the victim.
You never hear the UN open a special branch to discuss serious human rights abuses in places like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, occupied Palestinian territories etc yet they're the first to jump on the band wagon when it comes to Iran..The longer this farce goes on, the obvious it becomes for people all over the world as to how politicized this whole thing's been.A case in point is the recent events in Yemen and Bahrain..Enough said.
Anon 9:19 AM,
Agreed that human rights issues should not be politicized. But isn't that exactly what you are doing, referring to the movement in Iran as so-called "freedom movement," and accusing all of the movement as tools of foreigners and supporters of sanctions?
BTW, where did you get your info? Please refer us to any documents that show the movement's support for sanctions, and please refer us to other documents that show the leaders of the movement, the like of Mousavi who is the former prime minister of Iran during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, is working for the foreigners.
Mr Uskowi,
You miss the point.
It is not about the content, IT IS THE FACT THAT THIS UN BODY HAS BECOME A POLITICA TOOL IN THE HANDS OF THE VETO POWERS.
Like the IAEA it is selectively bashing one and ignoring others.
I know you know and understand, but you live in Virginia, and there it is not healthy to have an independent critcal mind on Iran.
Dariush / London / Turnhamgreen
Nader, we Americans romanticize our founding fathers and beloved Presidents.
Lincoln is praised for succeeding in reestablishing political integrity in the US, and 30,000 political prisoners (held without trial) was an integral part of that effort.
During Shay's Rebellion in the 1780's, none other than Samuel Adams drew up a Riots act and advocated public executions for those he specifically identified as--get this--seditionists.
You like America, Nader? Well this is how it was built and maintained. You don't like Iran? Obviously you don't have to live there.
So what is number of the political prisoners released last year?
And how long was the average stay in prison? 1 day, 1 week 1 month?
Providing the number of arrested is totally meaningless without the other numbers.
It is very interesting that whenever a serious conversation on Iran is started, we are told that we need to discuss other peoples' history, and not the issues facing Iran itself.
Mr Uskowi stated:
"Meanwhile, they use words like “sedition” to describe the Iranian people’s movement for greater freedom and democracy."
Agreed. According to this bunch anyone who raises an opinion different from them gets a label.
Actually according to them everyone is anti-Iran except the fucked up administration in Iran who have succeeded in reducing 40% of Iranian population below the poverty line in the past 30 years.
Well I guess poverty was in England in Victorian times so that is justifiable?!
They project every real set back for Iran including the sanctions as a triumph of independence of Iran. They fail to say that unlike the cleric and their cronies who siphon the country’s wealth to the tune of 70% of real GDP, the average man in the street in Iran takes the brunt of these sanctions. The country has been reduced to direct handouts to the tune of 2.3 Billion monthly. Anyone from whatever background whether a worker or a lawyer or for that matter ex regime surrogate is branded as traitor and put in jail if needed.
Everyone has a label. Either you belong to us or you are against us. The enemy number one is US, Israel or for that matter Western Europe, Asia pacific, Canada etc. Actually everyone is Iran’s enemy except the shining examples of democratic countries like Syria, Venezuela, North Koreas and Belarus. They had no problem shaking hand with Saddam who killed ½ million Iranians but of course USA, Canada and everyone else is the enemy number one!
It is unbelievable that these bunch who in live western Europe or USA and enjoy the privilege that these civilised societies offer lecture others about how good is Iranian regime. Their level of ignorance and hypocrisy is unbelievable. May be they should put their money where their mouth is and take a trip to Iran. I am sure the regime would be more than happy to shaft them if needed.
b,
This post was about a report that had been published on the number of political detainees last year, at least the number of detainees known to the human rights organizations. The Iranian government does not publish any data on political prisoners, how many are arrested, how long they stay in jail, how many are actually tried, how many are given the opportunity to be represented by independent attorneys, etc.
Dariush / London / Turnhamgreen,
What does living in VA have to do with lack of independent critical mind on Iran? Do we all need to move to Tehran to enjoy the benefits of independent critical thinking and the ability to publish our independent critical blog?
Anon 11:02 AM,
I believe my 1:04 PM comments covers the objections you are raising. If not, please let me know and would be glad to discuss the issue.
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