Iran's Dissenters ("fight for human rights and democracy")

Washington Post ^ | March 10, 2007

[nuconvert]

Iran's Dissenters

March 10, 2007

The Washington Post

Washington Post Editorial

Here's how International Women's Day was celebrated Thursday in Tehran: Riot police swarmed over a few dozen women who bravely gathered near the parliament in an attempt to hold a peaceful demonstration. Some were beaten; some were arrested and taken away in vans. All mention of the demonstration was purged from state-controlled media, and independent papers and blogs were warned not to cover it, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Repression of women is an everyday reality in Iran, but this week stood out. In addition to Thursday's crackdown, more than 30 women were arrested in a protest last Sunday. The group, which included almost all of Iran's leading female human rights activists, had gathered outside a courthouse in solidarity with five women who are on trial for organizing a protest in June. Three of those arrested were still being held on Friday, including Jila Baniyaghoob, a journalist, and Shadi Sadr, a lawyer. The women had been taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where legions of political prisoners have been held and many tortured.

Government propaganda portrays these activists as tools of Western powers who want to overthrow the government. Actually, the movement has far more modest and specific goals. It is seeking equal rights for women in Iran's penal and family codes, under which girls as young as 9 can be stoned to death on charges of adultery and a woman's life is valued at only half that of a man's. The activists are trying to collect a million signatures on a petition to parliament to end such discrimination.

Their courageous struggle and the regime's violent reaction to it are worth remembering at a time when the

[nuconvert]

" But another vital interest must be continued support for those people and movements in Iran that fight for human rights and democracy. Unless they survive and grow stronger, U.S.-Iranian relations aren't likely to progress very far. "

Someone at the Washington Post gets it! Though they saved it for a Saturday edition.

[SoldierMedic]

Iran is a powder-keg of internal dis-satisfaction, and I am eagerly awaiting the implosion that will no doubt occur soon.

[nuconvert]

pong

[Bringbackthedraft]

"Iran is a powder keg of internal dissatisfaction, and I am eagerly awaiting the implosion that will no doubt occur soon."

So are most people, but who has the power and the guns to back it up?????? With the mullahs in control, it is very unlikely that anything will happen soon. Its all wishful thinking on our part, its like expecting Democracy in China.

[LibreOuMort]

Thank you for bringing some news of the women in Iran. It is a dark day indeed when the media allow themselved to be cowed by mullah bullies. Where is their moral courage? Isn't an Iranian woman worth as much as any other person under international law? Oh, pardon me - I guess Sharia law is "superior" and therefore not subject to the judgement of rational human beings.... From what I see, Sharia law is a threat to humanity and needs to be abolished. It allows for child rape, the enslavement of women and the wholesale murder of people who don't march in lockstep with its tenets. There are effectively no human rights (as we know them) in Iran. That will change only as we empower the people to neutralize their abusers. The first place to start is by lifting the veil of silence and taking the consequences for speaking out. Persia must be FREE!