West has sacrificed its values to advance nuclear talks with Iran, MEP says The West has sacrificed its values and turned a blind eye to human rights abuses in Iran to advance the nuclear talks, a British MEP (Labour) has told a conference in Paris. Jude Kirton-Darling also said it was totally unacceptable that the international community had abandoned Iranian dissidents in Camp Liberty who the US and UN had recognised as refugees needing safe haven. Speaking on the first anniversary of the Camp Ashraf massacre, Ms Kirton-Darling said: It is with sadness that Im participating in your conference on the anniversary of two horrible massacres; one on 1 September 2013 in Camp Ashraf and the other between August and October of 1988 when 30,000 political prisoners affiliated with PMOI (MEK) were brutally slaughtered in Iranian prisons. I pay tribute to the victims of these tragedies. I strongly regret that our governments are holding talks with the Iranian regime, while remaining silent on the fact that that same regime targets its opponents and has murdered them in such brutal ways. It seems to me that we have sacrificed our values and turned a blind eye to the human rights situation in Iran to advance the nuclear talks. Our silence has sadly allowed the regime to commit more human rights abuses under the cover of these talks. We should not make our positions on human rights conditional, on nuclear talks or any other topic. Human rights are human rights and there can be no exception. There had now been almost 1,000 hangings in a year under so-called moderate Hassan Rouhani - the highest number during a year by any Iranian president for the past 25 years, Ms Kirton-Darling said. She added: Violations of basic human rights are routine. With women and young people particularly suppressed. Abuses of the freedom of press and the imprisonment of journalists should be rightly criticised. Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities have not been spared. I am extremely worried at the recent crises at Camp Liberty, with the blockade of water, fuel and food supplies. I am particularly concerned for the 800 courageous women there. The Iranian regime cannot be allowed to hunt down members of its main opposition movement outside its borders in Iraq. This is not the behaviour of modernisers or ‘moderates’. The treatment of the residents of Camp Liberty should be a benchmark for measuring the regimes behaviour. I am therefore very glad that Iran has a truly democratic alternative led by women. This gives a chance to the international community to adopt a decent position on Iran by standing firm against tyranny and supporting the National Council of Resistance led by Mrs Maryam Rajavi who seeks a democratic secular government. I will do my best efforts in the European Parliament to make that arch of history bend quicker for those massacred in 1988 and last year in the struggle for a free Iran. In this conference, in addition to Mrs. Rajavi, the following also offered speeches: From the United States: General Hugh Shelton, Chairman of the Army Joint Chiefs of Staff (1997-2001); Tom Ridge, first Secretary of Homeland Security; Edward Rendell, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Governor of Pennsylvania; Michael Mukasey, Attorney General (2007-2009); Patrick Kennedy, member of House of Representatives (1995-2011); from the European Parliament: Tunne Kelam and Julie Ward MEPs; from Algeria: Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister; from Syria: Haitham al-Maleh, Chairman of Judiciary Bureau of National Coalition; Hakim Nazir, Secretary of Political Bureau of National Coalition; from Netherlands: Adrianus Melkert, Special Representative of UN Secretary-General for Iraq (2009-2011); from France: Rama Yade, former French Minister for Human Rights and Vice President of Radical Party; Dominique Lefebvre, member of French National Assembly; Jean-Francois Legaret, Mayor of Paris 1st District; Yves Bonnet, former Head of DST; Jean-Pierre Brard, former Senator; Judge Francois Colcombet, joint Chief of French Committee for a Democratic Iran; Cynthia Fleury, neo-philosopher. Judith Kirton-Darling https://youtube/watch?v=5zQbkznW4E4
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 12:36:04 +0000
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