Nobel laureate Ebadi calls for sanctions on Iran

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi urged countries on Friday to impose political sanctions on Iran by downgrading diplomatic ties and denying visas to officials, but rejected economic sanctions as hurting the Iranian people.

Ebadi said the rights situation was deteriorating rapidly and accused security forces of violently suppressing peaceful protests against what the opposition says was the fraudulent re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year.

"I am against economic sanctions and military attacks. However, if the Iranian government continues to violate human rights and ignore people's demands, then I start thinking about political sanctions," Ebadi told a human rights forum on Iran.

"Do not sell weapons to the Iranian government," she added.

Ebadi, speaking to Reuters afterwards, made clear that political sanctions should be imposed "the sooner the better, because human rights violations in Iran are growing every day."

"I don't mean cutting ties off totally with the Iranian government. What I mean is downgrading ties with the Iranian government, for example recalling respective ambassadors from Iran, downgrading diplomatic relations from the ambassador level to the charge d'affaires or consular level.

"In that way, it is not a total severing of ties but you manage to demonstrate to the Iranian people that human rights is respected and considered (as being) of the utmost importance by you," she said through an interpreter.

"Do not give visas to any government officials or any delegations representing the government," she told Reuters.

The Islamic state is facing growing Western calls for a fourth round of targeted U.N. sanctions after it stepped up enrichment of uranium the West suspects is intended for nuclear weapons. Tehran says it plans only civilian uses.

CIRCUMVENTING SANCTIONS

Ebadi said existing economic sanctions hurt ordinary Iranians rather than the elite. "Sadly, thanks to the support of China and Russia, the Iranian government has a way of circumventing these sanctions. Therefore such economic sanctions will only affect the people.

"Wider economic sanctions only hurt innocent people and we are against that," she said.

Iranian authorities say last year's presidential poll was fair. Hundreds of thousands of government supporters turned out on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

Human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers have been arrested during eight months of protests and more than 50 people from the minority Baha'i faith are in prison, Ebadi said.

The Iranian government controls Internet and phone access and jams western broadcasts to cut off activists, said Iran's most famous human rights lawyer, whose influence in the country of 70 million is seen as limited.

Ebadi disclosed she had urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to find a solution "before Iran becomes another Zimbabwe."

Ebadi was addressing a preliminary forum for Monday's U.N. Human Rights Council session, when Iran will be in the dock in a periodic examination of member states' records.

Amnesty International said on Friday at least 5,000 activists and their families had been arrested in the political turmoil. Many had been subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

"Security forces, especially the Basij militia, beat protesters, use tear gas in confined space and use live ammunition. All this is done with impunity," said Esteban Beltran of Amnesty.

He denounced "flogging, blinding, and amputations" of prisoners and executions of people who had committed crimes as juveniles.

U.S. and other Western diplomats queued overnight on Thursday to reserve a spot to address the U.N. forum, fearing Iran's allies would book up places first thing on Friday morning, diplomats said. In all, 60 delegations will speak.

"We expect it to be a fairly heated debate. Everything will depend on how Iran reacts," one Western diplomat told Reuters.

(Editing by Andrew Roche)

Credits: Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61B3JY20100212

Ebadi: Iran abusing rights on many fronts

By Shirin Ebadi, Special to CNN

February 8, 2010 9:35 p.m. EST

Shirin Ebadi speaks in Belgium after the disputed 2009 Iranian elections.

Editor's note: Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Human Rights Advocate and 2003 Nobel Laureate, writes an Open Letter to Honorable Madam Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and members of the United Nations Human Rights Council

(CNN) -- Although I have already highlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran on several occasions in writing and in person, I deem it necessary to once again draw the attention of Your Honor and the distinguished members of the UNHRC to the following issues as you prepare to review the Islamic Republic of Iran's human rights record, on February 15, 2010.

My compatriots have endured a difficult period. Their peaceful protests were responded with bullets and imprisonment. Many photographs and witnesses corroborate the government's violence, not to mention instances when sufficient facts and evidence were presented to the authorities and public that revealed the identity of the killers.

Sadly, however, the Judiciary and other state officials have not taken any steps to arrest the killers or even reduce the level of violence.

A large number of political, civil, and even cultural, activists have been arrested on unfounded charges. Some of them were sentenced to death after summary trials behind closed doors.

So far, based on official figures released by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, four of them have been executed and more than 25 others are awaiting their impending fate.

Political prisoners are treated so badly that some have died in jail and under torture. These prisoners are even deprived of the rights afforded by law to ordinary and dangerous inmates.

The defenseless people of Iran are continuing to resist and insist on the realization of their just demands for democracy and human rights.
--Dr. Shirin Ebadi

There are some whose conditions are very serious because of old age and illness. They include Dr Ebrahim Yazdi, Dr Mohammad Maleki, and engineer Behzad Nabavi. The first two are almost 80 years of age and are suffering from cancer, while the third is suffering from heart problems.

They receive no medical care and, because of the unsanitary prison conditions, there are fears that they could die at any moment.

Tragically, the number of political prisoners who are ill and in need of medical treatment is not limited to these three; there are more than 60 political prisoners who need to be hospitalized.

Iran has turned into a big prison for journalists whose only crime is to disseminate information. There are currently 63 reporters and photojournalists in Iran's prisons. Iranian students are imprisoned or barred from education for making the slightest political criticism.

Iranian women who seek equal rights are charged with conspiring to overthrow the Islamic Republic; criminal proceedings have been instituted against more than 100 of these women.

Workers and teachers have been accused of causing riots and disorder because they were trade union members and had protested against their low wages. Some of them have been imprisoned, and many have lost their jobs.

Not only non-Muslims are persecuted -- such as members of the Baha'i faith who, since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, have not even been allowed to study at university -- but even the followers of Iran's official religion, Shi'ite Islam, have not been immune from government repression; as an example, one could cite the persecution and detention of the Gonabad Dervishes [who practice the Sufi tradition of Islam].

Even more appallingly, they have recently embarked on yet another means of exerting pressure on political and social activists, which is to take one or a few of their relatives hostage.

In so doing, they aim to attain their illegitimate objectives through putting psychological pressure on the activists. In that regard, one could point to the arrest of two daughters of a human rights activist Mr. Tavassoli. Sadly, so far eight families have been victims of the same phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the plight of human rights defenders is the worst because the authorities do not want any reports whatsoever on the human rights violations in Iran to leave the country.

As a result, most of the known activists in Iran are either in prison or barred from traveling abroad; or they have been forced underground and into hiding. More distressingly, indictments have been issued against some of them for Moharebeh (waging war against God), which is punishable by death.

Under such circumstances, the defenseless people of Iran are continuing to resist and insist on the realization of their just demands for democracy and human rights by demonstrating their political maturity through peaceful protests.

My question to you in your capacity as representatives of UNHRC member states is this: For how much longer do you believe that you could urge young people to remain calm? The patience and tolerance of Iranian people, however high, is not infinite.

A recurrence of the recent months' events, the continuation of the repressive policies, and the killing of defenseless people, could bring about a catastrophe that may undermine peace and security in Iran, if not in the entire region.

So, I urge you, yet again, to use whatever means possible to convince the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to abide by the resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, in particular the resolution of December 2009; to allow human rights rapporteurs, especially those who deal with arbitrary arrests, freedom of expression, religion and women's rights, to enter Iran, and to cooperate with them.

I also urge you to appoint a special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, who would be able to continuously monitor the government's conduct and, by offering prompt advice and suggestions, help end the political crisis and mounting repression.

My honorable friends! Please bear in mind that we are all responsible and accountable to history. God forbid, lest we stand ashamed before a defenseless nation because of our political complicities.

Credits: CNN: Ebadi: Iran abusing rights on many fronts