Iran Nobel laureate says U.S. must press Iran on human rights

Washington, 14 October (WashingtonTV)—Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, on Tuesday accused the United States of turning a blind eye to human rights violations in Iran, in its efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear drive.

Ebadi, a human rights lawyer, said she hoped that US President Barack Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week, would widen his view of peace to include the basic rights of people to live in freedom and dignity.

“If Mr. Obama is saying that he wants to press the hand of friendship of other nations, (why) does he choose to press the hand of a country that violates human rights,” she said in an interview with Reuters.

Ebadi told Reuters that Iran has the world’s highest rate of juvenile death sentences and the largest number of imprisoned journalists.

“So (why) does the West, and especially the United States, choose to close its eyes to these facts,” she asked.

On Sunday, Iran executed Behnoud Shojaee, who was sentenced to death for a murder he was accused of committing when he was 17.

Another juvenile offender, Safar Agnooti, is at risk of execution this week.

According to Amnesty International, another 140 juvenile offenders are known to be on death row in Iran.

Ebadi also called for the United States and Europe to take a stronger stand in defending three people sentenced to death over the post-election unrest and links to exiled opposition group. She said that the claims that the three men were involved in the post-election protests were “a big lie”.

“If they speak up more about them, it will certainly help. Europe and the United States cannot be indifferent to human rights violations in Iran,” she told Reuters.

“In the past three years, they have only spoken of the nuclear issue, primarily. And even now, the United States wants to only focus on talking about the nuclear issue with Iran,” she added.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband defended their countries’ engagement with Iran.

“We have negotiated with many, many countries over the years – the former Soviet Union, for example – whose human rights record and behavior toward their own people was of great concern to us, and that we spoke out about it at the same time that we negotiated arms control agreements,” Clinton said during a visit to London.

Clinton said it was “tragic” that the Iranian government was “so afraid of their own people”, pointing to the use of “secret prisons” and “show trials”.

The United States will continue to speak out on behalf of human rights, democracy and freedom of expression, she vowed.

“It's important that the people in Iran know that the United States, the United Kingdom, and others in the international community, are watching very closely as to what is happening, and standing on their side,” Clinton added.

Miliband said that it was not for London to choose the government of Iran, but that it was committed to the principle of human rights.

He said the message to the Iranian government and the people was that the people’s rights “need to be sacrosanct.”

Sources: Reuters, Amnesty International website, US State Department website

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