Mr. President Human Rights and Nuclear Negotiations should go in tandem
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2014
Contact: info@iranroundtable.org
Phone: (571) 327-0674
Mr. President, "Human Rights and Nuclear Negotiations should go in tandem"
Iran Roundtable, (Washington, DC) - Recent nuclear negotiations between the West and the Islamic Republic of Iran has raised concerns among ordinary Iranians that the alarming human rights violations under the Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani are being ignored in the talks.
In fact, under the new administration the pace of executions has accelerated to the extent that Iran has the highest rate of execution in the world and is ranked second after China in terms of the number of individuals executed. Since he took office, more than 400 executions are reported. By contrast, the total number of execution in 2013 exceeded 700.
In addition, human rights violations are still widespread; many prisoners of consciousness are still in prison; religious and ethnic minorities are still being persecuted; torture and arbitrary arrests of political prisoners are common place; and freedom of expression and assembly are severely curtailed.
Iran Roundtable has raised this concern in a letter1 to the President of United States of America, Barack Obama. Part of the letter reads : "While fully supporting the Administration's policy of preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons, we firmly believe that promoting democracy and human rights in Iran, along with the nuclear issue, should remain as the core issues on the agenda of the US-Iran negotiations."
"Our humble recommendation reflects the universal demand and aspiration of the Iranian people for human rights and democracy, for establishment of an independent judiciary, for release of all political prisoners, and for freedom of expression, values that are in full accord with your administration's stated objectives and the long standing US laws and traditions. These values are a precondition for creating long-term peace and stability in Iran and throughout the Middle East. " the letter concluded.
Iran Roundtable Vice-President Homayoun Mobasseri stated that Iran Roundtable believes that sanctions relief must be conditional on improvement of human rights situation in Iran in addition to progress on nuclear negotiations. “So long as this regime violates the fundamental rights of the Iranian people at home and supports terrorism abroad, the international community’s pressures on the regime of Islamic Republic must remain intact.”
