I am shocked, not because a Scottish university is going to
award Khatami, but because a British journalist, a European citizen, finally got it that Khatami is no better than any other criminal mullahs we know. It can be a good thing if Europeans also stop thinking of the regime of Iran as a semi-democratic regime as former British foreign minister used to say it is.
Khatami is a member of at least 11 key regime bodies, including the Assembly of Experts. As Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in the 1980s and 1990s, before a temporary falling out with the powers that be, he censored hundreds of books and publications. He defends the death penalty for homosexuality — while mendaciously declaring that it is in practice well-nigh impossible to receive such a punishment.
Read this excellent article and you may leave comments to show your appreciation for the author's understanding of the stakes.
(h/t Azarmehr)
6 comments:
It's rather telling that he is being awarded an honorary Doctorate from a university. It would seem the PC disease infects universities everywhere in the world.
Good article, btw.
Great Catch:
Iran is home to 350,000 members of the Baha'i religion. All of these people are denied legal equality by reason of their beliefs. In 1998 a 52 year old man, Ruh'ullah Rohani, a Baha'i, was executed for the crime of apostasy. He did not have access to lawyer and was given oral notice of his death sentence 24 hours before being hung. 6 other Baha'is were on death row that year, but an international outcry saved them from the same fate. A Christian pastor, Hamid Pourmand, was also sentenced to death for apostasy during Khatami's period of office, and only saved by similar pressure. That is the kind of interfaith tolerance that existed in Iran under Khatami, that is the reality.
The annual reports of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the FCO Annual Human Rights report, human rights NGO reports and UN resolutions throughout the years 1997 to 2005 all record serious problems of religious tolerance in Iran for Baha'is, and some problems for Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, as well as for Sufi and Sunni Muslims.
There is ample evidence that St Andrews University and Sir Menzies Campbell could locate with ease that prove conclusively that whatever honeyed words were coming from the Iranian Presidency on interfaith relations OUTSIDE of Iran, for religious minorities INSIDE Iran, there was a lack of equality, repression and frequent human rights abuses.
He has moved to here
Winston, have you seen this article?
Argentine prosecutors seek arrest of former Iranian president in Jewish center bombing
I wish the US government had the guts to issue arrest warrants for Iranian officials for the crimes of Hezbollah! Bravo, Argentina!
Craig
Yes, I have already made a post on this but since blogger.com was down couldn't publish it
Thank you for the link. That was a great article. Now if only the others will open their eyes...
Post a Comment