Sir David Amess
Mr.
Amess is Conservative MP for Southend West in the House of Commons and
co-chair of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom.
In Iran, punishment for breaking the law is brutal. In May, 30
college students were sentenced to 99 lashes for having a co-ed
party—but consider them lucky.
Over the past three years alone the Iranian regime has carried
out over 2,400 executions, more than at any period since the revolution.
This startling rate of executions was enough to give the country the
title of top executioner per capita in the world. And Iran’s current and
supposedly “reformist” President Hassan Rouhani, described these
executions publicly in 2014 as “God’s commandments” and “laws of the
parliament that belongs to the people.”
Yet this rate of executions, which disproportionately targets
opposition figures and ethnic minorities, and the barbaric punishments
inflicted on its own citizens, which also includes forced amputations,
has elicited little more than a shrug from the West. Especially in
Washington D.C. there has only been lip service and no action. This type
of “concern” over “action” approach is good for short-term political
gains, but the people of Iran, the Middle East and those across the
globe will continue to pay a high price in real terms.
We can’t ignore Iran
Our history books are littered with examples. The decision to
not get involved in Rwanda enabled genocide, the decision to not act
decisively on North Korea left a growing nuclear threat and the decision
to ignore Syria helped the Assad regime on one end and extremist groups
on the other, including ISIS. We must not ignore Iran.
The Iranian regime’s ideology, combined with their continued
push towards nuclear weapons [via public ballistic missile tests], their
unabated sewing of turmoil and sponsorship of terrorism in the region,
along with their domestic abuses make them a particularly worrying case
vis-à-vis inaction.
So what’s next?
We can certainly agree what Iran should not be and that is
another Iraq war. A simply militaristic approach with a top-down aim of
imposing democracy from the outside, combined with a long military
occupation is a very bad idea. Luckily, there are many avenues of
involvement, all of which involve empowering the Iranian people
themselves to embrace a democratic system we already know they support.
An alternative to Iran’s current theocracy
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (
NCRI) is the
largest organized opposition to Iran’s current theocracy. They are led
by Maryam Rajavi who espouses the idea of a free and democratic Iran
that fosters separation of church and state, a moderate and progressive
Islam, friendly ties with neighbors and the international community, and
an embrace of international norms including abolition of capital
punishment. The
NCRI had advocated for real-world solutions in order for
the international community to help the Iranian people achieve this
goal, solutions that include heightened economic sanctions on the
theocratic leaders and those responsible for human rights abuses in
Iran, a recognition of Iran’s human rights record and violent foreign
policy, along with approaches vis-à-vis the nuclear program that are
more well adapted to an Iran that has time and again deceived the
international community.
The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (
PMOI or
MeK), the
principal Iranian resistance movement, is at the core of the
NCRI.
Actually it was PMOI activists who exposed the Iranian regime’s
clandestine nuclear sites, alarming the world about the threat of Iran’s
secret program to acquire nuclear weapons.
Let the Iranian voice for democracy be heard
On July 9 the Iranians will hold an important international
event aimed at making Iranian voice for democracy heard. The event,
entitled “Free Iran” will be attended by hundreds of international
dignitaries, including a stellar bipartisan list of American
dignitaries, a unique phenomenon given the polarized election season in
the U.S. As the U.S. is moving towards choosing a new president, having
the right policy on Iran will be a daunting challenge for whoever will
be at the Oval Office this time next year.
It is up to us in the West to fight for the rights of those who
do not have a voice around the globe and perhaps nowhere is that more
important and with more of a potential positive effect than Iran.
To not speak up and defend moderate Islam against extremism would be letting evil triumph.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/07/06/iran-extremism-consequences/#3ebce9072495
