Mandela’s legacy lives on in Iranian resistance

On Tuesday the international community recognized International Human Rights Day and reaffirmed the fundamental truths enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Shortly thereafter, world leaders gathered to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of former South African president Nelson Mandela at his ancestral home in the Eastern Cape.

With the unforgiving spotlight on human rights issues and the moral courage of those who speak truth to power, it promises to be a difficult week for despots the world over.

No more so is this the case than in Tehran where the clerical elite promotes the modern equivalent of South Africa’s apartheid-era violence and exclusionist policies.

Since the interim nuclear accord reached in Geneva last month, the regime’s merry apologists and paid hands in Washington have been busily spinning tales of moderation and reform that belies the available evidence.

Consider the following: The Iranian people are consistently ranked among the least free in the world in indexes of civil and political liberties. Composite scoring of corruption data places the country’s public sector in the bottom tier in terms of transparency. And indexes of economic freedom note that Iran is among the least economically free countries in the world.......

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/192863-mandelas-legacy-lives-on-in-iranian-resistance#.Uqy_IFiq8gg.facebook