U.S. Congress meeting urges greater attention to human rights abuses in Iran

                     

Members of Congress and prominent political figures in U.S. called for greater attention to human rights abuses in Iran and that nuclear talks should not ignore the clerical regime’s appalling rights record.

The briefing held on Capitol Hill also touched on the need to protect Iranian dissidents at Camp Liberty, the failure of recent nuclear talks, and the Iranian regime’s destructive role in the region.

Ambassador Robert Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria expressed concern over talk of western cooperation with the Iranian regime against ISIS, saying American interests are not the same as Tehran’s in the region.

“The Iranians are not interested in a political rapprochement between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq. They’re actually increasing the sectarian animosity,” he said.

Rep. Ed Royce, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, said the Iranian regime has been caught cheating in its nuclear program on a number of occasions and the majority of the Iranian people do not want the theocracy.

He said: “We have a special responsibility to the people at Camp Liberty and that needs to be met.”
“It’s disingenuous and dangerously foolish and innocent of us to be negotiating with a murderous regime like this,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) told the briefing entitled: “Nuke Talks: No excuse to ignore rights abuses in Iran”.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D -TX) highlighted the inhumane medical siege at Camp Liberty and said it should end immediately. The fact that “doctors and physicians and medicine are not allowed in, is a clear human rights violation,” she said.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) referred to Hassan Rouhani’s deception and abysmal record, saying, “Negotiations drag on from extension to extension, as human rights abuses get worse and worse.”
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) said, “I call once again on our administration to focus, to shine the spotlight on what is happening in Camp Liberty. … My desire would be that we get a new set of people over there in Camp Liberty to run it, and that we find a final solution of how we move them out of harm’s way.”

 Mr. Bruce McColm, former Freedom House Executive Director, referred to the worsening situation at Camp Liberty, and called on Congress to act immediately to save the residents.

Mrs.Linda Chavez, a former expert to the UN that moderated the event said: “We need to recognize that Camp Liberty is indeed a refugee camp and it should be under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees."

"But most of all we need to be looking forward to a time that mullahs no longer govern Iran. We need to be looking toward the people who have been promoting liberty for the Iranian people like Madam Maryam Rajavi."

"The Iranian Resistance has been committed to the separation of church and state, not the imposition of a theocratic state but allowing all denominations being able to practice the people have the freedom of the individual conscious. That they believe in complete gender equality."

The briefing which marked the Human Rights Day, came on the heels of a three-day photo exhibit on Capitol Hill to highlight the rapidly deteriorating situation of human rights in Iran.

At least 1,171 people, including 37 women, 23 dissidents and 17 juveniles have been hanged across the country since Rouhani became president in August 2014.