Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Comité permanent des affaires étrangères et du développement international

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 09, 2019 -

Repression of civil and political rights and freedoms, arbitrary arrests, detentions of peaceful protestors, and the repeated contravention of due process rights. Those were among the human rights violations in Iran that witnesses highlighted during a special meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

As part of Iran Accountability Week 2019, the Committee heard testimony from Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian human rights lawyer and activist, Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and activist and Nikahang Kowsar, an Iranian-Canadian environmentalist. The Committee also heard from Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British national who has been arbitrarily imprisoned in Iran since 2016.

Witnesses provided a deeply troubling account of the human rights situation in Iran today, 40 years after the Islamic Revolution. The Committee heard that the Iranian regime continues to engage directly in, or tolerate, systematic and widespread violations of human rights and human dignity. That includes ongoing violations of freedoms of assembly and expression, as well as violations of the rights of women and religious and ethnic minorities.

This testimony is in keeping with reports by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Among other serious concerns, the Special Rapporteur has documented the Iranian regime’s use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders and its commission of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.

The Committee condemns the Iranian regime’s human rights record and calls on it to immediately release all political prisoners and other persons who have been arbitrarily detained. The Committee urges the Government of Canada to continue to apply diplomatic pressure on Iran to live up to its domestic and international human rights obligations. It is also calling on the Government of Canada to consider imposing targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for the gross violation of human rights in Iran.

The Committee further condemns Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism, including its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, and its ongoing support for the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Iran’s destabilizing influence in the Middle East is a threat to regional and global peace and security. Finally, the Committee extends its support to the courageous human rights defenders in Iran and around the world who are working – often at great danger to themselves – to defend the rights and freedoms of Iranians.