Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called on Iran to release all political prisoners and expressed alarm about the fate of several specific detainees.
Clinton said the US believes that several Iranians are in danger of imminent execution for speaking out against the disputed June 2009 presidential election. She named three: Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad Haj Aghaei and Javad Lari.
“The United States urges the Iranian government to halt these executions in accordance with its obligations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners and imprisoned human rights defenders,” she said.
In her written statement, Clinton urged solidarity with the Iranian people, saying the US is deeply concerned that Iran is denying its citizens their civil rights.
Clinton did not say why she was speaking out on this issue now.
Earlier in the day her spokesman, P.J. Crowley, told reporters that the issue of human rights abuses in Iran is likely to be on the agenda if the US and Iran and other nations meet in the fall to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.
“We obviously have concerns, long-standing concerns about the persecution of minorities inside Iran,” Crowley said. “It is not a tolerant society.”
Clinton also mentioned the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose sentence of death by stoning was lifted in July. That announcement came after international outrage over plans to execute the mother of two for adultery — an offense her supporters say she confessed to under duress.
“We remain troubled” by her case, Clinton said, noting that while the government said she would not face execution by stoning, “her fate is unclear.”
source: AP
Brazil Tuesday signed on to UN sanctions against Iran despite misgivings over the measures following its efforts to negotiate a nuclear-swap deal with the Islamic state.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the decree “because there is a tradition of carrying out (UN) Security Council resolutions, including those we don’t agree with,” Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters.
Brazil and Turkey voted against the UN sanctions resolution when it was put to the security council in June. The two countries had brokered an agreement from Tehran in May to hand over much of its stock of low-enriched uranium in exchange for higher-enriched nuclear fuel unable to be used to develop atomic weapons.
The United States and its allies called the agreement insufficient and moved on with the sanctions resolution.
Washington fears Iran is developing a nuclear arsenal under cover of its energy program, something Tehran denies.
Brazilian officials had already said they would observe the sanctions imposed on Iran, regardless of their opposition to them.
source: AFP
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