Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004 - 2005 - Iran

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released its report Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004 - 2005. Here is the excerpt on Iran:

Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocratic, constitutional republic dominated by Shi'a religious leaders. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dominates the legislative, executive and judicial branches, directly controls the armed forces and indirectly controls internal security forces. President Mohammed Khatami, who won a second four-year term in multiparty elections in 2001, heads the executive branch. Presidential elections are scheduled for June 17, 2005. In parliamentary elections on February 20, 2004, the conservative cleric-dominated Guardian Council excluded virtually all reformist candidates, including 85 incumbent members of parliament. In recent years, the conservative backlash against reformist trends and parties has increased in momentum.

In 2004, the Government's poor human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. Summary executions, disappearances, extremist vigilantism, widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment remained problems. Despite the Government's reassertion that torture was illegal, there was no evidence that authorities had discontinued the practice. The investigation into the death of a dual national Canadian/Iranian photographer, who suffered a brain hemorrhage after sustaining injuries while in prison, stagnated. Authorities gradually suppressed almost all independent domestic media outlets, arresting or effectively silencing their journalists. The last forum for free debate, weblogs, started to come under pressure when the Government began arresting their creators and forcing them to sign false confessions. The Government continued to discriminate against and harass the Baha'i community and other religious and ethnic minority groups, including Jews, Christians and Sunni and Sufi Muslims. Authorities bulldozed two sacred Baha'i sites. The Government continued to severely restrict worker rights, including freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively. On May Day 2004, authorities arrested and detained for several weeks several workers who attempted to commemorate the holiday. Reports of death sentences by stoning of women in rural Iran were persistent but could not be confirmed.

The U.S. human rights and democracy strategy for Iran centers on urging friends and allies to condition improvements in their bilateral and trade relations with Iran on positive changes in Iran's human rights policies and other areas of concern. The United States also supports the continuing efforts of the Iranian people to institute greater freedoms and increase political participation in Iran; pushes for resolutions criticizing Iran's human rights policies at the UN and in other international fora; and publicly highlights the Iranian Government's abuse of its citizens' human rights.

Although the United States does not maintain diplomatic relations with Iran, the United States continues its multi-faceted effort to support the Iranian people's aspirations to live in a democratic country where human rights are respected.

In fall 2004, for a second year in a row, the United States co-sponsored and actively supported a Canadian resolution at the UN General Assembly condemning the human rights situation in Iran. The Iran human rights resolution passed in the UN General Assembly's 59th Plenary, sending an important signal to the Iranian people that the international community recognized their suffering and to the Iranian Government that dialogue on human rights was no substitute for concrete action to improve its record, and that the serious concern about Iran's overall international behavior would not blunt the international community's focus on the internal human rights situation.

The United States regularly raised concerns about Iran's poor human rights record during consultations with allies and followed existing formal human rights dialogues between U.S. allies and the Government of Iran.

Calling for Iran to start respecting its citizens' human rights was central to the United States overall policy approach and was reflected in all public statements. President Bush and senior-level U.S. officials repeatedly expressed their support for the Iranian people in their quest for freedom, democracy and a more transparent and accountable government. United States representatives regularly met with members of various groups suffering human rights abuses in Iran. Their complaints were documented for dissemination to other governments and for inclusion in the State Department's annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Iran and the Report on International Religious Freedom. In September 2004, Secretary of State Powell again designated Iran as a "Country of Particular Concern" for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

Under current law, Iran is ineligible for most assistance from the United States Government. However, in 2004 the Department of State awarded a grant to document abuses inside Iran, taking advantage of limited special authority recently granted by Congress to provide grants to educational institutions, humanitarian groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights. The project seeks to raise public awareness of accountability and rule of law as an important aspect of the democratization process in Iran. The United States actively explored possibilities for further grants and prepared to solicit proposals in 2005 to support democracy and human rights inside Iran. In addition, with U.S. funds, the National Endowment for Democracy supported the advancement of democracy and human rights standards inside Iran. The United States also supported Voice of America broadcasts into Iran, a website in Persian to speak directly to the Iranian people about U.S. policy and Persian-language Radio Farda, which operates 24 hours a day. In response to the December 26, 2003 earthquake in Bam, in which more than 40,000 were killed, the United States quickly assembled and deployed a response team to the scene through the USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The United States issued licenses authorizing donations from U.S. citizens and permitting several U.S. NGOs to provide humanitarian assistance for a period of a year.

It appears to me that the US strategy on Iran has not changed since I published my earlier analysis, where I argued that when the EU3/Iran talks fail, we will support regime change in Iran by standing aggressively with the Iranian people in the quest for a real democracy and human rights.