The West Must Bear Witness to Iran's Prisoners

Linda Frum 

Senator, Ontario

huffington post: Last month in New York, in the shadow of the sham "human rights conference" known as Durban III, I had the honour of attending a counter-conference organized by the human rights organization UN Watch. At this conference, leading dissidents and human rights activists from Iran, Syria, Cuba, Burma, North Korea and China assembled to shine a light on the extreme human rights violations that the UN's corrupt "Human Rights Committee" would rather ignore.

UN human rights expert concerned over judicial abuses

UN News Centre: 19 October 2011 – The United Nations independent expert on the situation of human rights in Iran today voiced concern over alleged violations in the country’s judicial system, citing practices such as torture, cruel or degrading treatment of detainees, and the imposition of the death penalty without proper safeguards.

An appeal to Dr. ahmad Shaheed to support Mr. Boroujerdi

His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Shaheed

UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur on Iran

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 

Palais des Nations 

CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

19th October 2011

Your Excellency,

We are writing to you today to express our gratitude for your first report on Iran, which has highlighted the abysmal situation of human rights violations.   Notwithstanding we are astonished and confounded that it did not contain any reference to the case of Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, who has been incarcerated since October 2006 in Evin and Yazd prisons—without one day of sick leave as has been customary with other prisoners and despite recommendations from the prison’s medical office.  Indeed at one point he spent 400 days in solitary confinement.

USCIRF Condemns Iran’s Continued Imprisonment of Dissident Cleric Despite Grave Health Concern

October 6, 2011 | by USCIRF

UnitedStates Commission on International Religious Freedom
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemned the continued imprisonment of dissident Iranian Shi’a cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeni Boroujerdi, who, almost five years to the day of his arrest, reportedly suffered a heart attack a few days ago.

Iranian cleric jailed for dissident views 'has deteriorating health problems'

Kazemeyni Boroujerdi is suffering from worsening Parkinson's, diabetes and high blood pressure, according to Amnesty
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 October 2011 18.18 BST

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been urged to provide a written explanation for Boroujerdi's continued detention or set him free. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters

An imprisoned Iranian cleric who fell foul of the authorities after advocating the separation of religion and state is in poor health condition, activists have warned.

Boroujerdi Suffers Heart Attack and Pulmonary Edema

HumanRights Activists News Agency: Tehran, 1st October 2011-- More than 5 years after Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi was incarcerated for being a steadfast advocate of strict adherence to the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he has suffered a severe heart attack, which has led to a pulmonary edema.  Intelligence authorities have rejected all demands by Evin prison officials for him to be treated at a properly equipped medical facility.  

Rebel Ayatollahs

Upstream Journal Summer 2011 Vol. 24 No. 1

Michelle Booth:

Iran, which purports to represent ‘political Islam’, has become the role model for injustice and violence

Enemies of the Islamic Republic

Their action is in defense of their rights and against the injustice and oppression they suffer at the hands of that ruling system. Such an action is not only permissible but also, in some cases and stages, obligatory.

Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi is an Iranian political prisoner, jailed in Evin prison since 2006. An outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic, Boroujerdi is an advocate for democracy, human rights, religious freedoms and the separation of religion from politics. He is opposed to Vilayet - i Faqih, the system that rules Iran by clerical jurisprudence.

Time to Get Real in Iran and Syria

If Obama seriously wished to defend innocent civilians against murderous regimes, he would rally to the side of one of the world’s truly heroic figures, the Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, imprisoned for more than six years and subjected to severe torture.  Amazingly, he has continued his campaign from within Tehran’s grim Evin Prison.  No charges have ever been brought against him, although it is obvious that he has been singled out for advocating separation of mosque and state, toleration of minority religions, and respect for the civil rights of the Iranian people.  In recent days he has suffered a heart attack, but has been denied medical attention.  If he dies, perhaps the winged troika of Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power, and their many admirers, will mourn the death of this fine man, whom they have judged unworthy of American support.

October 2, 2011 - 6:35 pm - by Michael Ledeen