Good news for the world's dhimmis? "Iran's vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs Mohammad-Ali Abtahi said here Saturday that the real Islam is the religion of freedom and peace which does not contradict principles of human rights."
In a meeting with a UN official, Abtahi explained that "The (Iranian) government has done its best to opt for a version of religion which would not be against human life, peace and freedom because any religion which stands against human freedoms would be removed from political and social scenes. . . . Today, the Iranian nation demands reforms and this is among great achievements of the Islamic Republic's government."
Wonderful. Then I assume that Abtahi fully supports Nobelist Shirin Ebadi's call for the "abolition of Islamic penalties and their replacement by judicial punishments."
I trust he also supports her call "for an end to stoning and the amputation of limbs," and that he shares her "grave concern about women's rights in Iran, pointing to the fact that a woman's life is officially considered only half as valuable as a man's and that a woman's divorce rights are far weaker than her husband's."
If the Iranian government denounces the death threats against Ebadi and adopts her recommendations at the highest levels, then I'll believe Abtahi.
YEAH, RIGHT! WHEN PIGS FLY!
FIRST TESTIMONEY: MAY 2003 (under GW Bush)
SECOND TESTIMONEY: NOVEMBER 2000 (under WJ Clinton)
http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/02May03/finalReport.php3?scale=800#_Toc39640793
12. Iran
The government of Iran engages in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the victims. Minority religious groups that are not officially recognized by the state and those perceived to be attempting to convert Muslims suffer particular repression. In September 2002, the Commission wrote to Secretary Powell recommending that he continue to designate Iran as a CPC, which he did in March 2003.
http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/01Nov00/iran.php3?scale=800
November 1, 2000
The Honorable William J. Clinton President of the United States of America
The White House Washington, DC 20500
Re: Religious Freedom and U.S. Policy Toward Iran
Dear Mr. President,
On behalf of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I am writing to express the Commission's deep concern over the conditions of religious freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to make recommendations with respect to U.S. policy toward Iran in light of those conditions. This evaluation and recommendation of United States policy is made pursuant to the Commission's mandate in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ("IRFA"), Sec. 202, 22 U.S.C. ยง 6532