Hassan Rouhani: International Criticism of Iran’s Human Rights Record is a ‘Pretext’
While international bodies criticize the Islamic Republic of Iran’s performance regarding human rights violations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, while outlining measures that the judiciary can take to improve the human rights situation in Iran, called international criticism of Iran’s human rights situation a “pretext” and said this pretext can be taken away from the West.
Mr. Rouhani, speaking on Sunday, July 2, at a judiciary conference, criticized the arrest of individuals without “sufficient evidence.” He said: “Islam does not allow us, if someone has committed a crime, to pressurize them beyond the punishment specified for that crime. We have no right to damage people’s reputation and summon or apprehend anyone without sufficient evidence. Summoning people without obtaining evidence is another matter. First there must be evidence to summon someone, not that we summon someone and then bring evidence.”
Iran’s President added: “A verdict of conviction and acquittal should be the same for the judge and, as much as possible, reach acquittal and the principle of innocence. Someone said a pickaxe has hit the principle of innocence, but the principle of innocence is alive and active, and we are pursuing that if sufficient evidence is found from that side, the law will be executed.”
Hassan Rouhani also said he hopes judicial officers do not act in a partisan and factional manner. According to him, judicial officers belong to the Ministry of Intelligence and the police force, and these officers who play a role in case formation should not act in a partisan and factional manner.
IRGC Officers’ Conduct
This statement by Iran’s President comes as the IRGC Intelligence Organization has become one of the important judicial officers in political, security, and economic cases in recent years and has had disputes with the Ministry of Intelligence in this regard.
The peak of these disputes is the arrest of managers of telegram channels supporting the government. The Ministry of Intelligence believes these managers were arrested without reason, but the judicial apparatus considers their charges security-related.
On the other hand, Mr. Rouhani’s criticism of some judicial officers’ performance comes while human rights activists also criticize the performance of officers from his government’s Ministry of Intelligence.
Criticism of Rouhani Government’s Ministry of Intelligence Performance
Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said that Mr. Rouhani’s government’s Ministry of Intelligence has caused the arrest of many journalists and civil activists, and according to her, Mr. Rouhani cannot evade this matter because the Ministry of Intelligence is the complainant in these arrests.
She cited, for example, the arrest of Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist, who was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence officers and tried on the complaint of this ministry.
Ms. Ebadi had previously criticized Iran’s human rights situation, referring to political prisoners in Iran as “hostages” of security institutions such as the Ministry of Intelligence. She reminded Mr. Rouhani of his oath to uphold the Constitution and asked which of Iran’s political and ideological prisoners have been tried publicly and in the presence of a jury?
In any case, Iran’s President, at a conference attended by all high-ranking officials of the judiciary, emphasized that the government and judicial apparatus can “take human rights pretexts” from the West and, according to him, isolate America.
The United Nations, many Western countries, and international human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of violating human rights.
Violations of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities and imprisoning their activists, violations of freedom of expression and imprisoning journalists, security crackdowns on civil activists, and widespread executions have been cited as human rights violations in Iran.
Source: Voice of America
