Iranian-Born Swedish Parliamentarian: Supporting Iran’s Protesters is Supporting Democracy

Azadeh Rajchán-Gustavsson, an Iranian-born member of the Swedish parliament, told Deutsche Welle that when principles of democracy, human rights and freedoms are violated in a country, parliaments of other nations should respond to it in light of ongoing protests in Iran.

A group of Swedish parliamentarians gathered in front of the Swedish parliament building on Tuesday, November 19 (November 28 on the Persian calendar) and took a group photo while holding placards bearing the “hashtag Iran protests.”

Azadeh Rajchán-Gustavsson, one of the organizers of this gathering, told Deutsche Welle: “Myself and four other Iranian-born representatives who were in contact with each other decided to support the Iranian people through a simple action and asked all five Swedish parties to join us. Our goal was to declare through this photo that defending protesting Iranians is not a partisan issue; it is a matter of democracy, freedom of speech, human rights and freedom of assembly. Rights that every parliament must defend. Because these principles are the foundation of democracy, and if these principles are trampled in a country, other parliaments should respond to it.”

This Social Democratic party representative told Deutsche Welle that other measures are underway: “Among them, we are in the process of planning to hold a seminar in which we inform other representatives, political activists and the public about the situation in Iran.”

Ms. Rajchán-Gustavsson praised the measure taken by Sweden’s foreign minister in posting a tweet in English and said it is expected that the Swedish government, as a democratic government, should defend the civil freedoms of citizens of other countries.

Earlier, Ann Linde, Sweden’s foreign minister, had written in a tweet: Many Swedes have relatives and friends in Iran and it is concerning for them to see rising tensions in this country.

She also wrote that the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the country’s embassy in Tehran are carefully monitoring the current situation in Iran. She called on the parties to the conflict to exercise restraint.

Source: DW