Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on May 6th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Order, please.

Welcome to the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Today is Wednesday, May 6, 2014, and this is our 25th meeting.

We are televised, colleagues, and we have two witnesses today as part of our Iran accountability week. This is a series of hearings that have been occurring for several years now at the behest of our colleague, Professor Cotler, but with the full support of all committee members.

We have two witnesses with us today. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo is the chief executive officer of the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, and Shari Bryan is the vice-president of the National Democratic Institute.

My clerk advises me, Madam Haghighatjoo, you'll begin first and that Ms. Bryan, you have somewhat more concise or fewer remarks. I'll just mention as you're tracking your remarks, if they're not fully prepared, that the more time that is taken up in the opening remarks, the less time we have for you to respond to questions.

From my own experience, and I think committee members will agree with me, often the questioning and answers are the parts that are best able to allow you to bring out the facts that you think should be before the subcommittee.

Yes, Mr. Sweet.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Mr. Chair, because of the nature of the testimony today and the fact that I know some of our members usually have to leave at the end to go into the House, I wonder if we could get a quick agreement.

We have witnesses coming on the Eritrean study. I don't know when they're rescheduled, but I've just been privy, as you are aware, Chair, of a human rights impact assessment that was done by an international human rights lawyer on the specific mine, the Bisha mine in Eritrea.

I've already chatted with most colleagues to have this gentleman who did this study come here and testify before us. I'm wondering if we could just get agreement, and schedule that in.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Is there any comment on that?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

There's agreement. Okay. Well, perhaps we can leave it up to the clerk to determine the most suitable time.

Let's turn back to our witnesses. I invite you, Ms. Haghighatjoo, to please begin your testimony.

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Chief Executive Officer, Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, As an Individual]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and honourable members. It is a privilege to be here.

As you may know from my background, I was an elected member of the Iranian Parliament from 2000 until 2004, and I was the youngest woman in the Parliament.

Today l would like to discuss Iran's election processes, which, as l will demonstrate, violate principles of free and fair elections. As elected members, you all know that conducting free, fair, and transparent elections is essential for true representation of a country's population to govern themselves and translate their will into action. Lack of free, fair, and transparent elections is the root cause of all other problems with which this committee is concerned, since it systematically denies office to all Iranians, who cannot impact policies properly.

Iran is a signatory to many international documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections. However, elections have systematically been manipulated by the state agencies. These include the Supreme Leader and his office; the 12-member Guardian Council, which functions as the only election oversight body; the election administration, run by the interior ministry; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC; and the intelligence ministry, to name a few.

The manipulation of electoral processes can be divided into three main types, which l will briefly describe: first, the legalization of discrimination against certain groups and individuals to prevent them from standing for any election sanctioned by the Iranian election laws; second, barring a majority of candidates, including opposition members, from contesting; and third, committing systematic electoral fraud whenever needed.

The law pertaining to the Assembly of Experts bars individuals who have not completed seminary school and gained permission to issue fatwas, or religious edicts, known as mujtahid. This means that the general population and majority of elites are barred from participating in this key institution that selects the Supreme Leader. The presidential election law discriminates against non-Shia Muslims, non-Muslims, and women.

Parliamentary election laws and city and village council election laws discriminate against many categories of individuals, including those who are non-practising Muslims and not loyal to the Supreme Leader of Iran, those who worked with the previous regime, and those convicted of religious crimes.

The second category, barring candidates, has been systematically exercised in Iran through the approbatory supervision of the Guardian Council, called nezarate esteswabi, which includes three important stages. The GC is the ultimate decision-making body regarding the credentials of candidates to stand for office.

In December 2003, by order of the Supreme Leader, the GC decided to base approval of candidates for any election on the proven qualification of candidates, called ehraz salahiyat, which is contrary to the constitution and the concept of free and fair elections, and deprives citizens of the right to compete in elections. Just as an example, for the parliamentary election, the GC disqualified 49% of candidates, 3,379 out of 6,000, in 2004.

I have many examples, but I will just skip this part.

In recent years, the GC has expanded its control over county executive boards by disqualifying nominated trustees until a desired board is formed.

The next stage, which is very important, is invalidating and halting elections. The Guardian Council has invalidated, partially or totally, outcomes of many districts in previous elections without being accountable before law. There are no independent international or domestic election observers allowed in Iran, and the results from each polling station are not publicly accessible. Even candidates and representatives are not entitled to a copy of polling station minutes, and the compilation of final results takes place behind closed doors, without the presence of independent supervision. As a result, it is not clear whether invalidations happen due to massive fraudulent activities.

Presumably, the GC has nullified outcomes of elections in particular districts to give seats to desired candidates. For instance, in 2000, when I was elected as a member of Parliament, 700,000 votes of Tehran were nullified in order to give a seat to Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, who is the father-in-law of the son of the Supreme Leader and who later became the speaker of the Parliament in the following parliamentary election.

The third category is systematic electoral fraud whenever needed. In the last decade, a political phenomenon has been identified by political activists, called "engineering elections". Even though the Iranian constitution and election laws have forbidden interference of military personnel in politics, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has for a decade played an important role in engineering elections.

Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, a former deputy of IRGC, revealed that the IRGC had "a complex and multi-layered design to ensure the victory of the conservative forces". Ali Motahari, a current member of Parliament, stated in his parliamentary address that the IRGC has interfered in many districts and supported their desired candidates. Many candidates who won and who lost have affirmed this.

In the absence of independent media and free political parties and assemblies, the state propaganda apparatus, including the national TV and radio as well as the offices of Friday prayer imams and mosques, are used to shape the public opinion in favour of the regime's desired candidates. Last, but not least, is the role of Komite Emdad Imam Khomeini, a state-run organization to support the poor, which has played a role in buying votes by distributing goods to the poor.

What can be done? These systematic interventions demonstrate that elections are not free, fair, and transparent in Iran. This process has a more negative and unbalanced impact on women in particular.

Therefore, the international community should employ nonviolent measures to pressure Iran to meet her international obligations under the UDHR, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international treaties.

The second cycle of the Human Rights Council universal periodic review for Iran is scheduled for October 2014. Addressing systematic violations of free, fair, and transparent elections in Iran must be part of the second review, and Canada has an important role to play.

Canada has been consistent in its approach to human rights. Thanks to all of you, Canada can engage other countries to create pressure for free and fair elections in Iran, at least competitive ones. I believe free and fair elections will change the leadership of the country in the long run. If this pressure is built now and continues over the next two years, Iran's government may accommodate some of the demands of the international community for free, fair, and transparent elections for the 2016 parliamentary election.

In closing, the international community should ask Iran to: one, respect the rights of all citizens to be elected at periodic, genuinely democratic elections by amending electoral laws to be inclusive, match international standards and base practices, and recognize independent, non-partisan civil society organizations; two, observe the transparency of the whole process of elections including candidate qualifications, the publication of outcomes for each polling station, and the tabulation of votes; three, allow credible and independent international and domestic election observers to monitor elections, especially for the 2016 parliamentary election; four, respect freedom of assembly for political parties and civil society organizations; five, recognize freedom of media without fear of illegal prosecution; six, encourage more women to stand for and gain access to office, given their important role in society, their percentage of population, and their interest in addressing broader issues that are of dire concern in Iran today; and seven, seek UN technical assistance on elections in order to strengthen electoral processes and to enable international observation to validate the integrity of electoral processes and to assure relatively high standards for free and fair elections in Iran.

I look forward to answering questions on the 2016 parliamentary election, women's political participation, or anything with which you are concerned.

Thank you very much for this opportunity.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you very much, Dr. Haghighatjoo.

We will turn now to Ms. Bryan, please.

[Shari Bryan, Vice-President, National Democratic Institute]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It's an honour to be here.

I have very brief remarks. I represent the National Democratic Institute for international affairs based in Washington, D.C. We support democracy in governance around the world, and are currently working in over 65 countries with the support of the U.S. government, European governments, and the Canadian government, and for that we have deep appreciation for the Canadian support of democracy in governance around the world.

I would like to underscore Fatemeh's very important remarks today. As she has laid out, the 2016 elections will be far from what could be considered free and fair by any standard. The recommendations that she has just articulated are standards that could easily be met by the Iranian government with support of the international community. They are achievable. They are very basic things like publicizing polling stations and supporting international observation. These are minor activities that the government should consider and the international community should push for.

We are currently working with Fatemeh and her colleagues on ideas for supporting more women in political office in Iran, which we think is important. The number of women currently stands between 2% and 3%, which is affecting society at large in the country. We're also working with civil society activists both inside and outside Iran in the lead-up to the 2016 elections.

Again, thank you very much for having us both here. We appreciate your time, and we look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you very much.

Given the amount of time we have remaining before we have to end our proceedings, we have time for the rounds to be six minutes long.

Mr. Sweet, would you like to begin?

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Witnesses, thank you very much for your testimony.

I'll start with you, Ms. Bryan, because you had mentioned civil society in Iran. After the last uprising was put down so violently by the revolutionary guard and the Basij, how intact are they in their communications and organization? Do you feel that they still have the resolve to mount some clear resistance, to send a clear message that they want free and fair elections?

[Shari Bryan]

Thank you very much for that question.

I think civil society is prepared and ready to stand up for free and fair elections. As you know, it's very dangerous to be an activist in the country, but I think through the use of technology there are a number of things that can be done, and that are going on, that allow citizens to connect with one another to report on incidents of human rights abuses, electoral law abuses, and so on.

I think a combination of a number of years of resilience since the last uprising, a great number of young people who want to be engaged and who stand ready to be involved, and the advent of technological solutions, for lack of a better term, are allowing citizens and citizen groups to organize.

The risks are high and the challenges are great, but the resolve remains.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Your point is well taken. In Canada, we can't even imagine with the kind of regime that is in power right now in Iran the kind of risk a person would take to actually go in the streets, make clear statements, and associate themselves with an opposition. We have great respect and pride for those people who would fight for democracy in an environment like that.

Ms. Haghighatjoo, I want to ask you a little bit about your career. When you stepped down in 2004, you made it very clear why you stepped down, because of the disqualification of so many qualified candidates.

Did you receive any threats, any kind of social ostracization, any kind of sanctions against you?

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo]

Well, even when I was a member of Parliament—and according to Iran's constitution, members of Parliament enjoy immunity—I was arrested while I was in my home, I believe it was in 2001. That was absolutely against Iran's constitution.

My arrest was due to my addressing human rights issues, and asking that the Supreme Leader be held accountable, because the judiciary acts under his rule. I had a trial, where I was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment. I never served it. And there have been several other cases against me.

But in general, the population supports change, so while the government violated my constitutional rights, my colleagues and I who stand for human rights and democracy were very popular and welcomed by people.

We experienced two levels of welcoming by people, and of course the Supreme Leader and his followers didn't like us criticizing them, especially as some of these human rights violations were committed by the corps, the Pasdaran, so one of the files against me was issued by them.

In 2005 I realized that to continue my work at another level, I had to leave the country, and I have resided in the United States since then.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

You mentioned multi-layers of organization to try to get rid of candidates or qualified candidates they don't want. Is it an overstatement to say that really the entire electoral process is manufactured by the Supreme Leader?

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo]

Yes and no, because the concept I just tried to mention here, engineering elections, from time to time this goes differently, because first the regime wants to use the election to show the world that we are a democratic regime. We have elections. We have elected people. On the other hand, it wants to make sure those who are loyal to the regime can go through this election.

Sometimes things don't happen the way they want. For instance, they disqualified Hashemi Rafsanjani, a very powerful man in the country, but they qualified Mr. Rouhani, who seems to carry the same agenda for having a better relation with the international community, and actually having a better domestic policy, and who is concerned about human rights issues, although the judiciary is independent from government.

Sometimes even though an election is manufactured, as you say—I say engineered; it doesn't matter which word is used—you find that people can navigate through the system. That is our hope, and we think if the international community puts pressure on Iran's government and resumes this pressure for the next two years, we may have competitive elections. It's not a free election, but still you can feel that people have representatives inside the government.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Mr. Marston, please.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

I'm going to attempt the name one time out of respect—Haghighatjoo.

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo]

Yes.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

My goodness.

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo]

Yes.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

It's a small miracle. I'm going to call you Fatemeh from now on.

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo]

Yes, Fatemeh is okay.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

You've spent your time in the U.S. since leaving Iran. Have you gone back at all to Iran during that time?

[Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo]

No.