Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to begin by thanking our witness, Sharif Behruz, for his eloquent comments, and to state my support and the support of many of the members of our committee, and our deep concern for the way minority groups are treated in Iran and the human rights violations that continue in that country. That is the reason for this particular study.
We are very much concerned about acts of torture and discrimination, particularly in relation to the Kurdish people. I know that your Kurdish community and its people have been persecuted and have had their rights denied, not just in Iran but in other countries as well.
It is also important to speak about things that we don't always hear about, such as religious discrimination against the Kurds given the fact that most of them are Sunni. They are denied mosques within their own country. There is violation of their language.
This is all in the backdrop of yesterday's Durban review conference, where the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a mockery of the conference by using it to spill out his hatred and his incitement to hate and genocide of the Jewish people. It was extremely appalling.
I think the government made a very wise decision to in fact not participate in the Durban review conference. There were many other countries that did not participate as well. It truly was a sad day for human rights, when you had such a human rights violator going there to preach such hatred and using an international stage to do so.
I've always believed that there is a growing movement among the young people. The last time I checked, almost half the population is under 25. It's a very young population in Iran. I am hoping that that young population that has not been totally brainwashed by this Islamic theocratic regime, an authoritarian regime, will be able to find a peaceful solution to removing this particular regime.
From your contacts in the Kurdish communities in Iran, what are the feelings among the young people? Do they see sense of hope that there is a possibility that they will be able to get rid of this regime? Is there a possibility that they will in fact work for peaceful means to in fact bring about change in Iran? They are living incredible hardships.
I would like to hear about your contacts with the young people of Iran, and particularly with the Kurdish people of Iran.