Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for taking the time to come here and make an investment in our committee's research on this.
I want to read to you some testimony from one year and four days ago, from Shirin Ebadi, and get your educated opinion on the situation we're in right now.
In response to a question, she said:
All the people who are in the government in Iran are not the same type. There are some who are pro-reform and there are some who are pro-fundamentalism. There are plenty of things that happen in Iran that people, as well as some of these reformers, are against. It is easy to realize that, even through the newspapers published in Iran. In the specific case of Mrs. Kazemi, the reformist group helped us a lot so that justice would be done.
Of course that didn't happen.
Therefore, when you talk about the violation of human rights in Iran, not only will the people be happy but also the group of reformers will be happy about that, because they are also criticizing them. They express their views very plainly and frankly. You can easily see that in the newspapers in Iran. There is not much freedom of speech in Iran, but you can see that in the newspapers.
So you've talked about the diminishment of human rights and an escalation in offences after Ahmadinejad has come to power. Is what Mrs. Ebadi said one year ago now diminished? Along with other people who are being jailed, are some of the pro-reformers now being jailed by the regime?