Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Ms. Box and Mr. Cotler, for your testimony.
It's very compelling to talk today about the human rights violations in Iran and to recognize that Iran still sits on UN subcommittees and committees that vote to tell other people that they're human rights abusers. We need only look at UNESCO's vote the other day, when Iran voted in favour of disregarding Christian and Jewish links to the holy city of Jerusalem and condemning Israel for human rights abuses, to see how preposterous it is that our international agencies allow rogue nations such as Iran to vote on issues like this.
What I want to draw out are a couple of issues that I think would help the Canadian public to better understand this. We've talked a bit about Iran, its system of government, and its presidential elections that are coming up. I think most Canadians don't know or understand that the president of Iran is not really the leader of Iran, but that there's a supreme leader, and that in the presidential elections, the candidates need to be approved by the Guardian Council of Iran. Anyone who doesn't support the regime cannot be a candidate. Could one of you perhaps talk a bit about the political system?
Also, Mr. Cotler, could you talk about the legal system? In most countries, people would assume that those who are being sentenced to prison in Iran are going through what we would understand to be the judicial process, meaning public trials and trial by jury, and meaning that the defendant has the right to an attorney of their choice and there's representation. Can you talk a bit about what type of procedural system is used when people in Iran are sentenced to jail or to death for political crimes?