Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair, I don't want this to sound like I'm apportioning any blame, but we should hold ourselves to account, so that whenever we hold an Iran Accountability Week, we make sure that every meeting is televised. I think both witnesses just made a very clear point that raising the issues publicly is one of the most important things we can do. As well, capitalizing on a broadcast is the best thing we can do.
Thank you to both witnesses. I appreciate your testimony.
I can imagine, Ms. Box, the amount of emotion and anguish that the Bahá'í community endures all the time, not only with regard to the persecution of the Bahá'ís currently in prison, but also with this kind of religious genocide, as you've said, that this country has right in its own statutes in regard to eliminating Bahá'ís from Iran.
Mr. Cotler, you mentioned the word “transformative”, and I want to mention in my prelude here that this can also have the opposite effect when not reined in, when human rights violations are not brought to the fore. We see what's happening now in Yemen in regard to persecution of the Bahá'í community, and I would suggest that it has something to do with the fact that it continues to stay unchecked in Iran.
Mr. Cotler, thank you for all the years that you've served on this committee and for all your other efforts in regard to championing the human rights of others. I noticed that you've added one more “fold”; when you were working with us we had a fourfold threat, and it's now a fivefold threat. I think that is a very good edit in the sense of what's happening currently throughout the region, as you've mentioned, and not only in Syria, but in Yemen, as I just mentioned, and of course throughout the area.
I wanted to ask you, because you have some specific ideas in this regard, why is it important when we're dealing with human rights to look at Iran in the full scope of all the threats it faces? Why is that important?
Second, with regard to the importance of keeping this in the public eye, which both of you have expressed, I noticed from a quick Google search when I was preparing for this meeting that there's really been nothing published about Zahra Kazemi and the fact that her remains still have not been returned to Canada. It's been almost a year...well, right after Ms. Hoodfar was liberated. There is nothing in the media at all. I also want your thoughts on that, because I know that you've made some very firm statements. It's not just up to us to make sure that human rights issues remain public. It's also the responsibility of the media to make sure that people know about this.
I want to give you those two items so that you can respond, please.