One of the problems we have is that under Rouhani there has in fact been an increase in wanton executions, and an increase, an intensification, of the assaults on human rights, and he is characterized as a moderate, which worries me with respect to the candidacies of the others and the manner in which we indulge what is happening. Let me give you one example.
There are nine government ministries that are under the direct authority of the president—in this case, Rouhani—and which are themselves responsible for ongoing human rights abuses. I'll be very brief. These include the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which continues to engage in the suppression of, quote-unquote, subversive views; the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which engages in the arbitrary and indefinite detention of human rights defenders in secret locations, using torture and other inhumane and degrading treatment to extract and coerce confessions, as I mentioned; and, a third one, the Ministry of Interior, which continues to engage in the suppression of peaceful gatherings by routinely denying permits for peaceful assembly and is otherwise engaged in the criminalization of those who engage in it.
These ministries are under the authority of Rouhani, yet they are engaged in persistent and pervasive patterns of violations of human rights, and they continue to do so with impunity.