Good afternoon, everyone. Today we have two very special guests, both past guests of this subcommittee and appearing by video from Oxford in the United Kingdom and Munich in Germany.
Before we begin, let me say that we are undertaking two days of hearings as part of this subcommittee's annual Iran accountability week, the fourth annual Iran accountability week. We, as the human rights subcommittee, want to be on the record that the aspect of human rights issues in Iran is always top of mind, and we want to ensure that these issues maintain their significance and publicity.
On today's panel we have from Munich Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and from Oxford, Payam Akhavan, professor at McGill University—my alma mater—and founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre.
Professor Akhavan, if you'd like to start with your opening remarks, that would be fantastic. You have 10 minutes.