Evidence of meeting #24 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was iran.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Chiu.
Now we'll go to MP Brunelle-Duceppe for about two and a half minutes—
7:45 p.m.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Will you excuse me for just one moment, Mr. Chair?
I think the time of two and a half minutes is very short. I know that this is Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe's study, so I'll pass my time to him, if that's all right.
7:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP McPherson.
That is five minutes or so for Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
7:45 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I accept with pleasure, and I thank my dear NDP colleague.
Mr. Golestaneh, you have to look at the current Iranian propaganda, which is very well put together. I think it's quite obvious. The government of Iran claims that the removal of sanctions will help the economy, which would relieve people of some of the difficulties.
How should we approach this logic and propaganda of the Iranian government?
7:45 p.m.
Shahram Golestaneh
To this portion, of course, Iran is claiming that the sanctions are hurting people. They use this alibi to put pressure on western countries to remove the sanctions.
First of all, even the sanctions are not blanket sanctions. They are targeted sanctions. Even in the worst-case scenarios, they are still targeted sanctions. Nevertheless, I will give you a very practical example.
After the JCPOA—the nuclear deal—was signed between Iran and the western countries, $150 billion was given to the Iranian regime. Did the Iranian currency change in value even an iota? No. All that money was spent on improving the arsenal of Hezbollah or other terrorist entities in the region, as well as the wars in Yemen and Iraq and so forth. Unfortunately, not a single penny.... I'm not exaggerating that.
During these years after the JCPOA was signed, we had an earthquake in western Iran, in Kermanshah. People are still living in shacks in temporary shelters while beside them, convoys of arms are going to Iraqi militias. The people say they are still living in these shambles and ask why the government is not supporting them.
The solution for Iran is not economy. The solution is a political solution. Indeed, don't even quote to me the current presidential candidates in their debate—the so-called debate. Every one of them has accused another one of embezzling billions of dollars. Again, this is very much in the public eye.
The solution to Iran is not relieving sanctions, because sanction relief goes into the pockets of the leaders, not to the poorest people in Iran. That's why we see the Baluchis and the Kurds doing the most difficult jobs on earth just to pay for their basic necessities.
7:50 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Some people around the world say that Iran is being accused of geopolitical terrorism outside its borders because it opposes U.S. imperialism. We hear this argument often.
What do you say to these people, who say that Iran doesn't have a bad regime and that it's only opposing American imperialism?
7:50 p.m.
Shahram Golestaneh
Definitely that has been the case since the inception of the current regime in Iran. Indeed, when they executed many of the political activists in Iran in the 1980s, they buried them in American flags, basically portraying them as agents of U.S. imperialism and things like that.
Meanwhile, everyone inside the country knew well that this had nothing to do with foreign interference. I guess this session does not allow me, and we don't have much time to go into the general politics of this, but purely from an Iranian internal perspective, this is only an alibi that Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, used to basically rally people in the region behind him. We are anti-American, so you have to support us in our fight against imperialism.
It has nothing to do, in reality, with the pluralistic views of the Iranian people.
7:50 p.m.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
This is the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. What do you see as the most pressing human rights concerns in Iran today?
7:50 p.m.
Shahram Golestaneh
The most important issues are the issues of political prisoners in Iran. Mr. Arzhang Davoodi, who is in his 70s, has not seen a single day of furlough in the past 18 years, as Mr. Saghah said. He is a graduate from Texas. There are so many others like him.
Atena Daemi, whom Ms. Boorchi probably referred to, is in jail. The Iranian authorities told her to just ask for a pardon and she would be released. She said no. She said that if anyone has to apologize, it's them, not her.
This is the bravery of the Iranian people that we have to support, especially women. We have to recognize that women are at the forefront of the fight against fundamentalism and against this regime. That's why all of my colleagues referred to Mrs. Rajavi or other women activists.
This is why it's so important to recognize that in Iran, trying to be—
7:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Mr. Golestaneh.
Thank you, MP Brunelle-Duceppe.
On behalf of the committee members, I wish to thank the staff, the clerk, the analysts, the interpreters and everybody.
Thank you to our witnesses for your testimony, your courage and your bravery in sharing your stories with us, as well as many of your recommendations.
We thank you very much for being before us here today.
At this time, members, we are going to conclude this session, and we are going to move in camera to deal with some committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]