Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on May 21st, 2024

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Boniadi and Ms. Afshin‑Jam, I was really glad to hear each of your last replies, which answered a question I was going to ask. That's exactly the kind of thing we want to know, since we want to help but we don't want to cause harm. All of us here are human rights defenders. The worst thing we could do would be to cause harm. You're the experts. Thank you, and you'll probably hear from me very soon.

Professor Ziaei, we saw what happened recently at the Cannes festival. Director Mohammad Rasoulof fled Iran so that he could go to Cannes and get his message out. To what extent does the lack of freedom of expression in Iran impact artists, journalists and community members who advocate for change or try to effect change?

[Hanieh Ziaei]

The impact is huge. There are two schools of thought. Some say that censorship can stimulate creativity, because it forces people to find a way of circumventing it.

As we know, this is state censorship that clamps down in particular on the distribution of artistic creations. What is most egregious in the case of Iran, and what can have medium and long-term repercussions, is the self-censorship of artists, journalists, thinkers and intellectuals. As soon as censorship becomes completely internalized and people censor themselves unconsciously, it can do enormous damage, because it obviously impedes creative thinking.

Faced with considerable constraints, censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression and thought, Iranians stand out through their creative use of humour, parody and satire to circumvent all these obstacles. Iranian cinema uses an entire system of encoding and decoding that really sets it apart. That artistic creativity should be commended, since it is partly a reaction to the many constraints imposed on the creation and distribution of works of art.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

We touched on the subject a little earlier, but when someone like Mr. Rasoulof and many others are politically active on the international scene, outside the country, how dangerous is it for their safety and the safety of their loved ones who are still in Iran? Is there a real danger to these people's safety?

[Hanieh Ziaei]

Yes, absolutely. A lot of intimidation and threats have been reported. One of the ways the Islamic Republic of Iran operates is to get to you individually, but also those around you.

When these many artists are arrested, they are given a pen and paper and asked for names. Take the case of the cartoonist and illustrator Mana Neyestani. One of the first things he was asked to do when he was arrested was to give the names of other cartoonists and illustrators. That's one way of gathering that type of information.

Who does what? Who says what? Obviously, that will not only affect artists, their colleagues and the people around them, but it will also put a lot of pressure on their families. Today, the families of all these exiled people—like Golshifteh Farahani and many others—are under enormous pressure within the country itself, and that's what the Islamic Republic of Iran is going to play on.

The state uses psychological torture against people in exile by telling them that it knows where their mother and father live or which school a family member goes to. It exerts a lot of pressure on people, going after them in their private lives. Obviously, this is all about intimidation, and it is intended to silence people who, in their personal accounts and in their work, reflect the social reality that the regime is trying to hide.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much.

Witnesses, I want to thank all of you. We ran out of time, but you were amazing. Thank you for taking part in our study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Mr. Johns, go ahead, please. You have the floor for four minutes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Ziaei started touching on this. Mr. Sobhani, you talked about how we've seen so many Iranian cultural leaders, artists, musicians and actors speak out about the human rights of Iranian people. My colleague, NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo, recently put out a statement in support of hip hop artist Toomaj Salehi, who has been sentenced to death for his art. We know musicians and artists are at high risk of being targeted by the Iranian regime.

Could you tell us a bit more about what it means to Iranians, both within Iran and in the diaspora, to see aspirations and hopes for human, civil and political rights and their hopes for freedom represented in music and art? How can we, as Canadians and parliamentarians, better support their work?

[Arash Sobhani]

Thank you for the important question.

As I mentioned before, the Islamic Republic is systematically trying to get rid of the artists, cultural influencers and intellectuals. What they're trying to do is eliminate part of our memory of what Iran was and of our culture. They're trying to fabricate a history and push the middle class out. What they have done.... Eight million people had to leave. Those who stay in Iran, if they want to have any artistic expression, are under a tremendous amount of pressure.

There's nothing that's going to be documented in, say, 50 or 60 years regarding what's going on right now in Iran, because no artist is allowed to record what's happening or what they're seeing, yet that is the work of the artist. The artist's job is to see what's going on with society, record it and express what society feels about the current situation. That will be non-existent in 50 years, because nobody is allowed to express themselves freely. This is a huge thing. Iran is going through a transformation that will eliminate its middle class, artists and free-thinking intellectuals.

One hugely important thing that Canadians and the free world should do is support these voices at different levels as much as they can. The media should give them more coverage and the politicians should start talking about them more, using key words and their names. Western artists have done it. Sting, Coldplay and Peter Gabriel have all signed a statement about Toomaj Salehi. The west did this before, for the Soviet bloc writers and intellectuals, and it was the same in South Africa, so there are examples. I think that's what needs to be done.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you.

Ms. Afshin-Jam, you talked about gender apartheid. This is the first women-led counter-revolution in modern history.

The NDP has a study coming up at our sister committee—the foreign affairs committee—on Iran and the importance of listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Beyond listing the IRGC and beyond sanctions, what do you recommend we, as parliamentarians, focus on to support the civil and human rights of Iranians?

Also, we don't have diplomatic ties right now with Iran. We're part of a community of like-minded states that believe strongly in advocating for democracy, freedom and human rights. What do you want us to focus our work on, and what isn't helpful, in your view?

[Nazanin Afshin-Jam]

First of all, I'm going to combine your Toomaj question with this one.

There's a Toomaj act that has been drafted in the United States, and our organization, the Iranian Justice Collective, has created a Canadian version of this Toomaj act, asking for an expansion of Canada's sanctions to include revolutionary courts, including their prosecutors, judges and staff. Some of these figures are already included in Canada's sanctions, but we're asking to include a more comprehensive list of authorities and officials.

Also, beyond listing the IRGC on the terrorist list, we encourage the Magnitsky act to be enacted so that we deny entry to regime officials and we have a better system to vet who comes and who goes out.

Also, for those who are threatened here on Canadian soil, we also ask for a mechanism for where Canadians can go. Are they supposed to get in touch directly with a CSIS member? Is there a phone number?

Also, one of our questions from the community is about a $76-million allocation by the government to support our cause, the “Woman, Life, Freedom” cause, and yet we don't know where that's being allocated. Definitely we could use that funding to support our civil rights activists and NGOs here in Canada to come up with a proper Iran policy to give you exactly what you're asking for.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you, Ms. Afshin-Jam.

On behalf of all members of the committee, I would like to thank all the witnesses for their presence, for their testimony and for answering questions and clarifying a lot of things for this committee. It is highly appreciated, and we wish you the best.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]