Mr. Chair, I want to thank my friend from Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke for her excellent speech and for outlining how ethnic and religious minorities have been traumatized under the leadership of President Rouhani, and before that President Ahmadinejad. Of course, it is the Islamic Republic of Iran, under the leadership of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, that is orchestrating this repressive and regressive government.
Last year during Iran Accountability Week and the Iranian prisoner advocacy project, I advocated for a lady by the name of Reyhaneh Jabbari. She had been attacked in an attempted rape, and she killed her attacker. She was given a life sentence and ultimately was executed at the end of last year for defending herself against this assault.
We can look at jurisprudence in Canada and the rights we enjoy, including the freedom of speech. I want to add my voice to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the reprehensible comments made by the member for Scarborough—Rouge River, because we have great rights in Canada, which I would say is one of the freest nations in the world, and those types of comments were completely unacceptable.
I would ask my colleague if she could talk about not only how ethnic minorities are continuing to be oppressed and discriminated against under the Iranian regime but about how women's rights have been violated and about all the political prisoners and student activists. Reyhaneh Jabbari was a student activist. That is really why she was arrested. The sexual assault, attempted rape, and the ultimate right to defend herself were trumped up charges to do away with someone who was standing up for her rights as a woman.