Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  First, I would like to say good morning, and I am very pleased that this opportunity has been given to me to talk to you. I also would like to express my thanks to the Government of Canada for being so interested in the issue of human rights in Iran. In the past few years, most of the attention has been on nuclear energy rather than on human rights, which has been ignored.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I am the lawyer of the mother of the late Mrs. Kazemi. We had several prosecutions. Based on the decision that has been made by the court, the case has been sent to the criminal court to be taken care of. In reality, we have gone back to the first state of that issue. At the beginning we said it was manslaughter and it should be taken to the criminal court.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It is a criminal act under our law to be gay or lesbian. If someone just mentions that they are a gay or lesbian, that is not against the law. They have to be considered to be acting as a lesbian or gay for it to be considered a criminal act. It is a very heavy punishment, especially for men, if they are gay.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can tell you that in principle, the people of Iran are not in favour of this kind of reaction by the government. One of the reactions that people have in respect of human rights is about the way the law has been applied, the kind of punishment in our penal code. We have cutting for thieves.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When our women activists are arrested in Iran, please protest. Help us. I mentioned recent events. One of our most famous women activists in Iran is Parvin Ardalan. Parvin Ardalan won the Olof Palme Award in Stockholm. When she went to Stockholm, she passed customs and sat in the airplane, which was Air France--I mention Air France because the airplane belongs to France, so it comes out of Iran--but police arrested her at the airplane and forced her to come back to Iran.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Based on the law that has recently been ratified in the parliament, which is against the constitutional law, the qualification and approval of those candidates who want to become a member of parliament should be approved by the Guardian Council. When Mr. Khatami was the president, he brought a bill to the parliament so that this matter would be changed.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  You have already done some of those things you are talking about. One is that your relationship with Iran, which was at the level of ambassadorship, now has been decreased to the level of chargé d'affaires. You also helped us a lot in the respect that you have for the resolution in the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have some positive promise for change. One is the young generation. As you mentioned, our generation is very young. They need freedom, they need jobs, so they cannot believe our government. Another promise is the feminist movement in Iran. This is very strong, and all of them are against the government because of these discriminatory laws.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  All the people who are in the government in Iran are not the same type. There are some who are pro-reform, and there are some who are pro-fundamentalism. There are plenty of things that happen in Iran that people, as well as some of these reformers, are against. It is easy to realize that, even through the newspapers published in Iran.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The civil rights movement has been in Iran for several years. Fortunately, it has been done mostly by those people who live in Iran, and they are the people who will continue doing it, although it is true that those Iranians who are outside are also helping us. What I'm trying to say is that the movement started in Iran and the people of Iran are the people who are going to continue doing that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Like you, I believe there should be separation between governing the country and religion. But what about the situation in a free and democratic society when people elect groups that are related to religious groups, as happened recently in Turkey? Do we have the right to say your vote shouldn't be counted because you voted for a religious group?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Based on the report that has been given by Dr. ElBaradei, Iran did not do anything against the law and was working within the limitations of the law. It didn't violate the law in that respect. On the other hand, the case is in the Security Council. Up to now there have been three resolutions against Iran.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I want to ask you to protest against those laws in Iran that are against human rights. One of them is a different type of punishment that you have in Iran. This is not only about the homosexuals. Two months ago in one of the western cities of Iran five people were punished. They cut off their right hands and left legs.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I told you that the Iranian people have some criticism of the government, but that does not mean we are willing to attack militarily here. We would never let any foreign soldier come to Iran. We love Iran. We want Iran to be free and we don't want to make another Iraq. Please remember.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm very happy to be here today to be able to speak to Parliament's human rights division. Very briefly, I would like to give a report of the violations of human rights in Iran today. Unfortunately, the courts in Iran lose their power day by day. Many of the people accused in prison have said that the interrogators had decided their fate and what their sentence should be, and that was approved by the court.