Advocates Urge EU to Introduce Resolution in the UN Human Rights Commission on Iran's Abuses
•In a public letter, a group of human rights advocates urged the European Union to introduce a resolution in the UN Human Rights Commission condemning the Islamic government's human rights violations. Since no resolution has yet been introduced on Iran, we wrote to the EU as an ultimatum, Paris-based human rights advocate, and deputy director of the federation of human rights organizations Abdolkarim Lahiji tells Radio Farda. Hopefully, the EU and Canada will introduce a resolution within the next couple of weeks, otherwise we will have to continue our campaign, he says. Democratic governments need to justify their neglect of Iran's human rights abuses to their own people, he adds. In talks with the EU officials, “we said we did not oppose their policy of dialogue with Iran, but dialogue cannot be one-sided, and you can't have dialogue with the deaf, he says. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
Iran and the Prospect of A Democratic Iraq
•The Islamic Republic faces big trouble in Iraq, internationally syndicated columnist Amir Taheri tells Radio Farda, after speaking last night to a crowd of more than 500 of the admirers of his articles, which are now appearing regularly in the New York Post. “On one hand, the Islamic regime does its best to make things as hard as possible for the US forces in Iraq. On the other hand, Iran cannot afford a US failure in Iran, which for Iran would mean being sucked into chaos and disintegration of the cosmic black hole that would become of Iraq. “A democratic, Muslim Iraq means that the dictatorship based on the principle of clerical rule cannot survive in Iran,” he says. (Behnam Nateghi, New York)
http://www.radiofarda.com/transcripts/topstory/2004/03/20040327_1430_0439_0716_EN.asp