Thread by @IranRights_org

We're live-tweeting the @OurCommons hearing on human rights in Iran today. Follow along for details on the testimony.

@OurCommons Maryam Shafiepour, a former political prisoner, is testifying first. She was a politically active university student - and just 22 years old - when she was first summoned for interrogations.

@OurCommons Maryam testifies that she was in solitary confinement for 63 days, denied medical treatment for one year despite the order of judicial authorities, & was held in unhygienic conditions.

@OurCommons The medical problems that began while she was in prison continue today. Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dowlatabadi laughed in her face and told her "Do you think you'll get out of here alive?" #IranAccountabilityWeek

@OurCommons Judge Salavati, who sentenced Maryam to 7 years in prison, faces sanctions for his repeated human rights violations. The judiciary system is a tool for oppression in Iran, Maryam says. Maryam's own lawyer spent 6 months in solitary confinement, she says.

@OurCommons Maryam mentions the 1988 mass prison massacre. More than 3000 people in prisons are believed to have been killed under the charge of Ebrahim Raisi, who is now the head of Iran's judiciary. Also mentioned are the 5 Kurdish prisoners who were killed 9 years ago last week.

@OurCommons The bodies of these prisoners were never returned to their families. Maryam says Iranian authorities want to punish both prisoners AND their families. Maryam ends with testimony on the arbitrary detention of #Bahais and the confiscation of their property.

@OurCommons Now testifying is journalist & activist @Raheelraza. What does #MeToo mean in Iran? She quotes the testimonies of Iranian women who speak of floggings and unfair laws that deprive them of their equal rights. #IranAccountabilityWeek

@OurCommons @Raheelraza If Canada hears this testimonies without holding the regime accountable, she says, Canada is not upholding its own standards. She says Canada must stay true to its stated commitments to hold Iran accountable for #humanrights violations.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza Not a single rights violator in Iran has been held accountable by Canada's Magnitsky Act, says Raheel. She says Revolutionary Guards should be held accountable & listed as a terrorist organization as supported by @RWallenbergInst & Canadian politicians.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst Now testifying is @LadiKhanom. Last year, 253 people were executed in Iran. 4 of them were juvenile offenders. Iran's judiciary system does not respect the #ruleoflaw and #humanrights. This doesn't count those who lost their lives to extrajudicial executions & other factors.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom "One may apprehend the troubling meaning of these abominable and tragic statistics by focusing on the judicial machinery that produces them."

200 crimes in Iran are punishable by death, including 'homosexuality' and 'apostasy.'

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom In the aftermath of the revolution, judges were dismissed & replaced by ideologically compliant men. Women are now prohibited from becoming judges in high level courts in Iran. By 1989, 2000 new judges trained in theological seminaries had replaced those trained in law schools.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @LadiKhanom now testifies about the 2018 executions of #ZanyarMoradi and #LoghmanMoradi. Zanyar was asked to cooperate to assist in apprehending his father, a well-known Iranian Kurdish activist who had lived in Iraqi Kurdistan.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom Loghman was Zanyar's cousin. Both men were tortured and refused to cooperate, eventually 'confessing' under duress to murder. They were convicted after a 20 minute trial & told:

"This is a political game. When your father engages in such activities, he should expect this."

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom They were eventually convicted along with another innocent Iranian Kurd - #RaminHosseinPanahi.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @LadiKhanom ends with a condemnation of Ebrahim Raisi, now head of Iran's judiciary. Raisi was involved with the mass execution of thousands of prisoners in the late 1980s.
"It is an obligation for the international community to hold both the man and the institution accountable."

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom Last to testify is Payam Akhavan, a law professor & co-founder of the @IHRDC. He speaks of #NasrinSotudeh & #NargesMohammadi. Their persecution is part of Iran's war against women activists, he says.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Akhavan again mentions Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's new judiciary head. Iran's judiciary is "itself an instrument for injustice and oppression." He has now come up in all 4 testimonies. Raisi's body count, as we've documented, is likely in the thousands.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Akhavan quotes from a letter by #NasrinSotoudeh: "As a woman, I’m proud of the heavy sentence against me & proud to have defended so many women. It was my desire to protect the rights of many..." 1/2

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC "particularly the rights of my children & the future. I believe the pain that we’ve had to endure is not in vain. Justice arrives exactly at the time when most have given up hope." (2/2)

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Akhavan says Canada has become a choice destination for Iranian money laundering and cites dirty real estate in Vancouver & Toronto.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC He ends with suggesting that #NasrinSotoudeh be made an honorary Canadian citizen. Akhavan says Canada must do more if it is to uphold its feminist foreign policy.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC The hearing has now moved onto the questioning phase. Shafiepour says she was released, after incarceration & torture, partially as a result of the international campaign to free her.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Raza says there are mosques and institutions funded by the Iranian regime in Canada that need to be scrutinized.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Akhavan says Canada needs to look into targeted sanctions that will hold rights violators accountable, not the masses of Iran people & that they are often a blunt instrument.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC .@LadiKhanom is asked how to hold Iran accountable when there are little diplomatic relations between Iran & Canada. Her response: Sanctions targeting individual rights violators empowers activists and Iranians on the ground, especially given large number of Iranian Canadians.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC She also suggests targeting the judiciary itself with sanctions & its new chief Ebrahim Raisi.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Shafiepour & Raza agree w/targeted sanctions on judiciary & rights violators. @LadiKhanom says the 1988 massacres committed by Ebrahim Raisi have been examined by jurists, & Canada can support accountability by sanctioning rights violators & supporting intl investigations.

@OurCommons @Raheelraza @RWallenbergInst @LadiKhanom @IHRDC Raza says UN committee is not effective with regard to Iranian rights violators & Canada can do more as a country. Akhavan ends with stating Iran's judiciary was in part designed to carry out mass executions post-revolution. The hearing is now over. #IranAccountabilityWeek