Wednesday 23 September 2015

Iranian Activists Call On Iran To End Support For Syria's Assad




 'Scores of Iranian political activists and intellectuals have launched an online campaign calling on Iran to end its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and take in Syrian refugees fleeing violence there.
 The more than 70 activists, who include several former political prisoners, blame Assad and his foreign supporters, including Tehran, for the exodus of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to Europe. They have launched a Facebook page called Sorry, Syria, where so far about two dozen users have expressed "shame" over Iran's assistance for Assad's "crimes" and warned that silence could be interpreted as consent.'

Statement from Professor Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver and co-editor of 'The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran's Future' and "The Syria Dilemma':
 "One day there will be democratic transition in Iran and all will be revealed. Not just the injustices and crimes committed within Iran also what was done in the name of Iran and Islam outside of Iran’s borders. At the top of this list is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s role in Syria post-March 2011. We don’t have all the documentation yet but the circumstantial evidence suggests that the Islamic Republic’s fingerprints are all over the Assad regime’s state-sanctioned war crimes and crimes against humanity. When the truth is revealed Iranians will be horrified by what was done in their name. A public apology and compensation must follow. The struggle for democracy in Iran and Syria links the two countries. We now know that the Iranian regime’s fear of the Arab Spring spreading to Iran was the chief reason why the Green Movement leaders were arrested in February 2011. They remain in prison today to this day. I’m certain that if their voice could be heard they would support this Facebook campaign in solidarity with the Syrian people. It is the least than can be done to express moral outrage at the ongoing suffering of the Syrian people and the Islamic Republic’s complicity in perpetuating this suffering."

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