Amnesty released a report on Iran at mid-day yesterday. In the opening paragraph its press release stated: "The current standoff regarding the country's nuclear programme must not distract either the government or the international community from addressing the country's long-standing human rights problems." What about the media? I watched all day yesterday, for a Reuters, perhaps an AFP ... and again today, no sign of it... Until -- finally -- it appeared on Radio Farda (I know, again, sorry, but hey…) and later on Payvand.
A few weeks ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad said (and unfortunately I am paraphrasing because I can no longer find the link) "If we solve the nuclear issue then they will come after our human rights situation.”
It’s been a while since Amnesty has written a full report on Iran. And as must be the case for all those concerned about the situation of human rights in a given country, I guess, I wish there would be more coverage about it. But the human rights discourse is no longer fashionable. We all know why too, and I will come back to this soon.
I just need to add one more point on the report: although it starts with a clear indication that the situation has worsened since the election of the new President, many of the abuses reported in there were commited during Mr. Khatami’s tenure...
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