http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=132565§ionid=351020101
Iran slams Canada human rights abuse
Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:22:11 GMT
Font size :
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast
Iran has strongly condemned the Canadian police for arresting hundreds of protesters during the recent G20 summit in Toronto, describing the move as an inhuman act.
"The use of various violent tools and ways to counter a peaceful rally is by no means justified. The move by the Canadian government is a blatant breach of basic rights of citizens to freedom of expression," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday.
The spokesperson also warned against the "new and dangerous" approach adopted by Canada toward the civil rights of its citizens, expressing Iran's profound concern over a lack of life security and a possible violation of rights of those arrested in that country during the last few days.
Mehmanparast advised the Canadian government to observe the rights of the detainees and to give assurances that the judicial process will take its natural course.
The remarks come as protests against the summit have resulted in more than 600 arrests. Seventy others were also detained after police raided the University of Toronto's downtown campus.
the disgusting violence of the canadian government on the streets of toronto isn't much different than that on the streets of tehran, shiraz, ahwaz, tabriz...
this is a mistake folks: taking seriously statements by iranian government officials who condemn political repression is like taking seriously statements by israeli government officials who condemn violence. same shit.
If you read the entire headline you will see that the person who posted this took your point - before you made it.
To all those who equate Toronto with Tehran: Please! You dont have to jump to the conclusion that Tehran and Toronto are the same in order to condemn the serious human rights violations that we experienced in Toronto this weekend.
Yes. Toronto was similar to Tehran in the sense that we were harassed, assaulted, beaten, tear gassed and boxed in by the police.
But it was also different because despite all their brutality, we knew that we could still document the brutality of the police by our cameras without fearing that they will beat us to death. We knew that we could still insist on our right to express dissent and remain assured that they will not open hot fire on us. Of course there were moments that I felt the police were in fact ready to beat the hell out of us or event shoot us but in any case that would have been an exception to the rule of law not the rule of law!
These are important differences that must be acknowledged if we care about the protection of human rights and accountability both in Iran and Canada.
This weekend, Toronto felt similar to Tehran: our friends have been arrested without charge. They are being given incorrect information about the bail process; they are being denied the right to call their friends and family and their lawyers are being denied access to them. These are serious human rights violations and we should not and WILL NOT let them go unanswered.
Notwithstanding the seriousness of this situation, we are still operating in a political context very different from Iran. For example, we are not currently sitting at home worrying that our friends are being tortured or that we may never see them again. Neither are we sitting at home worrying that death or long imprisonment sentences will be soon issued.
In fact, we can hope based on previous experience that the vast majority of the charges will disappear because they are simply baseless and arbitrary. We can also hope that by building a strong political response, we can soon put an end to the police abuse at the detention centers (if not in the streets!). And we can hope that by using our political and legal resources, we would be able to pressure the courts and crown attorneys to enforce our constitutional and human rights rather than collude in their violation.
At the risk of stating the obvious, we should remember that we cannot realistically hold any of these hopes in the political and legal context of Iran!
This weekend protestors in Canada experienced only a glimpse of the terror and violence that protestors in Iran have been enduring for many days and years now. This should be a wakeup call to all those on the left in Canada who have shown reservation at expressing their support for the peaceful and democratic protests in Iran which have been violently suppressed.
yah i saw the short line about the pot and kettle. but its weak. without even one line about the repression of iranian protesters, or the glaring hypocrisy of of the iranian gon't, and in the context of sympathies among some leftists for the so-called anti-imperialism of the iranian government it's a wasted line.
besides, when the mainstream media reports on "violent" and "angry" protesters with a short line at the end about police brutality, we don't (and shoudn't) give them credit.
i like the media co-op, but think this was a mistake.
I think it had been mentioned that most of these charges would just fade away....well most people weren't charged with anything. They were detained without explanation or answers. They were beaten for no reason and locked in a cage for hours (some people spent days there) with no evidence that they did anything. Even if they are not charged they will still suffer trauma from knowing that walking down the street led to them being violently thrown in a cage...not even a jail (which is more humane).
You have to rememeber that a large portion of the captures were not people involved in any demonstration. It was people trying to live their daily lives admist Haper's notion that he could simply shut down a metropolis.
The site for the Toronto local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.