Shahram Rafizadeh

Four days after the launch of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, one ‎of the campaign’s two spokespersons, Hadi Ghaemi, told Rooz that in the coming months ‎the campaign plans to raise the issue of the execution of minors in Iran, focusing ‎primarily on lobbying at the United Nations’ General Assembly. Below is the text of this ‎interview. ‎

Rooz (R): The statement released to announce the launching of the International ‎Campaign for Human Rights in Iran notes that the campaign is organized to combat the ‎conspicuous suppression of human rights and civil society activists in Iran. What are ‎some of the methods that will be utilized by the campaign to combat human rights ‎violations? ‎

Hadi Ghaemi (HG): One of our main priorities is to overturn execution judgments on ‎minors. Such executions are contrary to international law and Iran’s international ‎obligations. In the next few months, the campaign will pay special attention to this issue. ‎The campaign’s activities will range from raising public awareness to analyzing and ‎examining human rights conditions and attracting global support for this cause, examples ‎of which are available on the campaign’s website. ‎

Another aspect of our efforts is to approach international organizations such as the United ‎Nations. The U.N. Secretary General has been asked to prepare a report documenting the ‎condition of human rights in Iran in the coming year. We will attempt to help validate ‎and provide evidence for this report. Another subject is to dissect the absence of basic ‎international norms in issuing judicial verdicts in Iran, especially with respect to death ‎verdicts. The urgency of Iran's case will become much more palpable for the ‎international community once we reveal the details behind the issuance of such verdicts. ‎

R: Another issue raised by your campaign’s statement is that the Iranian government ‎actively seeks to undermine basic ideals and principles of human rights. How are Iran's ‎activities seeking to undermine the basic principles of human rights? ‎

HG: The activities of Iranian officials in the international arena often involve ‎questioning the most basic principles of human rights and equality rights. For example, ‎Iranian officials defend stoning and argue that it is not an instance of torture, and claim ‎further that it does not violate Iran’s international obligations. Another example is the ‎execution of minors, where Iran leads the world in the number of such executions. We ‎must note that a general consensus is emerging in the international community to do ‎away with the death penalty altogether. The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution ‎in December of 2007 to that effect. Iran, however, moves completely opposite to this ‎international trend and the number of executions in Iran has increased by more than 360 ‎percent in the past three years. ‎

R: The campaign’s statement notes that the nuclear row has subjugated the issue of ‎human rights to a secondary level. At the same time, military action has also been ‎condemned. What do you think can be done to curtail human rights violations by a ‎regime that is considered “dangerous” in this respect? ‎

HG: Threats and military action will not improve the condition of human rights in Iran. ‎The experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate this point. Actually, the ‎campaign’s goal is to improve the condition of human rights in Iran. The Iranian ‎government does not exist in vacuum. If a global consensus is reached on the issue, the ‎Iranian government will have to acknowledge that improving its human rights record is ‎an international demand. ‎

R: With a few days having passed since the announcement, the campaign's launch has ‎received a lot of media attention in Iran. Tell us about the international media attention. ‎

HG: This campaign is very young. So far, it has received a lot of positive attention, and ‎a number of international figures have voiced their support for it. However, in the future, ‎more work will be done on the international level to ensure sustained support for the ‎campaign. ‎