Abdolkarim Lahiji, vice president of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, discusses in an interview with Rooz the performance of the seventh Majlis with respect to human rights issues. Below is the text of the interview.
Rooz (R): What is your general assessment of the seventh Majlis's performance concerning human rights? What were the differences in this connection with the sixth Majlis?
Abdolkarim Lahiji (AL): The reformist sixth Majlis - due to struggles of human rights and especially women's rights activists - had the positive point on its report card of increasing the age of girls for assuming legal responsibility. In addition, the Article Ninety Commission of the sixth Majlis became a destination of hope for people, especially with its performance in the chain murders case and prison visitations. The seventh Majlis's report card, however, was not even comparable to that of the sixth Majlis, especially given its makeup. In effect, in the field of law and freedoms, we witnessed the passage of anti-freedom legislation. The seventh Majlis and the Ahmadinejad Administration introduced the two "family support" and "penal law" bills - which I can saw are the worst bills that can be suggested in a country in the opening years of the 21st Century. These actions were taken despite all the struggles and protests organized by human rights activists in Iran, such as the campaign to change discriminatory laws - protest headed by women for which they pay heavy prices. It was due to efforts of these very activists that the anti-women "family support" bill could not pass even in the hardliner seventh Majlis.
R: What about the press and political freedoms? Why wasn't the Majlis defending the people's rights in this area?
AL: The Guardian Council closely controlled the seventh Majlis elections so that people not aligned with conservatives were not able to become candidates. Even a majority of reformist sixth Majlis deputies were not qualified to run in the seventh Majlis elections. Most of the people who passed through the Guardian Council's filter were completely different from sixth Majlis representatives. No one expected such a Majlis to take a step toward defending free speech. You must not forget that one of the first bills advanced in the sixth Majlis was the press law reform bill, which was eventually vetoed by the Supreme Leader, illegally. It was natural that the seventh Majlis, which was created by Mr. Khamenei's representatives in the Guardian Council, was not concerned with press freedoms and political activities.
R: Given that currently the Majlis does not represent the majority of the electorate, can social activists influence its decisions?
AL: There is a principle which said rights are not given, but they are taken. Therefore, you must be sure that neither this Majlis, nor any other, would come out of the blue and redeem people's rights that have been trampled by the Islamic Republic. These are all variables connected to social pressures and protests organized by the people, forcing the officials to advance reforms in laws and behaviors. If there is social pressure and civil protest, even this Majlis could bow down to some of the public's demands?
R: If the eight Majlis was to consider some human rights issues, which issues would be in priority?
There are currently bills known as "family support" and another called "penal code" which must be revised as soon as possible. In the penal code there are punishments such as lashing and amputating body parts, some of which have been included in the bill introduced by the seventh Majlis. Even for cases that were not mentioned in prior laws (such as the heresy), we see that the new bill prescribes death penalty for heresy. Or, for example, in this new "family support" bill, there is a section on multiple wives, which was never mentioned in legal codes before, and men are not required to secure their wives' permissions to enter temporary marriages. If the eight Majlis revokes these, that is a step forward, although these are the minimum reforms because we do not want to increase our legal expectations when it comes to Iran! I think if we start with these small steps, we may have hope that the Iranian society could move forward with very small steps and a lot of patience and tolerance.
