Speaking about the effects of the insistence that human rights advocates have in promoting human rights discussions in Iran, he said “Twenty years ago nobody dared to talk about human rights in Iran. Human rights stood for being American. During the years since then, however, many individuals such as Shirin Ebadi introduced this issue to the public and because of the insistence and perseverance on their discourse, even presidential candidates seem obliged to talk about human rights, which I hope is a sincere discussion.”
Lahidji believes that “the accomplishments of the last two decades on this subject are because of the perseverance of human rights defenders. All Iranian men and women, inside our outside the country, who have strived to establish equal human rights and freedoms for all Iranians, regardless of gender or religious have been effective in their work.”
Lahidji was a prominent attorney in Iran before and after the 1979 revolution, but was forced to leave the country and live in France in the early 1980s. He expresses his hope that the attention that is currently paid by presidential candidates regarding human rights in Iran, and the promises that are made for it, is not merely an election campaign tool. “Even though I am not very hopeful in this regard,” he quickly adds.
“Everyone knows the harsh measures the Iranian administration took against the most important human rights organization in Iran recently. The offices of the Iranian based Center for the Defenders of Human Rights were shut, Ms Ebadi and other members of the center were insulted, demonstrations were held in front of the offices of the director of the center, and many dossiers were taken from the center. But all of these are just some of the violations that were targeted against the center. The presidential candidates have till today not addressed these issues. Also, the arrests of women social activists during the last two years have not been seriously protested by reformist presidential candidates,” Lahidji said.
Regarding the creation of a center for monitoring human rights conditions in the Iranian government, something that candidate Karroubi has presented, Lahidji said, “While I think the creation of such a body inside the government is not a bad idea, we cannot look at such a center as a human rights body. The reason is simple: this must be a non-governmental body. It must be outside the government with roots in the people. It is from there that it must monitor the use of authority to see how the government respects human rights and freedoms of the public, and how it provides it. This is something that only an NGO can do, which is why such organizations are called non-governmental human rights organizations.”
This human rights activist did not negate a role that a government body could play in the field and said, “If a human rights center inside the government is not relegated to a ceremonial role, it can monitor the work of government officials to see how they respond when human rights are violated in society. It must intervene to correct such a situation. And work so that government officials do not in future violate human rights. If such a center can do something like this, then this too is a form of progress.”
