Whenever confronting an obstacle in its antagonistic campaign against the presence of Iranian authorities and individuals in a country where its political activities is banned, MKO relay on supporters who enjoy a rather good social status. These supporters are mainly found among the parliamentarians who, for certain political and social reasons and even personal interests, consent to advocate an officially blacklisted terrorist, criminal group. Unfortunately, the UK is not an exception, where a handful of parliamentary advocates of MKO sometimes act as its mouthpiece.
Next Tuesday, Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran, is to travel to Britain where Sir Menzies Campbell, as chancellor of St Andrews University, is due to confer an honorary degree on him. Discontent with the decision, MKO, its activities prohibited in the UK, importuned its advocates in the House of Lords to talk for it. They include Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Lord Russell-Johnston, Lord Waddington, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, and Baroness Harris. Of course, they were granted the needed information to blemish Khatami’s repute and to cancel the visit.
In a letter, prepared by MKO and signed by 12 parliamentarians including the mentioned above, sent to the university, it focuses on Khatami’s involvement in human rights abuses during his presidency. Referring to instances of executions is the main issue MKO usually put its fingers on and which best provokes those who oppose the capital punishment. In their antagonistic remarks, sometimes these people disregard the important fact that other countries’ judicial laws, Iran in this instance, are necessarily incompatible with their own as they might be mainly set on cultural and canonical infrastructure.
Lord Russel-Johnston, a former president of the Council of Europe and an opponent of capital punishment, in his remarks to oppose Khatami’s visit states:
I am proud that, while I was president of the Assembly of the Council of Europe, the council became a capital punishment-free zone. However, execution is a regular activity of the regime that Khatami so recently headed. During the three months of this summer, 66 prisoners were hanged in Iran, 45 of them in public. Most shocking has been the execution of child offenders. During Khatami’s presidency, ten child offenders were executed and a further five have been executed since August 2005.*
I personally do not believe that all executions carried out by the Islamic regime are justifiable. But, for sure, unlike Lord Russel, Iranian people are much more shocked to hear children being offended rather than to see the child offenders being punished. If likes of Lord Russel are concerned about the violated rights of the criminals and child offenders, then, what about the rights of the offended? Granted that MKO follow Lord Russel’s line of creating a capital punishment-free Iran, the criminals and culprits are certainly the mob most eager to hug Rajavi’s gang in Iran.
*The Scotsman, 27 October; “Why St Adrews should hang its head in shame”.
Changiz Baqa – mojahedin.ws – 01/11/2006
