International community starts to respond to Iran uprising
By ALi Latifi
Since Friday 15th November, the people of Iran have been on the street crying out for their rights and speaking out against the brutal, violent, cruel and corrupt regime. The regime’s response has been to shoot at protesters and arrest them.
The number of victims is rising every day. The latest figures indicate that more than a thousand protesters have been killed, more than 4,000 injured and more than 12,000 arrested.
These figures are shocking and political figures from around the world have denounced the violence that the protesters are facing. However, very little decisive action has been taken by the international community.
One factor for this is perhaps the massive internet shutdown that the regime implemented, making it impossible for the international community to get an accurate picture of what is going on in the country.
Portuguese parliamentarians support Iran uprising
On 29th November, lawmakers in Portugal voted to condemn the Iranian regime for its brutal crackdown on the people. Of the 230 lawmakers, 210 of them supported the resolution and it was hence adopted. The resolution was initiated by Portuguese MP from the CDS – People’s Party, Cecília Meireles, and she presented it to Parliament.
Later, it was explained by an MP from the country’s Social Democratic Party, Luís Leite Ramos, that the resolution should be considered a formal declaration of the Portuguese government’s condemnation of the treatment of peaceful protesters in Iran.
Romanian MP supports Iran uprising
In Romania, a Member of Parliament and the chairwoman of the Parliament’s Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, Ms. Cristina Iurișniți, has spoken out about the treatment of protesters in Iran. She said that she has been disturbed by the news coming from Iran since 15th November.
She said that the Iranian regime’s response to the protests “has gone beyond any act of terrorism and crime”.
Ms. Iurișniți highlighted that the number of deaths, casualties and arrests is especially shocking, “especially in the case of peaceful protests by unarmed people in the 21st century”. She echoed the calls from the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, for the United Nations Security Council to send a delegation to Iran to establish the facts about what is happening in the country.
The Romanian MP said that the Iranian regime must be held accountable for its crimes and its blatant violations of international human rights laws.
She also slammed the countries that have stopped at condemning the regime’s actions, failing to progress any further on their statements. “The US and some European countries have condemned the crackdown on protesters in Iran. However, that is not enough. The EU must take a clear stand against the Iranian regime, and it must hold it accountable for this degree of barbarism. Following the recent events in Iran, the EU announced the launch of INSTEX rather than taking action against the Iranian regime.”
The failure of the international community to take affirmative action is exactly what prevented the people of Iran from reaching their goal of regime change during previous uprisings.
