A statement by members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters
When a dignified and noble palace, after years of proud resistance against upheavals, is destroyed by its inhabitants, what can we do but to sigh out of grief and pity? When the will of evil prevails over the pure and divine self-sacrifice of the heralds of liberty, what is left but regret? And when the wind of lies blows in the sky, how can we take refuge in the message of the disillusioned emissary?
We will emphasize as we have before that“the outlandish and preposterous claim that CHRR is linked to foreign governments or political groups has been repeated for a long time from various government tribunes- be it Tehran’s Prosecutor, the state and military news agencies, the Ministry of Intelligence interrogators, or the internet pirates who are floating in the swamp of their own lies.
Of course, no credible and trustworthy evidence is offered to back up this obvious lie. The Ministry of Intelligence, through its so-called experts, has launched a petty game to cover up the extent and depth of the systematic and organized human rights violations [in Iran]. Repeating these unfounded claims is, in fact, advertisement for and promotion of groups that have no [favourable] place in the Iranian public opinion.”**
We will state again that we confirm “there is no doubt that the Ministry of Intelligence, which spends large amounts of money out of the Iranian people’s pocket, is certainly aware of the independence of CHRR from all political parties and movements. That is why the absurd scheme of tying CHRR to the MKO (Mujahedin Khalq Organization), as it has been suggested by Ministry of Intelligence experts, cannot be considered anything but an attempt to pave the way for physical elimination of a reputable group of people whose activities are based on human rights since its conception.
For CHRR and all human rights activists, defending the human rights of every individual, regardless of their political orientation, religion, and ethnic background, is the most important principle. We candidly declare that in addition to the activities in the field of human rights including women, children, workers, religious, ethnic, and sexual minorities rights, we will be defending the rights of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscious.”**
We have said and we repeat once again that “The Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) is one of the organizations that has requested, with an emphasis on belief and commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the implementation of the Declaration in all aspects of the Iranian people’s lives. As it has been repeatedly stressed, the Committee is independent and does not belong to any political party or branch. The Committee has no political mandate.
The Committee’s activities, which started in 2005, involve presenting reports and providing information on all humans whose rights have been infringed or violated. These people involve women, children, prisoners, workers, etc. CHRR has also tried to prevent the systematic and perpetual violation of human rights by spreading public awareness, seeking assistance from domestic and international institutions to draw the government’s attention to the violation of basic rights for citizens.”**
The intention behind reiterating the above statement is a letter that has been written by a number of CHRR members, including some who were recently released from prison. The purpose is not to blame and badger our dear colleagues, but to remind our readers to disregard [the previously released controversial statements by CHRR that were written with the force of regime interrogators) and judge fairly the situations our friends [referring to the imprisoned members of CHRR] have had to endure.
On May 13, 2010, a statement titled, “Human rights are human rights” was published on the CHRR website. The statement that was full of spelling and grammatical mistakes and had other signs that it was written in a rush (these mistakes are visible to an aware reader) is in clear contrast to the Committee’s conduct in recent years. On May 15, 2010, after the publication of the “letter of aversion,” some websites who picked up the letter and posted it added in the last paragraph that some exiled members of CHRR are accused of “unfairness,” “violation of individual rights,” and “lack of respect for group and organizational efforts.” Thus it has been insinuated that those members of CHRR who have not signed the statement are the subject of outlandish claims made by Intelligence interrogators and state-military media regarding ties with the MKO.
The flagrant and absurd lies published by interrogators and their media has been repeatedly denied by CHRR. However, since we have insisted on our independence and our apolitical activities, we have been trying to report human rights violations from a purely human rights stance to avoid falling in the whirlwind of taking a political stance for or against any political group.
We have always believed that writing “letters of aversion from a certain political group” is not a human rights activity, but rather a political act. We have tried to keep CHRR clear of such effluence. Moreover, it is evident that stepping into this field by those members who are not in jail will only increase the pressure Intelligence interrogators exert not only on the members who are outside of prison but also for those who are detained and may go forward and give false confessions.”
It is not our intention to shed light on the internal issues of CHRR, but to point out a reality that will help the public uncover the truth. After the proposal to write a letter of aversion was put forward by some of the recently released members of CHRR, and not all of them, naturally many of the members opposed the publication of such a statement for the above-mentioned reasons. However, regretfully, and despite the will of the majority of the Committee, another statement which was still contrary to the conduct of CHRR was published on the website on May 7, 2010. The text was temporarily removed since internal negotiations [in prison] were not yet conclusive.
In the wake of these events, some members of CHRR, including a few who have left Iran after perceptible and active threats against their safety, have resigned from their activities in CHRR as they are against the publication of such letters of aversion and consider these letters in clear contrast to the purpose of CHRR. The resignations came after the publication of the May 13th letter titled, “Human Rights Are Human Rights.”
There is no doubt that the majority of the politically-conscious people are aware of the poison that the garden of CHRR has been exposed to. This awareness makes us hopeful that our readers understand the current circumstance. Certainly, the haste of writers and publishers of this non-human rights statement is completely understandable and does not require hair-splitting analyses. Even the year the organization was founded was typed incorrectly in the statement.
The most unfortunate part is the unethical conduct of the writers of the letter in their accusations against those members who opposed the publication of this letter.
Authors of the letter believe that taking sides will only harm human rights activities and will result in the satisfaction of those who violate human rights. Thus, we consider this painful discussion closed. We will strongly avoid engaging in it any further in hopes that the flag of pure and honest human rights reporting shall forever be up and flying.
We wish that our imprisoned friends Shiva Nazar Ahari and Koohyar Goodarzi will be released very soon. There is no doubt that the breeze of freedom shall blow, sooner or later, on this wounded land.
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