Dr.Ida Lichter (Surry Hills, NSW, Australia) is a psychiatrist and writer in the UK and Australia. She is the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression published by Prometheus Books. I met her during the Israel trip between late April and early May this year. She is a wonderful, intelligent and compassionate lady. (Lily)
The Australian（http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-congress-needs-to-fix-deal-with-iran-a-regime-that-jails-even-dogs/story）
US congress needs to fix deal with Iran, a regime that jails even dogs
31 August 2015
by Dr. Ida Lichter
Much analysis of the Iran nuclear deal has sidelined human rights, particularly those of women, largely ignored Iranian aggression and forgotten the history of comparable pacts.
Women have been oppressed since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Their movement, which emerged forcibly in the mid 2000s, is probably the most courageous dissident effort in the region. It challenged sexist discrimination in a society without freedom of speech, assembly and association, and to the shame of the First World and Western feminism, received little international support.
Women reformers were attacked and arrested during peaceful protests such as the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aimed to dismantle discriminatory laws covering marriage, divorce, citizenship, court testimony, inheritance and compensation for injury. The campaign also targeted mandatory Islamic dress, stoning for adultery, and lenient sentences for honour killings. Many activists were sentenced to prison terms.
Under so-called reformist President Hasan Rowhani, human rights have not improved. Executions have risen to two per day, political prisoners have almost doubled, reformist publications have been closed down, and jailed journalists beaten. A government official has reportedly acknowledged that hundreds of teachers are being held in prison.
Homosexuality is still a capital offence, and political parties are banned. Christians are battling a crackdown, and persecution of Bahais continues, with discrimination in education, employment, and the jailing of community leaders.
Dogs are also persecuted, and their owners branded “morally depraved”. Considered unclean, a public health hazard and an objectionable aspect of Westernisation, dogs could be sent to jail. Last November, a draft bill called for 74 lashes and fines for owners.
The US Administration has recognised Iran’s role as a state sponsor of international terrorism. Through the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force and proxies such as Hezbollah, Iran is held responsible for many attacks against the US, including the 1983 suicide bombings of the embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. Iran supports Al-Qa’ida and affiliated militias, such as Jabhat al-Nusrah in Syria.
The free world’s track record in dealing with authoritarian regimes is not encouraging. Bill Clinton’s remarks on reaching a nuclear agreement with North Korea are ominously similar to Barack Obama’s on Iran. Clinton said the agreement was “good for the US, good for our allies, and good for the safety of the entire world. It reduces the danger of the threat of nuclear spreading in the region. It’s a crucial step toward drawing North Korea into the global community”. These fine words were followed by the brinkmanship and nuclear breakout of a totalitarian regime bent on retaining power.
Rapprochement with Iran is reminiscent of detente during the Cold War. Envisaged as a means to reduce arms and tension, detente increased the belligerence of the Soviet Union. Soviet dissidents warned against accommodation; today, Iranian dissidents caution against appeasement.
Obama is attempting to distance the US from the region after the debacle of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Islamist extremism that filled the vacuum left by the Arab Spring. He is backing Iran in the hope the regime will moderate with time and Western contact, assist in defeating Islamic State, help stabilise Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and strike a new balance of power with the Sunni Gulf states.
By signing a contract with a theocracy defined by misogynistic legislation and oppression abhorrent to Western values, the Obama Administration’s intolerance of dissent to the agreement is unpalatable and questionable.
In this crucible of ancient hatreds and violence, Shia Iran, which represents only 10 per cent of the Muslim world, is looming ascendant. The deal will deliver the Iranian regime a windfall in unfrozen assets, lifted sanctions, global publicity and international stature. Confronting this spectre, the US and other Western powers indulge in wishful blinking instead of common sense and cautious appraisal of wily Levantine tactics to obfuscate, wear out, and push their opponents towards a gamble in favour of their own objectives.
The nuclear agreement with Iran needs an overhaul by congress; otherwise the Obama Administration could be backing a shady horse, and a Trojan breed at that.
(End)
