Nobel
Peace Prize laureate and Iran dissident Shirin Ebadi: The decision
by
Brazilian diplomacy to hold a lunch with her and, among others, the
U.S. ambassador,
signals that Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff,
has decided to
start acting in word and deed in defense of human rights.
Estadao, Brazil
Brazil to Side with West Against Iran's Human Rights Abuse
"The
government of President Dilma Rousseff no longer advertises in word alone that
it's disassociating itself from Lula's complacency: It is confronting
atrocities committed by despotic regimes with which Brazil is aligned in a
clumsy attempt to parade its anti-Americanism around the world, which, after
all, only served to shame Brazil."
An embarrassment?: Brazil President Lula with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, before Brazil opposed further U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran last year.
Sensing the winds shift in
relations between Brasília and Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar
Salehi said in an interview with this newspaper that his government will be
"very disappointed" if Brazil changes its position at the United
Nations in regard to Iran. He spoke, of course, of what may be the new Brazilian
attitude to condemn Iranian theocracy for its human rights violations and vote
in favor of an international investigation on the matter, as opposed to the
line followed during the Lula years.
That was in Geneva ten days
ago, at the beginning of the 16th regular session of the U.N. Human Rights
Council, which is expected to rule on complaints against Iran within the
next three weeks. But Tehran already has reason to be disappointed with Brazil.
Last Monday, in an unprecedented move, the country's ambassador had lunch at
U.N. headquarters in Geneva with the Iranian who, more than anyone else,
embodies the struggle of her fellow citizens against the violence they are
subjected to under the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - particularly since
the demonstrations unleashed against the election fraud that returned him to
power in 2009.
The person was exiled
dissident Shirin Ebadi,
winner of the 2003 Nobel Peach Prize. With this act, evidently agreed on between
our ambassador in Geneva, Maria Nazareth Farani Azevedo, and Itamaraty [the Foreign Ministry],
Brazil crossed a red line. The government of President Dilma Rousseff no longer
advertises in word alone that it is disassociating itself from Lula's
complacency: It is confronting atrocities committed by despotic regimes with
which Brazil is aligned in a clumsy attempt to parade its anti-Americanism
around the world, which, after all, only served to shame Brazil.
With the invitation to an
activist for a friendly meeting in the presence, among others, of the U.S.
ambassador, Brazilian diplomacy has indicated that, at a minimum, it's open to learning
about the expectations of Iran's opposition about the pressure that the
international community must exert on Tehran in defense of the basic rights of
those who dare raise their voice against the tyranny of theocracy. To his
guests, Ambassador Maria Nazareth said that Brazil "supported"
Ebadi's position. She is demanding the creation of a commission, under the U.N.,
to investigate the brutal practices repeatedly resorted to by the country and
the adoption of sanctions against those involved in repression.
Weeks ago, when militias
loyal to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi along with mercenaries imported by the
regime first turned to savagery to repress popular protests against the tyrant,
Brazil not only voted in favor of U.N. Security Council sanctions against
Libya, but it worked to suspend the country from the Human Rights Council. It
would only be consistent for Brazil to co-sponsor the draft resolution to
investigate Iran. "If Brazil and the international community no longer
want a Libya," Shirin Ebadi said, "they need to start moving
immediately to promote a new dialogue with Ahmadinejad before he follows in
Qaddafi's footsteps."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Apparently, he's not far.
"Opposition leaders are silenced and tortured in prisons. We are the
country with the highest number of imprisoned journalists. We are also the
country with the highest number of detained minors. The situation for women is
a disaster," listed the activist. It will likely get worse. On Tuesday,
with the removal of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
(1989-1997) from the head of the body known as the Assembly of Experts, which,
among other tasks, chooses the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, went the
last moderate in the Iranian theocracy's power structure. He was replaced with
a radical.
For Brazilian diplomacy, the
hardening of the Iranian regime represents a challenge and an opportunity. The
challenge, naturally, is to respond at the U.N. to the deterioration of the
Iranian situation. "Brazil needs to support us when there are
massacres," Ebadi told the government. And the opportunity is to show that,
"Brazil has begun to redeem itself," as she said, "from having
supported so many dictators in recent years."
