Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin said in his letter that unfounded hopes expressed in the Human Rights Commission's April 1998 resolution about "positive positions" of the clerical regime constitute one of the reasons of the deterioration of human rights abuses in Iran in recent months. He added: "Tehran's criminal rulers welcomed this resolution. Having obtained generous concessions, they did not find it necessary to reply to the repeated requests over the years of the Special Representative to visit Iran."
Mr. Mohaddessin emphasized that executions, death under torture and stoning have continued and increased during Khatami's tenure. As far as freedom of expression is concerned not even one real opposition publication has been allowed to publish. In the past two months, a number of other publications affiliated with the ruling factions were shut down and their editors detained. This is while the ultimate goal of these publications which put out certain articles critical of some aspects of the mullahs' rule, is to preserve the mullahs' regime and "let off the steam in the society's pressure cooker."
The NCR's Foreign Affairs Committee chairman said: Despite Cook-Kharrazi accord, the regime's foreign minister declared upon returning to Tehran that the regime's positions regarding Rushdie had not changed at all. Subsequently, the state-run 15th of Khordad Foundation increased the bounty for Rushdie's murder to 3.1 million dollars.
In another part of his letter, Mr. Mohaddessin said: The interim report of the Special Representative of the United Nations Human Rights Commission reflects clearly the deteriorating state of human rights in Iran in recent months and persisting suppression of women and religious and ethnic minorities, an unjust Judiciary, high number of executions, and condoning of cruel punishments such as stoning.
Khatami shares responsibility in all of the regime's crimes over the past 18 years, especially during his ten-year tenure as minister, Mr. Mohaddessin said. If we judge him only on the basis of his remarks during his term as president, it will become clear that he has persistently stated his support for the principle of velayat-e faqih (absolute supremacy of clerical leadership), an undeniable usurpation of the right of the Iranian people to sovereignty. Also on the eve ofthe Assembly of Experts elections, Khatami used the most fascistic terms and described velayat-e faqih as a "superior will" with "unlimited authority," "approved by God and linked to divine revelation."
Mr. Mohaddessin added: A genuine reformer cannot initiate reform without linking himself to the main opposition force. Khatami, however, displayed his enmity toward the resistance movement from the beginning. Acting in a theocratic framework and in unison with the vali-e faqih, he declared his main goal as confronting the Iranian Resistance.
The Chairman of the NCR Foreign Affairs Committee said the adoption of a strongly-worded resolution in condemnation of human rights violations in Iran is the minimum expected from the fifty-fifth session of the U.N. General Assembly. "A weak tone or unjustified concessions and credits to the regime or any of its factions, would in no way contribute to improvement in the situation of human rights in Iran and would only reassure the clerics that their crimes will go unpunished by the world community," Mr. Mohaddessin said.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
November 4, 1998
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