RUTHFULLY YOURS

In February 2011, the news media reported that the screening of the controversial documentary, “Iranium,” had been banned in Ottawa due to pressure from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy. Despite all the threats, the documentary was shown in two different places — Archives Canada in Ottawa and York University in Toronto.  Many citizens, including students, lined up to come and watch and formulate their own opinions.

The fact that this documentary made the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy concerned is a disclosure of the true face of this brutal government’s  intent to procure nuclear weapons and support. The violations of the basic human rights of the Iranian people during 31 years of the regime’s existence, meanwhile, continues to be on full tragic display. The most shocking aspect of the attempt to censor the film, however, was how it was possible that an embassy of a foreign government (Iran), which is isolated in the international arena and has the highest number of opponents among its citizens (within Iran and abroad), can exert its control over the Canadian government.

The documentary shows the inhuman treatment of the regime’s opponents by police forces, and it contains interviews of various politicians and analysts.  It also shows a montage of the Islamic Republic officials’ speeches, including that of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-denying president, who boasts that “we will not give up a single iota of our nuclear rights.”  It is obvious that this regime refers to nuclear weapons as so-called “nuclear rights.”

When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, its leader Khomeini mentioned that the United States of America must be destroyed,  and referred to Israel as a cancerous tumor which must also be destroyed.  These threatening statements by the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been continued until today under the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  He has openly declared that “Israel must be wiped off the world map.”

These statements completely make clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking nuclear weapons rather than a peaceful nuclear program. It is forcing its sinister desire upon the Iranian people and it says that this is the wish of Iranians.  But the fact is that Iranians have been suffering under poverty and the violations of their basic rights. The last thing that they care about is nuclear weapons because the money that belongs to Iranian families has been spent in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other countries to support terrorist groups and Islamic extremists such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Canadian government has to understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran and its supporters in Canada are a threat to the safety of Canadian society. The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran plays an important role in this matter.  This regime and its supporters are trying to take-over Canadian laws and regulations for their own sinister desires. Additionally, since the Canadian Federal government has condemned human rights abuses of the Islamic Republic of Iran at various times, there will be a desire by this regime to take revenge against Canada.

It was by the Islamic Republic’s trained terrorists that many Iranian opponents of this regime throughout the world, including political activists and artists, have been murdered. Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar, the prime minister of the previous regime, was one of those victims.  Thus, this threat now exists in Canada for Iranian dissidents of this regime.

As Iranian-Canadian citizens and opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is very concerning for us to see the growing increase in the number of Iranian agents and supporters in Canadian society.

Sara Akrami is Founder and President of the Human Rights Activists Association at York University-Canada.