How Dirty is The IRI?

The Honorable Fabian Núñez
Speaker
California State Assembly
Sacramento, CA
Dear Mr. Speaker,
As an Iranian, it was with pride and admiration that I witnessed the
courage my countrymen spontaneously demonstrated upon learning of the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on America. On that day, thousands
of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran, marching and holding candle
light vigils through the night in sympathy and solidarity with the
American people. While many around the world also showed their support on
that terrible day, doing so in Iran was in direct defiance of the
clerical oppressors of the Iranian people who continue to deny freedom, human
rights and basic dignity in my homeland.
It is, of course, no secret that Iran’s clerical regime has long been
one of the major state sponsors of global terror. While its fanaticism
and support for global militancy makes this regime a threat to all, it
is my compatriots who are the first real victims of the regime’s
violence and terror as evident in the regime’s consistent top ranking
among the most flagrant violators of human rights.
Just a few weeks ago, the regime brutally crushed a peaceful
demonstration by striking teachers seeking back pay and better wages. Their thugs
used clubs to break up the protest and attack the demonstrators, most
of whom were women. Earlier this month, the regime violently dispersed
another peaceful demonstration in Tehran, slashing the bodies and
breaking the skulls of Iranian woman, young and old, who were simply marking
the international day for women’s rights. Sadly, such ruthless
brutality is not isolated in Iran today. Several months earlier, the world
watched in horror as the regime used an iron fist to bust, arrest,
torture and slash the tongue of union leaders as Tehran bus drivers went on
strike for better wages.
These cycles of bloody repression are all too common in Iran, and
indeed have been since the advent of the clerical regime in 1979. While the
United Nations is now ready to stand together against the regime’s
pursuit of nuclear weapons, I continue to call upon the good-hearted and
freedom loving people of the world to pay a higher measure of attention
to the viciousness of this regime against its own people. For if it
were not for domestic oppression, Iranians would rise up against this
theocracy and the world would no longer have to worry about terrorism or
weapons of mass destructions from Iran.
Mr. Speaker, I am writing you in support of the Iran divestment
legislation (AB 221) calling for the divesting of your state’s public
retirement funds from businesses benefiting the suppressive militant clerical
regime of Iran. This act will hearten Iranians by demonstrating
Californian’s solidarity with their plight and national struggle against
tyranny, injustice and suppression. Just as men and women of conscience
around the world employed similar tactics and stood arm-in-arm against
South Africa’s evil apartheid in the 1980s, I am asking the good people
of your great state to set a moral example and fuel the hopes of my
compatriots about the good that can come from such acts of conscience.
As an advocate of a campaign of non-violent defiance against the
clerical regime, I have repeatedly rejected the option of violence and war
against my homeland. Instead, I have called on the international
community to side with the Iranian people as they strive to bring about a
democratic alternative to the current autocracy ruling them. The Iran
Divestment Legislation will be a shining example and a great way to
demonstrate solidarity with 70 million Iranians seeking freedom, democracy and a
better life. Through the democratic institutions with which your great
state is blessed, please send a powerful message to my compatriots
about freedom and justice.
Respectfully,
Reza Pahlavi
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