Will punish people connected to the Iranian clergy – NRK Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
Bloody protesters have marked Iran for weeks. It was the murder of a young woman in the custody of the Iranian morality police that ignited the popular fury against the clergy.
The authorities see the protesters as agitators, people who want to create chaos and destabilize Iran. They believe they are supported by foreign powers. This often means countries such as Israel and the United States.
So far, at least 76 protesters have stayed killed of the police forces in the country.
This has caused Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap) to condemn the Iranian authorities’ use of violence. She will continue the political and diplomatic dialogue with them to promote respect for human rights.
But parliamentary politician Mahmoud Farahmand (H) wants sharper reactions to human rights violations. He was born in Iran and came to Norway as an 8-year-old.
Now he wants to punish everyone who is connected to the clergy in Norway.
– Their funds must be frozen and access to the kingdom restricted. This is how we send clear signals that we do not accept the regime’s behavior – and that we support everyone who works for a liberal society in Iran.
Iran is ruled by Islamic scribes with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader. The religious leaders stand above the president in rings. The Ayatollah can overrule decisions made by the president and has the decisive say in the design of domestic and foreign policy.
Follows the UN and the EU
But it is not only leaders of the Islamic Republic who will be affected. Farahmand wants the proposal to also apply to their families.
– We know that many of their children live in Western countries such as Norway and live free lives, while women in Iran are forced to cover up, experience torture and are killed. This is not worthy of a liberal democracy. Instead, we should consider confiscating the assets and properties they have acquired with money stolen from the Iranian people and expel them from the country, he says.
But the foreign minister rejects Farahmand’s proposal.
She says that Norway adheres to the UN and EU’s old sanctions against Iran. That is why, among other things prohibited from selling equipment to the country that could be used for internal repression.
Huitfeldt nevertheless says no to his own Norwegian measures.
– It is not Norwegian policy to unilaterally adopt such sanctions. Sanctions and restrictive measures are most effective when adopted by several countries.
And since neither the UN nor the EU have come up with new measures, no new measures against the clergy are expected with the government’s policy.
Indifferent to the tyrant
Farahmand believes this is to be indifferent to the Iranians’ struggle. He says that indifference in the face of tyrants has never been the solution.
– It has never worked and never will.
To explain how the Norwegian authorities should rather proceed, he recalls the prosecution of the criminals after the Holocaust.
– Even those who were on guard at the concentration camps are prosecuted to this day, he points out, raising his voice:
– It is the same that must happen to the Iranian regime. They must be pursued from redoubt to redoubt, until the last baton holder in the street is taken. Then – and only then – will the Iranian regime and its henchmen understand the consequences of their actions.