Ever since the UK became one of the six parties to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programme, the British Government – and the West as a whole - has been opening itself up to criticism that it is neglecting the issue of Tehran’s record of human rights abuses.
Ever since the UK became one of the six parties to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programme, the British Government – and the West as a whole - has been opening itself up to criticism that it is neglecting the issue of Tehran’s record of human rights abuses.
Nothing has been a more serious test of the West’s will than Iran’s escalating human rights violations and crackdowns on domestic dissent.
In the run-up to Iranian presidential elections in May, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stepped up its arrests of dissidents, civil activists, independent journalists, and other threats to the country’s hard-liners.
The Iranian regime continues to make it plain, both at home and abroad, that it will not compromise its repressive, theocratic ideology for the sake of the international community. Meanwhile, much of the international community has sent exactly the opposite message: that it is willing to overlook even the most basic principles of modern, democratic societies, for the sake of promoting re-engagement.
From the perspective of anyone defending human rights and free expression, the West is failing that test.
The leading Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, released a report in March detailing the “rise of the Revolutionary Guards’ financial empire”, detailing how hard-line forces, such as the IRGC, had taken control over much of the economy through a vast network of front companies – companies the West is now free to invest in.
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