The Church & Society Council warns against a simplistic approach to Iran, and warns against viewing it merely as an “evil country with dangerous ambitions”.
However, the Council does highlight the poor, and worsening, human rights record in Iran. Since 2005, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of the death penalty, from 94 in 2005, to 200 in 2006, and 300 in 2007. Currently, Iran is second only to China in the numbers of executions it carries out.
In addition, since the election of the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President, relatively liberal newspapers have closed and a number of members of the press corps have been imprisoned – often for minor offences, the Council notes.
This crackdown has been felt in the foreign press, as well as the domestic. The last British journalist of an English-speaking newspaper, Robert Tait of The Guardian, was expelled from Iran in January of this year.
The Church & Society Council concludes that, domestically and internationally, Iran’s future may lie not with negotiators in the West, or even its leadership, but with its people. Young Iranians make up an estimated 70 per cent of their country’s population and many are frustrated with the way that the government is running their nation and are longing for change, the Council states.
Ending on a note of hope, the General Assembly will be asked: "Could it be that this young population in this ancient land may peacefully and constructively bring about the changes that Iran so desperately needs?"
