It was a busy day for
Nazanin today. The first engagement was an interview with
Bloomberg news followed by a press conference at the Henry Jackson Society offices in Queen Ann's Chambers. Three Iranian media representatives from Radio
Farda, Radio
Zamaneh and
Kayhan Weekly were also present and as usual some of our Iranian media didn't cease to amaze me with their snobby opinionated attitudes. Rather than interviewing
Nazanin, you would think they were the ones who were there to be interviewed. Instead of asking questions about why
Nazanin was in London and her schedule of events in the coming week, they were advising her about what she should say in the parliament and making speeches of their own . A point which did not go unnoticed by the non-Iranians present in the room either.The representative of Radio
Farda, boasted about being the most popular radio station in Iran etc. When I asked her if Radio
Farda will be covering
Nazanin's event in the UK parliament later in the afternoon, Radio
Farda representative said no unfortunately she can't make it! Neither of the other two Iranian media came to cover the parliament event either. Instead as usual they expected us to write a report and land it on their lap. Radio
Zamaneh however did a one to one interview with
Nazanin after the press conference.More than 100 people turned up at the committee room 14 in the House of commons at 5 pm today to hear
Nazanin. The meeting was chaired by Graham Stuart MP who introduced
Nazanin and myself to the audience.
Nazanin started by showing a few slide images of Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution, followed by pictures of public hangings, beatings and other human rights abuses which have taken place in the last three decades in Iran since.Today also coincided with the student uprising in 1999 which engulfed 19 cities across Iran for six days.
Nazanin reminded the audience about some of the victims of the student protests, the bloodshed which followed and the long term prison sentences received by some of the captured protesters. She talked about the persecution of the religious minorities in Iran and the new apostasy bill, the barbaric punishments and the execution of minors, the murder of the Iranian-Canadian photo journalist,
Zahra Kazemi and other victims. Yet despite all these atrocities and suppression, the civil movement in Iran for democracy and human rights remains alive. Students, the youth, the women and workers of Iran continue their protests and political prisoners like
Arzhang Davoodi defy their captors by staging a 70 day hunger strike.
Nazanin stated her position against a military strike on Iran and at the same time she criticised any appeasement of the Islamic Republic by the West, saying the best solution is empowering the civil movement in Iran.
Nazanin finished her speech by expressing her optimism that soon change will come about in Iran and dictatorships will not last for ever.The first member of the audience to be allowed to ask a question, turned out to be a Press TV employee, the
satellite station run by the
Islamic Republic from Tehran with studios in London.Although he did not ask a question, but rather aggressively and in a loud voice stood up and said he did not want to say what his name was and objected to being filmed, he then advised
Nazanin that there are people in the Iranian regime who are reasonable and not all should be blamed.Tomorrow will be another busy day with more meetings which hopefully I will get time to write about.
Nazanin's Third Day in London
Nazanin had an interview with More4 TV Channel this morning and then after a quick lunch at the Portcullis House, we made our way to the Foreign Office, where we had a very useful meeting with an Iran Desk officer on Human Rights issues. Later we went to the House of Lords. It was my first time ever in the House of Lords. While we were waiting in the lobby, one of the peers acknowledged Nazanin and said he was in committee room 14 the day before and was very impressed with the points she had made during the meeting. We had a quick tour of the House, as we made our way to the Lord's tea room. I even had the chance of standing right in front of the very Throne of the Queen of England, where the Queen sits at the State Opening of Parliament and delivers the Queen's Speech. Lord Avebury invited us to his office, where we discussed various Iran related issues. More tomorrow I hope.
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