- 13 September 2010
- 2 Comments
- Congress, Diplomacy, Human Rights in Iran, Legislative Agenda, UN
There has been some welcome news on the Iranian human rights front in recent days. First, Iranian authorities released human rights activist Nazar Ahari yesterday from the infamous Evin Prison, and photos of her outside the prison have made their way onto the internet. Additionally, earlier in the week Iranian officials officially suspended the execution by stoning of a woman facing adultery charges, acquiescing to widespread and overwhelming international condemnation of the sentence. Finally, reports surfaced that Iran will release the female American hiker Sarah Shroud after a $500,000 bail is paid, although this comes after Iranian authorities first announced her release was imminent, then further delayed that release over the weekend. These human rights cases illustrate the sensitivity of Iran’s government to human rights pressure, while highlighting the overwhelming amount of work still left for activists.
The release of Ahari is significant from an American perspective because pressure came from not only the international rights community but from United States lawmakers as well, with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Senator Sam Brownback both independently lobbying for her release. The success of these efforts in the case of Ahari should encourage lawmakers and others within the United States that pressing the Iranian government on its human rights obligations can produce tangible results.