Letters

We the undersigned, categorically condemn the speech of Mr. Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iran’s vice president in the UN-sponsored international anti-drug conference in Tehran on June 26, 2012. These baseless allegations that include the responsibility of the book of Talmud for today’s international illegal drug trade and genocide are historically inaccurate, morally reprehensible, and politically contrary to the interests of the nation and government of Iran.

Rafiq Taqi, an Azerbaijani writer accused of apostasy for insulting Muslim beliefs, was stabbed on November19, 2011 and died four days later in the hospital. Five years earlier in 2006, the Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fazil Lankarani, in response to his followers’ question as to what ought to be done about Taqi, issued a fatwa sanctioning the killing of the writer. Now in 2011, Muhammad Javad Fazil Lankarani, the son of the late Grand Ayatollah and a clergy in Qom, in a statement posted on his website reaffirmed his father’s fatwa...

  As Tunisians and Egyptians work through their respective political transitions, the Iranian government increasingly detaches itself from the realities of its restive population. The longer it resists meeting public demands, the shorter its lifespan becomes. At the same time, within the Iranian Diaspora, some have sought to usurp leadership of Iran's indigenous pro-democracy movement. This has alarmed the leaders of the Green Movement in Iran. Mir Hossein Mousavi warned against "international surfers" seeking to wield their own axe in the furnace of the Green movement in his last communiqué…

Text of the letter by Dr. Mohsen Kadivar In the Name of God the Most Merciful To the auspicious audience of theologian and jurist, our most erudite and courageous master, the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, may his presence endure Peace be upon you, I congratulate and offer my good wishes on the occasion of the birthday of Imam Ali (Peace be upon him), commander of the devout, guide of the oppressed, and the superlative leader of those who seek justice and freedom.  We celebrate this holiday at a time when dozens…

We respectfully urge you to call on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect the international conventions on human rights to which it is a signatory.