Sir Menzies Campbell colludes with Islamist murderer.
Lib Dem pro-gay credentials tarnished.
Khatami should be arrested and put on trial.
London – 23 October 2006
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, has agreed to honour the former President of the Islamist dictatorship of Iran, Mohammad Khatami.
Khatami has defended and justified the barbarities of Sharia law, which include the death penalty for gay people, unchaste women and Muslims who turn away from their faith.
Sir Menzies will present Khatami with an honorary doctorate of law at St Andrews University in Scotland on 31 October. Khatami will also speak at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think-tank, the following day (see protest details below).
Protests are planned at both events, involving students, women’s groups, left-wingers and Iranian refugees. These protests are backed by the LGBTI human rights group, OutRage!
“Sir Menzies’s agreement to honour a homophobe like Khatami contradicts the Lib Dem’s supposed commitment to lesbian and gay human rights. It is a big disappointment,” said Peter Tatchell of OutRage!.
“During a visit to Harvard University in September 2006, Khatami was questioned about the execution of gay people in Iran. He declined the opportunity to condemn the death penalty for homosexuality; preferring instead to reiterate his opinion that same-sex relationships are a crime deserving punishment.
“Khatami was Iranian President from 1997 to 2005. Despite his claims to be a reformer, during his presidency thousands of Iranians were tortured and imprisoned. Over 200 were executed. The victims of this oppression included gay people, unchaste women and political, religious and ethnic dissidents.
“Khatami recently likened the Islamist fundamentalist movement Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group, to a ‘shining sun which warms up all oppressed Muslims.’ Hezbollah’s tactics include the use of cluster bombs and the deliberate massacre of innocent civilians.
“Khatami and all other leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are criminals and should be put on trial in The Hague for their crimes against humanity.
“Well known victims of Islamist murder during Khatami’s rule include the Iranian-Canadian photographer, Zahra Kazemi, who was tortured and beaten to death by Iranian security agents in 2003, and four copper mine workers from Khatoon Abad village who were shot dead in the city of Shahr Babak, Kerman province, in 2004, when they tried to stage a protest against redundancies,” said Mr Tatchell.
The National Union of Students is backing protests against Khatami being given an honorary doctorate. It wants the award to be withdrawn unless Ahmad Batebi, a student jailed in 1999 following pro-democracy protests, is freed. Khatami was President at the time of Batebi’s arrest and imprisonment. He sanctioned the crushing of student protests.
“How can a man who imprisoned and oppressed thousands of students in Iran be given a degree by an academic institution?” queried Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, a New York-based Iranian democracy activist.
Although Khatami has a reputation as a reformer, Iran experts claim he maintains close links with the current hardline regime in Tehran. “It’s clear Khatami is being used as a tool of diplomacy which is designed to capitalise on his reputation as a reformist president,” said Mark Thomas of the Royal United Services Institute.
During the eight years of Khatami’s presidency:
. More than 200 people were executed
. There was a ten-fold increase in women being sentenced to death by stoning
. Many homosexuals were arrested and flogged, tortured, jailed or executed
. Tens of thousands of Ahwazis, members of Iran’s persecuted Arab minority, were forcibly removed from their land, with little or no compensation
. Hundreds of workers’ strikes and demonstrations, including strikes by nurses and teachers, were savagely attacked and suppressed
Protest against Khatami
Wednesday 1 November 2006
16:30 – 18:30
Chatham House
10 St James’s Square
London SW1Y 4LE
Nearest tube stations: Piccadilly Circus and Green Park
Email your protests to:
The Chatham House Press Office: [email protected]
Foreign Secretary: [email protected] or Fax: 020 7219 5365