In an effort to highlight the human rights implications of the proposed nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 nations, dozens of Iranian civil society leaders and pro-democracy activists have launched a new social media campaign expressing their support for the deal in a series of short, moving videos.
Many of the campaign’s participants have been persecuted in Iran for their beliefs or activism, sentenced to house arrest or lengthy prison terms. Others who recorded videos include celebrated filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. One renowned Iranian political prisoner, Zia Nabavi—currently serving a sentence of ten years on charges of “creating unease in the public mind”—recorded his message from inside a prison cell.
“While one cannot be sure of what the future may hold, it can be said that the Iran Deal is a better choice for all of us as it demonstrates a more hopeful and a more peaceful tomorrow,” Nabavi says.
“Those who have paid the highest price for the cause of democracy and human rights in Iran support the nuclear deal, not despite their pro-democracy and human rights activism, but precisely because of it.”
—Mohamadreza Jalaeipour, Green Movement
“I support the Iran deal because I strongly believe that sanctions are violating the human rights of the Iranian people and more importantly because I support security and peace,” says Ghoncheh Ghavami, the British-Iranian student who was jailed in 2014 for trying to attend a men’s volleyball game. “It’s time for Americans to contact their represenatives in the Congress and ask them to vote for peace. The whole world is watching.”
Despite a well-funded opposition campaign, the Obama administration is “clearly winning the battle over the Iran deal,” National Iranian American Council (NIAC) president Trita Parsi declared on Tuesday, and it has done so “largely by focusing on the undeniable non-proliferation benefits of the deal.”
“Put simply,” Parsi wrote, “the deal ensures that two disasters are avoided: The disaster of Iran getting a nuclear bomb and the disaster of going to war with Iran.”
But there are “numerous other benefits with this deal,” he continued. “Dividends that the Obama administration have not relied on to sell the deal, but that are equally valid. One of them is how it improves the prospects for Iran moving in a positive direction internally—in terms of democratization and human rights.”
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