Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Sous-comité des droits internationaux de la personne du Comité permanent des affaires étrangères et du développement international

For immediate release

Ottawa, April 27, 2018 -

The Iranian regime’s record of human rights abuses against its own people is of deep concern to the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Beginning in December 2017, Iranian citizens across Iran assembled to protest their government’s policies, exercising their rights to freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly. The response of Iran’s corrupt state security forces—including arbitrary detention and killings—once again exposed the intensity of the Iranian regime’s repression of democratic values. Among these protestors are women and girls, who took to the streets and social media to object to state-sanctioned discrimination and restrictions on their human rights.

On the occasion of the Subcommittee’s 6th annual Iran Accountability Week, on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 and Thursday, May 3, 2018, the Subcommittee will hold two hearings to further shed light on the repression of democratic freedoms in Iran and the systematic discrimination faced by Iranian women and girls. On May 1, 2018, the Subcommittee will hear from Payam Akhavan, Associate Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, and Mark Dubowitz, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. On May 3, 2018, the Subcommitee will hear from journalist Maziar Bahari and Iranian human rights defender Pariya Kohandel.

The Subcommittee will issue a Joint Statement following the hearings. Subcommittee members may also make statements in the House of Commons Chamber regarding the Iranian regime’s human rights record.