Basic HTML Version
Summer 2017
DEFENDERS
7
to first-instance and appeal branches of the
Court of Administrative Justice and file a
lawsuit. Therefore, there are guarantees in
this regard one way or another. However,
it seems that for comprehensive, real and
actual guarantee of this charter, what is
needed is empathy among all government
branches and their coordination in the
realization of human dignity in addition to a
dignity-centered executive branch.
Q: Is there any need for new institutions to be established in
order to play this supervisory role?
A: Since the Iranian administration has started to take a relatively new step, I recently
noted that it cannot guarantee the implementation of such a major document by
appointing a single assistant. Therefore, it is necessary for the executive branch to
set up a high-performance department, which would be able, by using a minimum
of facilities, to monitor activities related to the area of citizenship rights. Some
people say that Mr. Rouhani is expected to introduce this new department, but we
recently saw that he only introduced an assistant. Perhaps, this is due to the problem
with funding a new department or because of other considerations. At any rate, the
experience gained in the past four years shows that an assistant working in the field
of citizenship rights is very different from a legal department on citizenship rights
and sometimes overlaps occur between their activities and this causes problems.
In reality, I, as a person who has been teaching the rights of citizens for many
years, believe that it would be difficult for an assistant with limited powers and a
ceremonial position to powerfully attend to issues related to this charter.
Q: How, do you think, unveiling of this charter can affect Iran's
position within international human rights bodies? That is, how
it can be used to promote Iran's standing in such organizations?
A: There is no doubt that the Islamic Republic, as a political establishment with
a claim to religious democracy, needs to come up with practical examples of
safeguarding human rights and freedoms in order to prove its legitimacy to free-
thinking people of the world. Therefore, as a religious democracy, the government
of the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot suffice to words alone. In order to establish
religious democracy as a tenable and efficient theory in the world, the Islamic
Republic of Iran has no choice but to recognize and enforce citizenship rights. I
mean, we must accept that in the absence of citizens’ rights and freedoms no system
of government could be called a democracy. Now, when we talk about religion,
we must know that religion is the main source of supporter for human rights and
freedoms. Human dignity was introduced to all humanity as a gift for the first time
by the Prophet of Islam. Therefore, if high-ranking officials have a claim to Islam
and religious democracy, and in other words, if they are concerned about the Islamic
It is necessary for the executive
branch to set up a high-
performance department,
which would be able, by using
a minimum of facilities, to
monitor activities related to the
area of citizenship rights