Roji Kurd: Kurdish-Canadian activist Kajal Mohammadi has in a letter asked the 15-Canadian senators working on the Bill S-219, which pertain to the Non-Nuclear Sanctions against the Iran act to vote for the bill in its entirety. The Honourable Raymonde Saint-Germain, an Independent Senator has in an email assured Ms. Mohammadi that she will take into account the content of the letter in her ongoing review of the Bill. When asked about the letter and its content, Ms. Mohammadi stated that “my goal in sharing this news, and in writing to the Honourable Senators is to raise awareness to the human rights violations, the aggression, suppression, assimilatory and marginalizing policies and practices; along with state-sponsored discrimination, racism and exclusion members of the Kurdish, Arab Al-Ahwazi, Turkmen, Azari, and Baloch nationalities experience. I believe that it is our duty as Kurdish Canadians to remind our government and policy makers on the racist and terrorist nature of this regime – we owe it to ourselves and those silenced to raise awareness to the plight of millions of people denied a voice and a right to a peaceful life in the country. Canada takes pride in being a liberal democracy, and a champion of human rights, democracy, and freedom. It has in the past stood up to the Iranian regime on its human rights violations and terrorist activities”. Ms. Mohammadi also noted that she wanted to remind the Canadian lawmakers and those in the government of the terrorist activities and violence the Iranian regime is engaged in both in the region and beyond. She wrote a letter highlighting the human rights violation and the terrorist activities the regime was engaged in and made it public to the rest of the Kurdish-Canadian citizens asking them to also send the letter to the Honourable Senators and the rest of the Canadian parliamentarians. Ms. Mohammadi finally noted that ‘we owe it to members of these diverse nationalities in Iran, to ourselves, and to the world to stand against this terrorist regime.
Here is a copy of the letter:
Dear Sir / Madam:
I am a Canadian citizen of a Kurdish background. I am writing to ask you to vote for Bill S-219, the Non-Nuclear Sanctions against the Iran act in its entirety.
The Iranian regime known, as the largest sponsor of terrorism and terrorist organizations in the world is responsible for systemic discrimination, denial, assimilatory policies and practices when dealing with the diverse nationalities living in Iran.
Millions of Kurdish, Arab Al-Ahwaz, Azari, and Turkmen children have been denied education in their mother tongue for the last 36 years. Kurdish names are for example still not registered and recognized.
Young Kurdish men and women are arrested by the intelligence agency and are sentenced to lengthy prison sentences and even death for opposing the regime’s theocratic viewpoints on life. Many Kurdish civil, political, and labour and environmental activists end up in jail, tried in a closed court and are denied access to proper legal procedures and representative. Too many death sentences are carried out without the victims’ families’ knowledge. These treatments are similar to what other members of the diverse nationalities face as well.
Members of Arab Al-Ahwaz, Azari, and Turkmen nationalities are denied equal access to social, political and economic institutions and organizations in the country. Take for instance the case of the young and old men and women Kolbar (backpack carriers), caring household supplies on the back on the borders of Rojhalat (Iran) and Bashur (Iraq) for countless hours in the freezing weather conditions or the hot summer days, only to end up getting shot at, and killed by the regime’s military forces despite having permits. The aforementioned examples are just some examples of this regime’s oppressive and suppressive nature.
Kurdistan like Al-Ahwaz and other regions is also heavily militarized and any signs of opposition to the regime’s theocratic viewpoints, and perspectives along with any call for freedom, democracy, and human rights are strongly opposed and punished.
This regime has in the past carried out terrorist activities in the heart of Europe and was also found guilty in a number of those cases. Take for example assassination of the Kurdish leader, Dr. AbdulRahman Qasimlou, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), a party struggling for the democratization of Iran, along with social justice, liberty, and gender equality assassination plot. Dr. Qasimlou along with the Party’s European representative were assassinated by the Iranian terrorist diplomats during a peaceful negotiation meeting in Vienna, Austria in 1989. The assassins were, however, later under pressure from the Iranian regime escorted back to Tehran by the Austrian government.
Dr. Said Sharafkandi, Dr. Qasimlou’s successor was also along with his aid assassinated by assassins hired by the Iranian regime in 1992 in Berlin, Germany. Unlike Dr. Qasimlou’s murder case, however, the German police arrested the assassins and found them guilty. The German High Court further, in a historic ruling found the head of the Iranian regime responsible, for and behind the murder plot.
These internal discriminatory policies and practices along with the regime’s support for terrorist organizations and activities in the region and beyond shows that this regime is a threat to our Canadian democratic values and norms.
By voting for this Bell, and by keeping the existing sanctions in place, your vote helps deter the regime’s support for terrorism internally and internationally.
Please take the above-mentioned statements, examples and consider this a plea from someone that has suffered immensely because of the regime’s oppressive and suppressive policies when voting for Bill S-219.
Sincerely,
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