Government Policy on Iran

Brendan Clarke-Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Westminster Hall

[Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw) (Con)]

Thank you, Mrs Miller. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell) on securing this important debate today. At the time of the JCPOA signing in 2015, proponents of the agreement argued that it would encourage Iran to moderate its behaviour and reduce its systematic human rights abuses. However, since the deal was signed, human rights abuses have escalated—from unlawful executions and arrests to torture, forced confessions, unfair trials without due process, repression of the press, and discrimination against women and minorities. Women are punished for poor wearing of the hijab, which is mandatory, while homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death.

Although many hailed Iran’s President Rouhani as a moderate, the indisputable fact is that oppression and the use of the death penalty have soared under his leadership. At least 251 people were executed in Iran in 2019, the second highest figure in the world after China. Iran ignored pleas from the international community to spare the life of 27-year-old national wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was reportedly tortured into confessing to murder. Mr Afkari was executed by hanging in September this year. In November 2019, at least 304 people were killed by the Iranian regime, and thousands were injured when lethal force was used to crush nationwide economic protests. Iran’s press freedom has been all but eliminated, with dozens of journalists, bloggers and cartoonists jailed for issuing material deemed contrary to the Islamic Republic’s values and principles. It is unsurprising that Iran ranked 173 out of 180 nations in the world press freedom index this year—down from 170 last year.

What is permitted and, in fact, celebrated, is holocaust denial. Tehran launched its third holocaust denial cartoon contest in September this year, which also urged entrants to paint as traitors any nations that made peace with Israel. The disgraceful event is a project of the art zone division of Iran’s Islamic propagation organisation, which reports directly to the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader himself has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, and the ultimate target of Iran’s nuclear activities and regional terrorism is self-evident.

We are all aware of the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother held hostage by Iran; the appalling treatment she has faced is further evidence that Iran has not come in from the cold since the nuclear agreement was signed. Hon. Members will remember that our ambassador to Iran was arrested at a vigil for victims after Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane in January. In separating Iran’s nuclear programme from its other destructive and repressive actions, the JCPOA failed adequately to hold Iran to account. The human rights situation has deteriorated significantly, and a reset on the UK’s policy towards Iran should urgently address that fact.