As Western powers prepare to ease economic sanctions against Iran in support of a new nuclear non-proliferation treaty, human rights activists said in November that leverage for winning freedom for prisoners of faith may about to be lost.
A human rights advocate and researcher said his colleagues in different human rights groups were concerned when they found out that there was no talk of human rights during negotiations with Iran, specifically about the release of prisoners of faith. In the quest to obtain some sort of agreement this month with the Iranians, they said, the pursuit of basic rights for Christians and other religious minorities was set aside.
Human rights have to be on table
‘When negotiations [with the Iranians] take place, human rights have to be on the agenda’, said the advocate, whose name cannot be released because of his work in the region. ‘Otherwise, if you give all these concessions over to Iran, they have no motivation or reason to do anything about human rights’.
