And where are the feminists who should be at the barricades over this issue?
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's imminent execution in Iran -- by being stoned or hangied - has elicited protests across the globe. Ms. Ashtiani has been found guilty of adultery; tortured by women-hating prison guards, and has become a symbol of Sharia inspired laws that mistreat women.
Ironically and poignantly, Iran is on the United Nations Committee for Women's Rights and will soon join the Executive Committee for the Asian region. Yet remarkably Ambassador Susan Rice has not uttered a word on behalf of Ms. Ashtiani, or said anything about Iran's representation on the UN committee, a silence that is once again telling about the moral collapse and indifference to human rights of this administration.
It is unacceptable that Iran is in a position to negotiate women's rights when the government routinely violates these rights -- a condition comparable to having Nazis investigate the human rights violations of Jews. To make matters worse, the Obama administration through its silence is thereby complicit in the crime against fundamental rights.
Even the New York Times and the Washington Post have covered the story. Mina Ahadi, a spokesman for the International Committee Against Stoning and Execution, has been engaged in non-stop demonstrations against the Iranian government and its perverse judicial decision.
Remarkably, Ms. Ashtiani probably has no idea that there is vocal support for her cause. Iranian mullahs do not react to appeals of reason and fairness: Only when their positions are watched and challenged with condemnation, do the mullahs pay attention.
This explains why the United States' official inattention to this matter is tragic. As we have not offered a diplomatic protest -- have not uttered a word about Iran's role on the Committee for Women's Rights, the United States has abandoned its moral leadership in matters affecting all women.
via hudson-ny.org
