Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made the following statement today following the debate on Iran in the House of Commons called by the Liberal Party of Canada:
“We condemn the concerted attempt by the Iranian government to silence those gathered to protest peacefully in Tehran this week.
“The government’s pattern of intimidation and violence was exacerbated by parliamentarians from the governing party calling for the imprisonment and murder of their opposition colleagues in the Islamic Consultative Assembly.
“Our government must speak out in the strongest terms through all available channels and demand that the basic human rights of the Iranian people be protected and respected.”
Liberal Human Rights Critic Irwin Cotler added:
“While the eyes of the world have turned to what is happening in Egypt and North Africa, and while Canadians have been heartened by the cries for democratic reform in Egypt and in North Africa, Iranian assaults on human rights and state-sanctioned Iranian executions have escalated dramatically.
“The utter hypocrisy of Iranian leaders who criticized Mubarak for silencing protests in Egypt are now using patterns of intimidation, violence, imprisonment and execution to silence the voices of protest in Iran.
“We must sound the alarm – stand in solidarity with the people of Iran in their struggle for democracy and human rights – and hold Ahmadinejad’s Iran to account.”
