Soccer Dad

The iranian revolution eats its own

I'm not sure that irony begins to describe this spectacle:

Iran is "in full compliance with the relevant international commitments it has taken on in a genuine and long-term approach to safeguard human rights," Mohammad Larijani, secretary general of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, told the United Nations Human Rights Council, which was conducting its first review of the country.

"The situation of human rights has been consistently used as a tool to apply pressure against us" by some Western governments, Mr. Larijani said.

In an apparent riposte to comments by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier Monday that Iran was "moving toward a military dictatorship," Mr. Larijani said Iran "is becoming one of the prominent democratic states in the region."

Now, of course, the Human Rights council is populated with lots of bad actors including China, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia, so I'm not sure that Iran necessarily is the worst human rights offender. Still it's a close call. But many of the countries represented wouldn't want too close an inspection of their own rights records.

Except for Israel - where the standard of proof is "you exist" - I'm not sure what would prove to the council that Iran (or any tyranny) is a major rights abuser.

Barry Rubin, though, has a relevant observation. Iran's official media aren't commemorating the revolution by broadcasting pictures of the Sha's forces firing on demonstrators. Why not?

Because footage of Iranian security forces shooting at demonstrators in 1978-1979 might remind viewers of Iranian security forces shooting at demonstrators in 2009 and early 2010.

UPDATE: Elder of Ziyon presents the context of Iran's case, plus a very interesting twist. Simply Jews has a nice concise case against Iran.