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 Dozens of prominent figures, many of whom have spent time in jail
and faced travel or work bans, have recorded short video clips on
social media sites this week praising the July 14 accord that will
lift international sanctions from Iran in exchange for strict curbs
on its nuclear program.
"These video messages show that those who have paid the highest
prices for the cause of democracy and human rights in Iran are
supporting the deal," Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, a pro-democracy
activist who organized the campaign said.
Many of the videos implored the U.S. Congress to approve the deal in
a vote due next month, arguing that it offers the best hope of
promoting democracy in Iran and is not a capitulation to Iranian
hardline factions to which they, too, are opposed.
"War and sanctions create crisis, and crisis is the death of
democracy, the death of peace and human rights," film director Jafar
Panahi, who has received accolades abroad but seen his work banned
in Iran, noted in his video.
Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has represented opposition
politicians and activists, said it was "unrealistic" to hope that
the deal would automatically resolve civil rights issues in Iran,
but that it was still a step forward.
"We are hopeful that the same approach that was adopted by the
Iranian government to resolve international animosity, can be used
to resolve differences within the country," she told Reuters by
telephone from Tehran.
Opposition Republican lawmakers in Congress have vowed to sink the
deal but need to recruit dozens of Democrats reach the two-thirds
majority needed to override President Barack Obama's veto. Some
hardliners in Iran's parliament have also opposed the deal, but have
no legislative power to reject it. REFORMISTS EXCLUDED
Reformists have been excluded from Iranian politics since 2009, when
the authorities put down pro-democracy demonstrations after a
disputed presidential election, arrested several leaders, and barred
candidates from subsequent elections.
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Some of those who appear in this week's videos have paid a high
price for their activities.
Jalaeipour spent five months in solitary confinement, Panahi was
banned from making films and forbidden from traveling in 2010, while
Sotoudeh was sentenced to six years in jail in 2010 and banned from
practice.
At the 2013 election, reformists turned out in force to elect
Rouhani, a pragmatic insider who promised to lift social and
political restrictions. But the United Nations noted in March that
the rights situation remains dire.
The video campaign suggests many Iranian reformists hope and expect
that Rouhani, who championed the nuclear talks, can finally fight
for political reform against hardline factions that dominate the
judiciary and security establishment.
"Rouhani has focused on external engagement, but now will be
expected to use the political capital to fulfill his other
promises," Jalaeipour told Reuters.
"Hardliners in Iran have benefited, and civil society has suffered,
from the standoff with the West."
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Writing by Sam Wilkin; Editing
by Dominic Evans)
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