Legitimizing the Iranian regime will simply delay the process of change in Iran (Prof. Bill Bowring)

NCRI – “The lesson we learn is that support for regimes that violate human rights is linked directly to violations of human rights at home. Yet this is exactly what Britain has been doing with Iran’s regime”, said Bill Bowring in his speech at Westminster on December 15 in a conference on the main Iranian opposition movement’s status, PMOI, in Iraq. Barrister and Professor of International Law at Birkbeck College, University of London, Bill Bowring stressed that “the actions of countries like Britain in comforting and legitimizing the Iranian regime, while restricting the activities of the PMOI, will simply delay the process of change in Iran.” Here is the text of his speech:

It is very hard to follow such eminent speakers. I am here as a human rights defender. I believe that the main threat to civil liberties is the war on terror and the view that anybody who struggles for the freedom of their nation is necessarily glorifying terrorism and is therefore also a terrorist. This is a view adopted by the British government. If this were right, the greatest terrorist of our era is Nelson Mandela.

The lesson we learn from this is that support for regimes that violate human rights is linked directly to violations of human rights at home. Yet this is exactly what Britain has been doing with Iran’s regime. I want to say two things about what is going in Iraq. First, it is absolutely clear to me that from the moment of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 the British government were perfectly happy to hand the southern part of Iraq to the Shiite militias, effectively to Iran. That remains the present state of affairs in Basra. The deal is that provided the British leave the militias alone they will leave the British alone. When the militias feel they are not being left alone, they react savagely and we see pictures of British soldiers on fire in their tanks on our television screens.

I too welcome the victory in the European Court of Justice. We have to remember that Britain proscribed the PMOI before the EU and it intervened in the ECJ case as the most enthusiastic supporter of the EU position on the PMOI. I have not been able to find any comment by the UK government on their position vis-à-vis the decision of the ECJ. I would like to know what they plan to do about proscription of the PMOI in this country.

In my view the future of Iran is a matter for the people of Iran and I am totally opposed to interventions by anyone anywhere in the world. History has shown us that interventions have been disastrous. The only solution is to leave it to the people of Iran to sort out their country. I am certain that the regime in power at the present time in Iran will not be there forever. In fact, they will not be there for much longer. The population in Iran is one of the youngest in the world and we know that the vast majority of people in Iran, particularly young people, do not support this regime. I am therefore confident that they are the ones who will determine the future course of Iran.

Regrettably, the actions of countries like Britain in comforting and legitimizing the Iranian regime, while restricting the activities of the PMOI, will simply delay the process of change in Iran. I finish by saying that the PMOI have a right to take their place in a democratic Iran and then the people of Iran can decide who they want to govern them. That is their right and the British government has no business interfering in that process.