By Sara Akrami
Founder and President of the Human Rights Activists Association at York University-Canada

In February 2011, the news media reported that the screening of the documentary, “Iranium”, had been canceled in Ottawa due to several threats and backdoor pressure from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy.

The documentary was shown in two venues, in Archives Canada in Ottawa and York University in Toronto. Hundreds of ordinary citizens lined up to see the movie to draw their own conclusions.

The fact that this documentary made the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy concerned is a disclosure of the true face of this brutal government including its desire to procure nuclear weapons, its support of terrorism, and its violations of the basic human rights of the Iranian people during 31 years of its existence.

But the most shocking aspect was; how is it possible that an embassy of a foreign government (that being Iran) that is isolated in the international arena and has the highest number of opponents among its citizens (within Iran and abroad) can exert its control over the Canadian government?

The documentary shows the brutal treatment of public dissenters at the hands of the regime’s security services while interviewing the analysts, members of academia, commentators, and careful observers of Iran in the United States and elsewhere.

Also it shows the montage of Islamic Republic officials’ speeches, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust denier president, that “we will not give up a single iota of our nuclear rights.” But it is obvious that this regime refers to nuclear weapons as so-called “nuclear rights”.

When the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, its leader Khomeini mentioned that the United States of America must be destroyed and referred to Israel as a cancer tumor which must also be destroyed. These threatening statements by the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been continued until today under the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad has openly declared that “Israel must be wiped off the world map.” These statements completely make clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking nuclear weapons rather than a peaceful nuclear program and without permission, they force their sinister desire upon the Iranian people and they say that this is the wish of Iranians.

But the fact is that Iranians have been suffering under poverty with violations of their basic rights and the last thing that they care about is nuclear weapons because the money that belongs to Iranian families has been spent in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other countries to support terrorist groups and Islamic extremists such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Canadian government has to understand that the Islamic Republic of Iran and its supporters in Canada are a threat to the safety of Canadian society and the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran plays an important role in this matter. This regime and its supporters are trying to take over Canadian laws and regulations for their own sinister desires.

As well, since the Canadian Federal government has condemned human rights abuses of the Islamic Republic of Iran at various times, therefore, there will be a desire by this regime to take revenge against Canada due to the isolation that Canada has provided.

Also it was by the trained terrorists of the Islamic Republic of Iran embassies that many Iranian opponents of this regime including political activists and artists were murdered throughout the world. Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar the prime minister of the previous regime was one of those victims. Thus, this threat now exists in Canada for Iranian dissidents of this regime.

As Iranian-Canadian citizens and opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we are worried about the growing increase in the number of pro-Iranian regime sympathizers in Canadian society.

As concerned citizens, we do appreciate what former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov once said, “A country that does not respect the rights of its own people, will not respect the rights of its neighbors.”