Jamshid Chalangi:
In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines we look at the Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki and find out if their behind the scene talks will have any consequence for the Middle East.
Later we will speak to our guest Ms. Sepideh Pouraghaie of Sharhvandyar Human Rights Organization about the latest news of human rights violations in Iran.
The US and Russian presidents have entered a new round of negotiations while the world has seen the rise of Russia as a new superpower as a result of many years of US retreat from the world stage in political, economic and military fields.
This has been the case no more so as in the Middle East. As such, from the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia, to the North of Africa and Israel, no crisis can be solved without the involvement of the Russians.
Issues like the Syrian civil war, Iran’s malign activities in the region and the Ukrainian crisis are at the top of the Trump-Putin talks in Helsinki.
As for Iran, the question of its troops in Syria is a major topic of discussion as seen by the repeated trips by Ali Akbar Velayati to Moscow to get a guarantee from the Russians that they will not agree to a US demand for the removal of Iranian military units in Syria.
Jamshid Chalangi:
Women in Iran are still banned from entering sport stadiums.
Sepideh Pouraghaie:
Sadly that is true. Not only that, women in Iran are also banned from taking part is several sports like swimming.
And when they are allowed to take part in any sport tournament, their heavily covered sportswear stops them from performing and would not achieve any medals.
Being anti-women is part of the Iranian regime’s ideology and by doing so they are denying the very basic human and civil rights of half of the population and there is nothing to suggest that their view of women will ever change in the future.
Jamshid Chalangi:
We now have the case of a young Iranian girl being arrested and harassed by security forces for a simple dancing at home.
Sepideh Pouraghaie:
When the regime is under pressure, it resorts to these kinds of actions. While the country is engulfed in water and electricity shortage crisis and people aredying of hunger and lack of medical care, the regime stages this show to divert the people’s attention from the real problems of the country with trivial issues.
At the same time we see how the regime’s officials are involved in huge corruption cases with impunity, and the flight of capital from the country, as all those who are appointed by the regime’s leadership to run the affairs of the country are selected for their ideological obedience to Khamenei and his clique and once in a position of power they gradually become corrupt and thieves.
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