The “International Community” and Fundamental Rights

Several months ago in Iran, first two, then eleven more Iranian Jews were arrested. The 13 – including elderly scholars and rabbis – are expected to be charged with espionage for Israel and the United States. Conviction can carry the death penalty. Most of the diplomacy on this has been quiet, but the good offices of European, Asian and Muslim countries and various international organizations have been mobilized in attempts to have the prisoners released.

The possibility of a trial is alarming. Concepts enshrined in American jurisprudence don’t exist in Iran.

Several months ago in Iran, first two, then eleven more Iranian Jews were arrested. The 13 – including elderly scholars and rabbis – are expected to be charged with espionage for Israel and the United States. Conviction can carry the death penalty. Most of the diplomacy on this has been quiet, but the good offices of European, Asian and Muslim countries and various international organizations have been mobilized in attempts to have the prisoners released.

The possibility of a trial is alarming. Concepts enshrined in American jurisprudence don’t exist in Iran. First, there is no Grand Jury to review evidence and bring charges. A judge does all of that and then presides over the trial. He can summarily dismiss the charges, or summarily find the defendants guilty and order their execution (17 Jews have been executed on trumped up charges since the 1979 revolution). There is no right to an attorney for the defense. There is no right to see evidence. There is no right to a public trial.

This is not a “Jewish issue,” not an “Israel issue,” not an “American issue.” If this travesty goes forward, the “international community” – an amorphous concept – must insist on protections for the defendants as a matter of fundamental human rights. Neutral observers are the minimum, then lawyers and some rules of evidence.

We do actually think there is evidence of an “international community.” Virtual Jerusalem is looking for 100,000 signatures on a petition to release the 13 prisoners. (You can sign the petition at http://www.vjnews.com/iranpetition.htm.) If you have a few minutes, sort the signatories (more than 46,500 as we write) by country.

There are over 20,000 American and several thousand Israelis, plus lots of Canadians, Argentines, Brazilians, Mexicans and Western Europeans. To be expected. There are some phonies – and an ugly epithet about Israel from someone in Lebanon. But there are also signatories from all of the Arab countries including Iraq, and 117 said they were from Iran (those guys are brave). There are signers from Afghanistan, Gabon, Fiji, and the Panama Canal Zone. All of Central and South America are there. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are there. There are signers from Reunion Island, Andorra and Sabah (formerly know as North Borneo). Several people living in the past signed from the USSR, Upper Volta and from Rhodesia, but their hearts are in the right place on this one. Yugoslavs signed – you’d think they’d have more pressing concerns than to write on behalf of 13 Jews half a world away. Albanians and Croats signed, too.

It was said that allied action against Yugoslavia on behalf of the Kosovar Albanians proved that, in fact, an “international community” can come together to try to prevent a human tragedy. Nearly 50,000 people around the world have made their view known on the Internet on behalf of the Iranian prisoners. If they constitute a community, their governments must speak out as well.