Three Decades of Tyranny: My Abstract

The Islamic government seized power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, executing supporters of opposition groups, and eventually a number of their own peers. In the early eighties, Iran became subject to the Cultural Revolution where the entire legislative and cultural texts were amended to reflect the Shari'a (Islamic law) of Shia Islam. The amended laws stipulated harsh and brutal physical punishments, such as public hangings; the stoning of men and women; the amputation of limbs; as well as public flogging. Women became the servants of men, confined to the dark four-walls of their home, unable to leave without the permission of their husbands. Children lost their right to be children, facing execution by the State, and enduring forced marriages to many men their senior. The descendent-nation of Cyrus the Great was plunged into a vortex of medieval practices that outright violated the codes of humanity; offended what some Muslims consider to be 'true Islam'; insulting the efforts of the international community's legislative instruments that sought to protect and promote human rights worldwide. The ruling elites of the Islamic Republic of Iran endeavoured to manipulate every point of the Shari'a in order to maintain tight controls over the masses; thus, securing their reign of tyranny.

The international community needs to take the violations of human rights law more seriously in order to protect human rights effectively; the 'Concluding Observations' and 'Recommendations' only vindicate criticisms that such are merely paper tigers. Protecting human rights is facilitated by its enforcement through imposing sanctions against offending governments, and establishing an International Court of Human Rights, where officials charged with human rights violations are prosecuted.