{"id":8836,"date":"2017-11-15T23:27:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T04:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=8836"},"modified":"2017-11-15T23:27:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T04:27:01","slug":"malcolm-sen-frum-stands-tall-against-irans-apologists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/8836\/","title":{"rendered":"Malcolm: Sen. Frum stands tall against #Iran’s apologists"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Islamic Republic of Iran is, without a doubt, a malign\u00a0<\/span>regime. If you think that\u2019s a controversial statement, consider the following facts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world, directly funding jihadist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Taliban.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran has had its hand in deadly terrorist attacks against civilians, including the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Argentina in 1994, that killed 86 people.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran doesn\u2019t just support terrorist organizations, it sends its own military to fight alongside Shi\u2019ite armies to undermine peace in neighbouring countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran is leading combat efforts in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, causing chaos and bloodshed, and having a destabilizing impact in the region.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
An earthquake survivor weeps as she sits in front of damaged buildings, in a compound which was built under the Mehr state-owned program, in Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Iran\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani says his administration will probe the cause of so much damage to buildings constructed under the Mehr program after a powerful earthquake hit the area along the border with Iraq on Sunday which killed over 400 people. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alongside its warmongering, Iran also has a dreadful human rights record at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a world leader in executions, routinely killing gay men and putting children on death row.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran has never been held accountable for the 1988 massacre when 30,000 political dissidents were murdered over the course of a few weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Iranian regime is an unapologetic force for evil in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Canada cut diplomatic relations in 2011, and despite Prime Minister Justin\u00a0Trudeau\u2019s pledge to re-establish ties, even his government has been wary to do so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s troubling record is also why opposition senators proposed Bill S-219, the Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran Act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran has been sanctioned for illegally building up elements of its nuclear arsenal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This bill proposes that we maintain sanctions to deter Iran\u2019s other misdeeds, namely its support of terrorism and its despicable human rights record.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conservative Senator Linda Frum, one of Parliament\u2019s fiercest champions of human rights and dignity, made a statement supporting the bill, calling Iran a \u201cmalign nation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Buildings are damaged by an earthquake in a compound which was built under the Mehr state-owned program, in Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Iran\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani says his administration will probe the cause of so much damage to buildings constructed under the Mehr program after a powerful earthquake hit the area along the border with Iraq on Sunday which killed over 400 people. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

rum was then met with a barrage of attacks from Liberal MPs who were born in Iran and a pro-Iran lobbying group, the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Frum\u2019s remarks were aimed at the Iranian regime, not the people of Iran \u2014 most of whom oppose the Mullahs that have ruined their country \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t matter to the ICC, who spun her words to manufacture a controversy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being subject to a torrent of intimidation and name-calling is part and parcel of living in a dictatorship; the Iranian regime uses these tactics domestically\u00a0to scare off would-be critics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in Canada, misrepresenting what critics of the Iranian regime say\u00a0isn\u2019t new for the ICC.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I reported on a video showing a senior Iranian regime member boasting about a \u201cclandestine army\u201d and \u201cguerilla movement\u201d of Iranians in the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I reported the facts, and added an analysis about why Iran was included in U.S. President Donald\u00a0Trump\u2019s travel ban.<\/span><\/p>\n

In response, the ICC wrote a statement attacking me \u2013 insinuating I had said what the video shows the Iranian official saying.<\/span><\/p>\n

They accused me of promoting Islamophobia and said my reporting created \u201ca clear danger to the safety of Iranian immigrants.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the ICC, quoting an Iranian official\u2014 accurately and in the proper context\u2014makes me the bad guy, deserving of attacks, provoking a stream of hateful messages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These tactics may work in a dictatorship like Iran, which operates on fear and misinformation, but here in Canada, a free and open country, it\u00a0will never silence the regime\u2019s many critics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bravo to Senator Frum for withstanding the ICC\u2019s propaganda campaign, and for remaining a strong and vigilant voice against Iran\u2019s ongoing human rights atrocities.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Islamic Republic of Iran is, without a doubt, a malign\u00a0regime. If you think that\u2019s a controversial statement, consider the following facts. Iran is the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,5,57],"tags":[299,300,83,301,302,303,304],"class_list":["post-8836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","category-news","category-opinion","tag-candice-malcolm","tag-government-and-politics","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists","tag-world-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8840,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8836\/revisions\/8840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}