Three leading Iranian student activists were arrested minutes after holding a press conference to blast the Islamic regime for banning events marking the fourth anniversary of bloody student clashes with security forces.
The arrests were made after activists from the Office to Consolidate Unity (OCU) — a pro-reform student umbrella group — said President Mohammad Khatami had failed in his drive for reforms and alleged the hardline-controlled judiciary was trying to prevent freedom of thought. [Yahoo News, “Iranian student leaders arrested on riots anniversary after blasting regime”, July 9. 2003]
Writes CapMag.com reader J. Clarke:
The Iranian students deserve the full moral–and possibly financial or military–support of America. Unfortunately, the students are mistaken in thinking that an appeal to the United Nations will help their cause. The UN was founded on the principle that a dictatorship (Soviet Russia and Red China) and a free nation (U.S. and Taiwan) are morally equivalent. Such principles have led to the U.N.’s recognition of damn near every slave-pen as legitimate. The Iranian students should steer completely clear of the U.N.