Protest Mounts ahead of Iranian President's U.S. Visit
Anti-U.S. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should expect some hostility from Americans this week when he visits the U.N. headquarters in New York.
Pro-democracy Iranian-Americans and other citizens will unite in a protest rally outside the U.N. headquarters on Tuesday – the same day Ahmadinejad is due to speak in front of the U.N. General Assembly.
The rally aims to show the Iranians' support for democratic change in Iran.
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During the event, exhibits will be displayed that show the dismal situation in Iran under Ahmadinejad and his radical Islamic regime.
"Ahmadinejad hopes to again exploit the UNGA tribune to promote the radical and hate-mongering policies of his tyrannical regime cloaked in religion," said the ad-hoc Committee Against Ahmadinejad.
"The Iranians will rally outside the UNGA to denounce Ahmadinejad's record and advocate a very different Iran: a democratic, secular, peaceful, and nuclear-free Iran."
Organizers of the rally highlighted that on one day alone in late July, 29 people were executed in Iran. The regime has also conspired to massacre nearly 3,500 Iranian dissident refugees at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, according to the group.
Iran is also known for its intense persecution of religious minorities, including Christians.
The Iranian parliament recently made a move to approve the death penalty for apostasy. The proposed bill is currently being reviewed for amendments and will be brought back to the Parliament for a final vote, where it is expected to be approved.
Tied to this apostasy bill are the lives of two Iranian Christians from Muslim backgrounds. The two men were formally charged with apostasy just days before the draft bill was approved. If the bill is approved, their lives would be seriously in danger.
While Iranian Americans are gearing up to protest Ahmadinejad's visit to the United States, a group of Christian leaders has invited the controversial figure to dinner on Thursday.
Most of the Christian leaders attending the dinner event also participated in a similar gathering in September 2007 when Ahmadinejad was in New York.
But the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in a letter to the organizers of the event, criticized their invitation to the Iranian dictator to engage in an "international dialogue."
"While organizations such as yours espouse the value of mutual understanding through dialogue, in this case we are convinced that this invitation and this platform will be counterproductive," USCIRF wrote in the letter. "President Ahmadinejad has manipulated such dialogues repeatedly into a platform for spreading hatred."
USCIRF argues that such an invitation only further gives legitimacy to the Iranian leader and "cleanse[s] his reputation as a purveyor of hate."
The Commission recommends that the event be canceled.
