On the occasion of Human Rights Day Khamenei.ir publishes Imam Khamenei's statements about the violation of human rights by the West.
Supporting human rights is not compatible with supporting Israel
The West claims that they support democracy. They say that they are after democracy and the right to vote, yet they strongly support the most autocratic rulers in our region and in other parts of the world. Everybody can clearly see this. This is an example of the decline of values. There is a government that claims to support human rights and democracy, yet it most strongly supports and helps governments that do not know what democracy is.
They claim to support human rights. After all, human rights is loudly promoted as an American value. They are carrying the flag of human rights, but the worst actions against human rights are carried out under the protection of America. Not only do the Americans fail to confront such actions, but they also support them In the occupied Palestinian lands, the shameless Zionist thugs have been openly trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation for 65 years. But the Americans do not even frown at them. They even help and support the Zionists.
Oct 31, 2012
It is with the support and assistance of the Americans that the usurping Zionist regime is doing all these evil acts in the region. What situation is Palestine in? What situation are the Palestinians in? What situation is Gaza in? Do people in the world not know in what situation the people of Gaza are? In that oppressed land, a patient who is in urgent need of treatment is bedridden and he does not have access to basic medications. Why is that? It is because America is behind the usurping Zionist regime.
If a country and an innocent people are surrounded by the enemy, if they have no way out, if they do not have any resources, if the patients in this country do not receive basic treatment, if the hungry continue to starve, if they are deprived of basic requirements for living, then are these things not oppression? Are these acts not a violation of human rights? Are they not ashamed of speaking about human rights?
Jan 9, 2014
European countries have violated human rights since the start of history
Today, the French have become the embodiment of human rights! When you read about the crimes committed by the French in Africa – in Algeria and other African countries – you tremble. Imagine that some people fill a lake or a big marsh with oil and other such substances, and then they make a large number of people – women, men, and children – evacuate their village, force them out to a place nearby this swamp, and then shoot them. After that, those innocent people resort to the lake or the marsh, then they set the lake on fire. --This has actually happened. Such a crime has been committed by the French! In India, six thousand people gathered in a garden to protest against something, but the English placed their machine guns at the gate and they murdered six thousand people in the course of one day, half a day, or several hours! These events date back to 50, 100 years ago, but notice what they did in our own time with DAESH or in Syria and Myanmar. That is while they claim to be supporting human rights. We have clear ideas about human rights. We have claims against those untruthful and brazen people who make extravagant claims about human rights. These tasks are very good tasks which are, thankfully, being done in the judiciary branch. Jun 27, 2018
It is through abusing this improper mechanism that America and its accomplices have managed to disguise their bullying as noble concepts and impose it on the world. They protect the interests of the West in the name of “human rights”. They interfere militarily in other countries in the name of “democracy”. They target defenseless people in villages and cities with their bombs and weapons in the name of “combating terrorism”. From their perspective, humanity is divided into first-, second- and third-class citizens. Human life is considered cheap in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and expensive in America and Western Europe. The security of America and Europe is considered important, while the security of the rest of humanity is considered unimportant. Torture and assassination are permissible and completely ignored if they are carried out by America, the Zionists and their puppets. It does not trouble their conscience that they have secret prisons in various places on different continents, in which defenseless prisoners who have no legal representation and have not been tried in a court of law are treated in the most hideous and detestable way. Good and evil are defined in a completely one-sided and selective way. They impose their interests on the nations of the world in the name of “international law”. They impose their domineering and illegal demands in the name of “international community”. Using their exclusive and organized media network, they disguise their lies as the truth, their falsehood as true, and their oppression as efforts to promote justice. Aug 30, 2012
Democracy and the right to return are the most basic human rights for Palestinians
The first point is that our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of "recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations" is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, "recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands". This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in "1948 lands". It would mean leaving the cancerous tumor intact and exposing the Islamic Ummah - especially the regional nations - to constant danger. It would mean bringing back decades-long sufferings and trampling upon the blood of the martyrs.
Any operational solution must be based on the principle of "all of Palestine for all Palestinian people". Palestine is the land that extends "from the river to the sea", not one inch less than that. Of course it should be noted that through its elected government, the Palestinian people will run the affairs of the any part of the Palestinian soil they manage to liberate, just as they did in the case of Gaza, but they will never forget the ultimate goal.
The second point is that in order to reach this lofty goal, what is necessary is action, not words. It is necessary to be serious, not to make ceremonial gestures. It is necessary to have patience and wisdom, not engage in a variety of impatient actions. It is necessary to consider horizons that lie far ahead and to move forward step by step with determination, reliance on God and hope. Muslim governments and nations and the resistance groups in Palestine, Lebanon and other countries can each identify their share of work in this general struggle and solve the puzzle of resistance with Allah's permission.
The solution of the Islamic Republic to the issue of Palestine and this old wound is a clear and logical proposal that is based on political wisdom accepted by global public opinion and it has been presented in detail previously. We neither propose a classical war with the armies of Islamic countries, nor do we propose throwing Jewish immigrants into the sea or intervention of the United Nations and other international organizations. We propose a referendum among the Palestinian people. Just like any other nation, the Palestinian nation has the right to determine its own destiny and to elect its own government. All the original people of Palestine - including Muslims, Christians and Jews and not foreign immigrants - should take part in a general and orderly referendum and determine the future government of Palestine whether they live inside Palestine or in camps or in any other place. The government that is established after the referendum will determine the destiny of non-Palestinian immigrants who migrated to Palestine in the past. This is a fair and logical proposal which global public opinion understands and it can receive support from independent nations and governments.
Of course we do not expect the usurping Zionists to willingly accept this proposal and this is where the role of governments, nations and resistance organizations becomes significant. The most important pillar of supporting the Palestinian nation is to stop supporting the usurping enemy and this is the great duty of Islamic governments.