September 24, 2015
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. President:
We are writing you on behalf of the many thousands Iranian Americans who support a democratic, secular, non-nuclear republic in Ian.
About 2 years ago, Iranian regime elected as its new executive, Hassan Rouhani with the promise of reform and moderation. Today, Iran boast’s the highest per capita execution rate in the world and Rouhani presides over a government which has slaughtered at least 2000 Iranians, many of whom were killed in public.
Such medieval behavior is not acceptable in today’s world. Under Rouhani, Iran’s execution rate has reached its highest levels in 25 years, all without any due process. Amnesty International reports that the executions paint, “a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale.”
Given that Rouhani is slated to speak at the United Nations, please also permit us to share a thought or two on Iran’s role relative to the apparently recent expansion of fundamentalist Islam. Since 1979, establishment of an Islamic caliphate based on the doctrine of absolute rule of the clergy has been enshrined in the Islamic Republic’s constitution and taken a visible role in Iran’s domestic and international policies. Iranian regime was the first in the modern era to use medieval state-sponsored oppression tactics such as gouging of eyes, public executions and limb amputations, beheadings, and systemic rape on a large scale and without tangible consequence internationally.
We thus see it necessary to note that Khomeini founded and his successors, including Rouhani, run a regime that has acted as the driving force and epicenter of fundamentalist Islamic activism globally. In fact, the ideology, executive know-how, shrewd use of misogyny and absolute oppression, financing, and the tools/arms required to establish such a caliphate have been Iran’s most significant exports to date. Recent proliferation of ISIS and other extremist Islamist groups must therefore be viewed and addressed in this context.
Our community therefore respectfully calls on you to withhold trust from Iran’s unelected and illegitimate clerics and instead hold Iran’s untamed bullies accountable for their rights record – because more than any other, the Iranian people have learned that Ayatollahs’ quest for dominance does not recognize modernity, international norms, religion, or sovereign borders.
We urge you not to shake the hands of Rouhani, as this would be viewed as providing undue legitimacy to a repressive regime and sends the wrong signal to the people of Iran who have been victimized by this regime.
Sincerely,
Ross Amin
OIAC- Vice Chairman
