2006年VOA标准英语-Film Highlights Human Rights Abuse in Iran

By Deborah Block
Washington, DC
09 February 2006
 
watch Human Rights report

A recent documentary film focuses on the lack of human rights in Iran.  "A Few Simple Shots - a Documentary on Human Rights Violations¹ in Iran" was produced by independent Iranian filmmaker, Joseph Akrami.   Several years ago, he says, he was forced to flee Iran because of his growing opposition² to the Islamic government.   VOA's Deborah Block spoke³ to him about his reasons for making the film.

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Filmmaker Joseph Akrami  
  

Through first-hand accounts in Farsi and English by Iranians who say they were tortured for their beliefs, filmmaker Joseph Akrami chronicles human rights abuses by Iran's Islamic fundamentalist government. 

 

 
Minoo Homily
  

"I was caught and arrested on the street carrying a leaflet from an opposition group,” says Minoo Homily in the film. “As a result, I spent several years of my life in prison."

Now living in Canada, Mr. Akrami says human rights violations in Iran are among the world's worst.

"You cannot oppose the Iranian government because if you oppose Iranian government you are not opposing a person, or some people, you are opposing Islam,” said Mr. Akrami.

In November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution, for the second year in a row, deploring⁴ Iran's treatment of its own people.  The U.S. State Department says the Iranian government's poor human rights record has worsened and the right of citizens to change the government is severely⁵ restricted. 

Mr. Akrami blames the Mullahs, the country's religious leaders, who do not tolerate any kind of opposition. "The mullahs are behind all this suffering.  I believe if you don't get rid of them, if we don't have these people -- or these kind of monsters, I believe we'll have a better living standard."

All the Iranians in Mr. Akrami's 90 minute film now live in Canada.  He also interviewed Canadian human rights groups, United Nations representatives, and immigration lawyers such as Mary Tatham.

Mary Tatham, immigration lawyer   
  
"Procedures in the revolutionary courts are abysmal⁶.  There is no right of counsel.  There is frequently no right of appeal,” she says.

In this year's annual report, a private U.S. watchdog group, Human Rights Watch, says Iranian authorities have subjected people imprisoned⁷ for peaceful expression of their political views to torture and ill-treatment.

Mr. Akrami shows the faces of those whom he says are some of those Iranians, including members of opposition movements, journalists, and students.

"By being in a [political] demonstration,” the director explained, “or for instance, writing something about the Iranian regime in a newspaper, or even talking [about the government] in the schools."

Human Rights Watch says, because the Iranian government launched a campaign in 2000 closing many newspapers and imprisoning⁸ journalists, the few remaining independent newspapers practice self-censorship.   Although many writers have left the country, or are in prison, Mr. Akrami says those who remain find it difficult.

"So that's the reason that a lot of artists, filmmakers, and writers are suffering because they don't have freedom of expression.  They cannot express themselves and that's the reason they get in trouble."

Human Rights Watch is critical of the Iranian government for persecuting⁹ Iran's ethnic¹⁰ and religious minorities. The U.S. State Department also objects to the Iranian government's treatment of religious minorities.  Mr. Akrami's film shows freedom of religion outside the fundamentalist Muslim faith is non-existent. 
 

Maurice Copithorne   
  
Maurice Copithorne is a Canadian United Nations Special Representative on the human rights situation in Iran.  "All other groups are unrecognized minorities and this is where a fair amount of suffering occurs."

Akrami says there is only one way to stop the human rights violations in Iran.  "I'm trying to bring international attention that there is a time for change, and Iranian regime has to go."

The Mission of Iran to the United Nations -- the official representatives of Iran in the United States -- did not respond to several requests for comment on Mr. Akrami's film.

1 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 deploring   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的现在分词 )

参考例句：

5 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

6 abysmal   

adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的

参考例句：

• The film was so abysmal that I fell asleep.电影太糟糕，看得我睡着了。
• There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States.中餐在美国的糟糕状态可以从历史上找原因。

7 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

8 imprisoning   

v.下狱，监禁( imprison的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr Afwerki may disgust his compatriots by torturing and imprisoning his critics. Afwerki总统拷打和监禁他的反对者已经使的国人生厌。 来自互联网
• Proud and intelligent, it takes great pleasure and imprisoning enemies through psionic exploitation. 它骄傲并狡猾，非常喜欢囚禁敌人并剥夺他们的智力。 来自互联网

9 persecuting   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. 当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时，这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
• He is possessed with the idea that someone is persecuting him. 他老是觉得有人要害他。

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。