Key Points
- Petition calling for expulsion of Iranian ambassador to Australia garners more than 50,000 signatures
- Iranian Australians question Australia’s slow response
- The Islamic Republic’s human rights abuses have been referred to the Australian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee
More than 50,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Australian government to expel the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Fereidoun Haghbin, and take decisive against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG).
The Australian parliamentary petition, which runs until 23 November, follows two months of turmoil in Iran.
Thousands of people have attended daily rallies throughout the Middle Eastern country since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death on 16 September, which followed her arrest and detention by the morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly.
In Australia, the Iranian community has staged regular protests in major cities, with similar events taking place around the world.
Moezeddin Mousavi Mahyari, the principal petitioner, said the protests are about so much more than any one isolated event.
“Over 43 years, this regime committed unforgettable crimes and made the world less safe through terrorist acts and support of terrorism," he told SBS Persian.
"At their brutal worst, in the recent uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini, we have witnessed severe crimes against humanity, genocide, killing, torturing and raping civilians, including children and teenagers, in their fight for basic human rights.”
In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows Iranian police arrive to disperse a protest to mark 40 days since the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose tragedy sparked Iran's biggest antigovernment movement in over a decade, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Credit: AP/AAP Image
Implications for the Australian community
Mr Mahyari is using the petition to urge the Australian government to ensure measures that prevent taxpayers’ money from supporting Islamic Republic activities.
This includes money invested in Australia by individuals connected to Iranian officials.
“The IRCG is a terrorist organisation and settling them here in Australia will affect Australian safety and security. No matter how much money they want to bring here, they will have a very serious impact on everyone's safety if we let them here.”
He is calling for sanctions under Australia's Magnitsky regime, passed in December 2021, which bans human rights abusers from entering the country or investing in the national market.
“Enacting Magnitsky-style sanctions against key actors and members of the IRGC and the Islamic regime oligarchs similar to the Russian oligarchs (March 2022) will ensure they do not find Australia as their safe haven.
"It will have a direct positive mental health impact for Iranian-Australians who know this terrorist organisation closely,” he explained.
Diplomatic or commercial relationships with the Islamic Republic regime may contribute to the systematic violation of human rights including oppression of women, child abuse, abuse of LGBTQ+ individuals, ethnic cleansing and money laundering.Moezeddin Mousavi Mahyari
'Not just about the hijab'
Sara Zahedi, a lawyer who is based in Perth, is a principal petitioner of a different online petition which is requesting the Australian government to renounce the Islamic Republic of Iran for human rights violations.
FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, women run away from anti-riot police during a protest of the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. Source: AP / AP/AAP Image
It's not a cultural issue. It's not a religious issue, too. It is a human issue. So, it affects everyone equally.Sara Zahedi
Ms Zahedi took exception to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s remarks in Parliament on 9 November, when he said the government is "fully cognisant of the implications for Australian businesses" in any action it takes on Iran.
She accused the PM of putting Australian business interests ahead of diplomatic action.
“The economic relationship between Australia and Iran is very limited. Australia is selling wheat and livestock to Iran and the volume accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of Australia's GDP,” she said.
“It's like saying that Iranians' lives matter less than 0.1 per cent of Australian GDP and that is the wrong message that he's sending to the Australian community at large, but especially to the Iranian-Australian community."
According to the 2021 Australian Census, 72,498 people in Australia speak Persian at home.
Ms Zahedi also believes the Australian government is taking a "short-sighted view" of the turmoil.
“During the recent parliamentary session where he [Mr Albanese] stood up and spoke about it during Question Time in response to [Liberal MP] Keith Wolahan's question, he showed that his engagement with what was going on in Iran was very shallow.
"He was only talking about Mahsa Amini, who is the symbol of what's happening in Iran. She was the catalyst of what is happening right now; however, the scope of these protests has widened significantly since her death," she said.
Mr Albanese this week said he stands by comments he made about human rights abuses in Iran, after they drew the ire of the Islamic Republic regime.
"We will stand up for human rights (and) we will stand up for Australia's position consistent with our values," he told reporters in Bali.
His latest comments came after Australia's ambassador Lyndall Sachs was summoned by the Iranian government on Wednesday.
Speaking to SBS News in September, Mr Albanese condemned Iranian authorities and called for protesters to be treated with "respect and dignity".
'Australia not acting alongside allies'
However, Mr Mahyari believes Australia is not acting with the same sense of urgency as other countries.
Canada is imposing in response to its gross and systematic human rights violations, including its persecution of women. These measures are also in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing breach of international peace and security.
These new measures are in addition to the existing sanctions Canada has had in place against Iran under the Act since 2010. Under these sanctions, Canada has already listed several individuals and entities associated with Iran’s military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, other parts of the regime’s deep state, as well as associates of the Iranian regime.
The US has also imposed a slew of sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s officials involved in the deadly crackdown on Iranian protesters.
Most recently, the European Union adopted additional sanctions against “perpetrators of serious human rights violations” in Iran.
Foreign ministers from the 27 European Union member states agreed on 14 November to introduce following a violent crackdown on anti-government protests that have rocked the country for two months.
Iranians in Sydney show solidarity with protesters in Iran, October 1 Credit: DAMON AMB
Motion in the Australian Senate
In Australia, the human rights abuses committed by the Islamic Republic have been referred to the Australian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
This comes after a motion was put forward by Liberal Senator Claire Chandler and independent Senator Jacqui Lambie.
Speaking exclusively with SBS Persian, Senator Chandler said many Australians, particularly from the Iranian community, want to see "tangible actions" from their government.
“The motion will refer to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committees the issue of the human rights implications of the violence we've seen in Iran, with particular reference to what's happening to women and girls.
They have asked the government to oust Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, of which Australia and Iran share membership.
When asked about her motivation to put forward the motion, Senator Chandler said she has been touched by the passion of the Iranian Australian community in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death.
"I also noticed their frustration that they felt like the government and elected representatives were not listening to them," she added.
Senator Chandler feels an inquiry is one way to ensure the public gets more of the answers it wants.
She said the Australian government lags behind in its response.
"Other countries, particularly countries who are natural allies, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and elements of the European Union, have all implemented or announced multiple rounds of sanctions against Iran at this point and Australia hasn't done that.”
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Iranians in Melbourne protest in Federation Square in support of the protesters in Iran, October 1 Credit: SBS Persian
The closing date for submissions to the committee is the 16 November, after which it is expected to have some public hearings to listen to concerns of individuals face to face. The committee is due to report by 1 February 2023.
SBS Persian has contacted the Iranian embassy in Canberra for comment, but they are yet to respond.
