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18 June 2003

Congressman Voices Support for Iranian Students' Demonstrations

(Ney expresses hope that freedom and democracy will soon be at hand) (330)
U.S. Representative Bob Ney of Ohio issued a statement on June 16
expressing his sympathy and solidarity with the student demonstrators
in Iran.
Following is the text of Ney's statement:
(begin text)
June 16, 2003
Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Representative Bob Ney (OH-18) today
expressed his sympathy and solidarity with the student demonstrators
in Iran who, for six consecutive nights, have protested against the
lack of freedom and democracy in the mullah-controlled nation. Scores
of students have been beaten and arrested in Tehran by armed
supporters of Iran's conservative leadership. Ney, who speaks Persian,
taught English in Iran in the late 1970s, before the Shah of Iran was
ousted in the 1979 revolution. He stays in close contact with
Iranian-Americans in the U.S. and follows the events in Iran closely.
"I lived in Iran in 1978 when demonstrations against the Shah were
widespread and common. Yet here we are, more than twenty years later,
and the Iranian people's desire for democracy and freedom remains
unfilled and unmet by an oppressive regime that forbids the most basic
human rights for its people," Ney said today. "I firmly believe that
democracy and freedom are human rights. No matter what culture you're
from, or what country you reside in, you have these rights. The
Iranian people deserve these rights."
"Today, America stands with the Iranian people's aspirations to
exercise their rights to free elections, self-determination, good
governance, democracy and freedom. I am appalled by the crackdown on
these student demonstrators, but at the same time, their voices are
growing louder by the day and they are being heard around the world.
The indomitable desire of a people to be free cannot be muzzled
forever, and I am confident that the Iranian people will soon reach
their goals of freedom and democracy," Ney concluded.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)