Karsruhe, Germany: Call for Democracy and Freedom in Iran

Where is my vote?

On Saturday, July 11th, 2009, the "Komitee zur Verteidigung und Unterstützung der Menschenrechte und Freiheit im Iran", KMF (comittee to defend and support civil rights and freedom in Iran), evidently formed by Iranian nationals living in the city of Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany, organized a demonstration in the city center attended by some one hundred persons, mostly Iranians.

The central message was a proclamation calling for the unconditional release of political prisoners in Iran, a neutral inquiry of events in Iran by UN officials, immediate stop to torture and imprisoning political activists, and for truly democratic elections under international supervision.

Read the full text of the proclamation here: http://kmfiran.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/proklamation-nr-2-nur-neda-die-stimme-bleibt/#more-107 (in German).

For a neutral observer it was absolutely evident that the committee consisted entirely of Iranian nationals whose knowledge of traditional Iranian songs, current Iranian law and the Iranian language seemed to be somewhat better than their knowledge of German grammar - in other words: allegations made by the Iranian government that the protests for democracy in Iran were incited by foreigners have no basis at least for the comittee in Karlsruhe.

However, Johannes Jung, a member of the German federal parliament and Johannes Stober, a member of the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg as well as other well known personalities from Karlsruhe attended the peaceful demonstration. In a short speech Mr Johannes Stober insisted that Human Rights and Civil Rights are universal and that the Iranian government was obliged by internal treaties to guarantee fair elections. Nevertheless, he made also a very clear point that no other country has a right to interfere in the choice the Iranian people makes - as long as the election campaign and the elections are fair and free from manipulation.

Usually well informed German sources are reported as saying that the Iranian community in Karlsruhe consists of two fractions, a more traditionally oriented and a more liberal fraction. While the traditional fraction was backing official positions put forward by the Iranian government during preparation for an Iranian culture festival held in Karlsruhe in March, 2009, they were now supporting the call for democracy, civil rights and freedom for Iran. Whether this might be interpreted as an indication that the Iranian government is losing support even from the more traditionally oriented Iranians living abroad, remains to be seen.