Nuclear negotiations have ignored that Iranian dissidents need help despite widespread suffering

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Sanctions relief—but hardly any political prisoners released? The country’s fractured democratic opposition is divided on whether the Geneva agreement will bode well for its struggle. On November 20, President François Hollande of France received two letters from leading Iranian dissidents about the nuclear negotiations in Geneva.

Heshmatollah Tabarzadi and Emadeddin Baghi, Iranian dissidents who have both recently been in prison, had strikingly divergent advice for Hollande. Baghi urged the president to support the nuclear deal. In strong language, he said France’s earlier opposition to the agreement with Iran “makes the task of Iran’s human rights activists even harder.” Tabarzadi, a leader of the 1999 student uprisings who has been considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, took a different tone. He thanked Hollande for standing in solidarity with Iran’s people in opposing the deal.