TEHRAN -- Iranians are expected to turn out in record numbers tomorrow to elect a president. The world is watching. For many Iranians, this election will be a litmus test of the current government's claim that Iran is "the freest country in the world." While it is not officially on the ballot, the future of human rights in Iran is at stake.
In the past four years -- and particularly since the Obama administration came into office -- the government in Tehran, which has said it seeks to bring "kindness and justice to the world," has stepped up its harassment of human rights defenders. Its actions have put the Iranian government in violation of some of its own laws as well as some of its international commitments, including the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
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