by CRYSTAL-ROSE JONES – FEDERAL Islamic Senator Fatima Payman has accused the West of propaganda, saying Iran is an incredible and democratic place.
An Australian academic who spent 804 days imprisoned in Iran has condemned the WA-based senator after she said that the rogue Islamic state was “an incredible place” for women.
- Iran hasn’t had a democratic process since the 1970s – neither for woman or for men.
- Iran’s governing system, Velayate Faqhi, vests absolute power in the Ayatollah.
- Any perception of democracy in the region – outside of Israel – is a sham.
Payman, a former Labor MP, attended an event in Sydney at the weekend which was purportedly held to dispel alleged Western myths around Iran’s governance.
In a video clip, she describes the situation for women in Iran as favourable, and said any information to the contrary was propaganda.
DEMOCRATIC
“Incredible place that Iran is, allowing women to participate in the workforce, to ensure that they have a voice and their voices are heard, they’re involved in the democratic process,” she said.
Payman then said that the meeting allowed a focus on “realities that we’re not privy to” living in Australia, where she said propaganda was from “single-sided organisations” with “a specific agenda”.
But the comments drew the strong critique from academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a former lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University.
Moore-Gilbert was invited to attend an academic conference in Iran in 2018, only to be accused of espionage and detained.
As she was preparing to leave Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) detained her at Tehran’s airport.
The regime had suspected her of being a spy for “the Zionist regime” simply because her then-husband – born in Russia but lived in Australia – had an Israeli passport.
The IRGC is designated a terrorist organisation by the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Sweden.
“What is this nonsense you are saying?” Gilbert-Moore wrote on X in response to Payman’s comments.
“Iran has no ‘democratic process’, least of all one which women are allowed to participate in.
ABUSES
“You should know this – I saw you sitting in the Senate enquiry into Iran’s human rights abuses just two years ago.”
Moore-Gilbert noted Payman was interviewed by Press TV, which she described as the “English language propaganda arm of the Islamic Republic known for broadcasting false confession videos and forced interviews with prisoners before they are executed.”
Moore-Gilbert said it was ironic Payman had used a propaganda channel to complain of propaganda within Australia, noting that Press TV was banned in some Western nations, but not Australia.
To what end, Senator? Are there really that many votes to be found in cosying up to a brutal authoritarian regime like Iran’s?” she said.
Well-known British Iranian lawyer and activist Elicia Le Bon also rebutted Payman’s comments.
“The role of the IRGC is hijab enforcement, meaning that they’re responsible for identifying and arresting women who violate mandatory hijab laws and bringing them to ‘justice’, which means being flogged,” she said.
“Further, there is no ‘democracy’ in Iran. Iran is under a system called Velayate Faqhi, which essentially vests in the supreme leader absolute power over the State.”
Le Bon said any perception of democracy in the region was a sham.PC
