NGOs Call on the White House to Correct Statement That Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the 'Elected' President of Iran

August 5, 2009

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three Washington, D.C. based NGOs, the Iranian-American Youth, Velvet Revolution and Justice Through Music call on White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to correct a grave misstatement he made Tuesday when he called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ''the elected leader'' of Iran.

The "election" of Mr. Ahmadinejad has been universally condemned across the globe by President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, The G8, The European Union, and leaders of most democratic nations. Moreover, it has been condemned by millions of people in hundreds of cities throughout the world who have expressed their outrage at the lack of transparency and accountability in the Iranian election process, the heavy handed censorship of the people and the press, and the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters.

The Iranian "election" has also been condemned by the opposition candidates in Iran, by many officials and even by many in the religious establishment. In fact, Mr. Ahmadinejad's swearing in ceremony was boycotted by two former presidents -- Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami -- as well as defeated pro-reform candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, because they did not want to be seen as legitimizing an illegitimate election.

Most important, however, the "election" has been condemned by vast numbers of Iranian citizens who took to the streets to peacefully demand a clean election. Those Iranian citizens were beaten, shot, killed, imprisoned and tortured for exercising their rights to free expression as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a party. The Iranian authorities, led by Mr. Ahmadinejad, are now conducting a "show trial" like those seen in Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany, complete with coerced confessions based on torture and intimidation.

Mr. Gibbs' unfortunate statement is a direct insult to the people of Iran, the people imprisoned by the Ahmadinejad government, and those who have sacrificed and died in their struggle for freedom and democracy in Iran. The statement gives legitimacy to a regime that has violated international law and all norms of human decency.

We call on Mr. Gibbs to issue a correction to reflect the reality of the situation in Iran. We also issue an urgent Call for Action asking American citizens to contact the White House at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and express their disappointment in Mr. Gibbs' choice of words -- that Mr. Ahmadinejad is "the elected leader" of Iran.

SOURCE Velvet Revolution