Obama urges support for Iranian 'freedom'
AFP
WASHINGTON- US President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the world to support the Iranian people in their fight for "freedom," one year after disputed elections triggered major demonstrations.
Samantha Power, an adviser to Obama who focuses on human rights, read a statement in Obama's name at a reception by the National Endowment for Democracy honoring last year's protesters in Iran.
Iranian protesters run for cover during clashes with riot police in Tehran
"The courage of the Iranian people stands as an example to us and it challenges us to continue our efforts to bend the arch of history in the direction of justice," he said.
Power said the White House would later release the statement publicly.
Obama said he looked "forward to the day when Iranians will be able to speak freely, assemble without fear and express their views without facing retribution, a day when the Iranian government will represent and foster rather than fear the aspirations of its own people."
Iranians went to the polls a year ago Saturday, with results giving an easy victory to incumbent hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Opposition candidates said the results were rigged, sparking street protests that rocked the Islamic republic and were put down with force.
Obama said last year's election will be "remembered for how the Iranian government brutally suppressed dissent and murdered the innocent, including a young woman left to die in the street."
He was referring to 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan, who bled to death on the ground in an image captured by mobile telephone and seen around the world, in what came to symbolize the uprising against the clerical regime.
"The courage of so many Iranians in the face of severe repression in inspiring," Obama said.
"It reminds us of democratic movements that over the years brought greater freedom and respect for universal rights to every region of the world."
The anniversary comes after the United States led a drive through the United Nations that imposed new sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program.
Shortly after taking office last year, Obama offered dialogue to Iran to repair three decades of bad blood since the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the pro-Western shah.
But the US administration says that Ahmadinejad has not responded to the offer of talks with any sincerity.
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