Academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert,who wasimprisoned in Iran from 2018 to 2020 on espionage charges,said Australia was “an outlier among the Western democracies in taking no firm action on Iran whatsoever”.
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“This is both inexplicable and embarrassing to Australia’s stature on the world stage as a country which professes to care about human rights,” she said in a submission to the inquiry.
Moore-Gilbert said she suspected officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) opposed targeted sanctions because they want to negotiate the release of innocent Australian citizens detained in Iranian prisons.
“We simply cannot allow the consular cases of a handful of wrongfully detained Australians to dictate Australia’s response to Iran’s violations of human rights on a mass scale,” Moore-Gilbert said,describing this as a form of “diplomatic blackmail”.
DFAT has said it holds concerns for an Iranian-Australian dual national believed to be detailed in Iran.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert urged the government not to give in to “diplomatic blackmail” over Australians held in Iran’s prisons.Credit:Scott McNaughton
Monash University said in a submission that “the inaction of the Australian government is inexcusable and morally reprehensible” and that “the criminal actions of the Islamic Republic have been indulged long enough”.
A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government was “taking decisive action,directly and with international partners,to increase pressure on Iran over its egregious human rights abuses”.
The spokeswoman said the government last week co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council resolution to establish an investigation into Iran’s “horrific and shameful” response to the protests. The government alsocalled in Iran’s deputy ambassador last week to reprimand him for the regime’s violence.
The Iranian government this month said it had summoned Australia’s ambassador,Lyndall Sachs,after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke out on human rights concerns.
Nos Hosseini,a spokeswoman for the Iranian Women’s Association,said the Iranian regime was used to being called out for its brutal behaviour.
“For governments’ calls to be taken seriously,they have to be followed up with tangible action,” she said.
Nos Hosseini said the Iranian-Australian community wanted the government to take more practical against Iran.Credit:Scott McNaughton
The government has resisted expelling ambassadors,including from Russia,because it believes it is important to keep lines of diplomatic communication open with unfriendly nations.
It also believes its decision not to implement sanctions against Myanmar’s military regime helped securethe release of Australian economist Sean Turnell this month after he spent 650 days in prison.
Lawyer Sara Zahedi,whose family fled Iran when she was seven years old,said:“In Australia,we say we are champions of the rights of women and girls,but we’re not acting in accordance with our values.
“It leaves the community with the impression Iranian lives don’t matter as much,say,as the lives of Ukrainian people. We are left wondering why we are being treated as less than others.”
University of Sydney international law professor Ben Saul urged the government to sanction Iran’s chief justice,Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei,over the heavy punishment of protesters,along with members of Iran’s morality police and intelligence service.
However,he said the Revolutionary Guard could not be listed as a terrorist organisation under Australia’s criminal code as it is a state entity.
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