Why I support the petition for Prof Sobhani’s rights?

http://www.ghandchi.com/224-signpetition.htm

Please sign the following petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/sohrob/petition.html  

I condemn the personal attack of IRI apologists and their petition against Prof Sobhani, although I disagree with return of monarchy to Iran. I support referendum  and free elections under UN supervision, and I hope to see the  end of Islamic Republic of Iran by Iranian people's struggle soon,  but not by any US attack on Iran.  The petition to ask Georgetown to fire Dr. Sobhani is because of  his ideas, and IRI apologists have misconstrued one statement of his speech,  out of context, to mislead the public to hurt Prof Sobhabi's job, and it shows once more that IRI apologists  have no respect for freedom of thought, and when they cannot win  the debate, they use their lawyers to jeopardize the job and livelihood of their critics, even in a democracy like the US,  and all Iranians should resist such attacks on individual freedom of Iranians. 

I hope those compatriots who have been  misled by IRI apologists to sign that petition to call back  their signature.  

To see the petition of IRI apologists of last month, which this petition is countering, and why I condemned that petition, please see my following article:

http://www.ghandchi.com/213-condemnpetition.htm

And to see my opposition to Prof Sobhani's politics, please see the following:

http://www.ghandchi.com/214-PrinceRP.htm

Sam Ghandchi, Publisher/Editor
IRANSCOPE
http://www.iranscope.com
June 28, 2003

For my other articles on IRI lobbyists and apologists, please see:

http://www.ghandchi.com/index-Page12.html

PostScript July 1, 2003

Those who justify the petition of IRI apologists against Prof Sobhani's *rights* to his job, on the basis of their views about his politics, and their own differences with Sobhani’s politics, can be addressed the same way.  What if tomorrow people go and write a petition and ask the universities that these IRI apologists themselves teach or study, and ask the school to expel *them* on the basis of some misconstrued wording in some speech.  Here the discussion is *not* about Sobhani’s views, it is about his rights and freedom of thought. Those who have signed the petition of IRI apologists should be ashamed of themselves and any discussion of the political views of Sobhani does not justify the wrong thing they have done by signing that petition.  Tomorrow the same thing can happen to them and somebody who may not like their views, can blackmail them for their job or livelihood.  This is simply wrong.  End does not justify the means.  When are we going to learn this? It does not matter how strong one feels about others’ views.  So please do not change the discussion of this issue to political views of Sobhani.  Here the discussion is about his *right* to his job and any decent person should condemn the petition of IRI apologists that has tried to get him expelled from his job by pretending to address an issue of some misconstrued slander against Iranian women.  These IRI apologists themselves have justified stoning Iranian women for years, and are the last ones to worry about a slander about Iranian women, even if that was true, which is *not*, and anybody can read the quoted words of Sobhani and see it is just a frame-up to use his misconstrued wording as the justification to hurt the man’s job.  Shame on those who use ends to justify the means:  

http://www.ghandchi.com/43-End_Means.htm