The president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, went on a short European tour last week in hopes of gaining economic and political support from certain European countries like Italy and France.
This editorial from the Guardian summarizes his visits and agenda in Europe and points out that while it might seem ideal for Iran’s leadership to be reaching out to European powers as it could be indicative of its changing political state, due to other hard facts, this scenario is a little too good to be true. The editorial explains how Iran is still heavily involved in aiding the Syrian government in its country’s civil war as well as executes hundreds of its own citizens annually.
Rouhani’s visits were met with protests in Paris where the European feminist activist group Femen specifically focused on the latter aspect of human rights violations by staging a mock execution underneath a sign that read “Welcome Rouhani, Executioner of Freedom.” This NY Times article gives the highlights.
