A Lebanese national, who has been imprisoned by Iran since 2015, accused Beirut of failing to address his plight.
“The Iranian regime is ignoring our rights as forcibly detained and Lebanon is not moving a finger,” said Zakka from his detention cell in Iran on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day.
Zakka said in his letter that 70 years ago, “the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which with time will become the most valuable document in the history of mankind... However, many still do not understand basic human rights, including the Iranian regime, which is ignoring our most basic rights, we, the forcibly detained in our cells.”
Zakka went on to say that a week ago, his family and five other political prisoners in Iran sent an open letter to their governments and leaders of countries “asking for urgent assistance to liberate us, who are deprived of the basic values of human rights in justice and human dignity.”
He noted that the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, received the letter and immediately distributed it to the diplomatic missions, while Lebanon did not react, “and even voted on November 15, 2018, with Iran against a UN resolution condemning its human rights abuses.”
Zakka was arrested after traveling to Iran to attend a state-sponsored conference in the capital, Tehran, in 2015. At the time of his arrest, he was the secretary-general of IJMA3, an Arab communications organization, and had received an official invitation to visit Iran.
