VOA常速英语:伊朗过去和现在的不公平状况

The son of one of the leaders of the Iranian revolution has been sentenced to a 21 year prison term –-6 of which he is being required to serve.Ahmad Montazeri is the son of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri, once presumed to be in line for the post of Supreme Leader after the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
一位伊朗革命领导人的儿子被判21年有期徒刑——6年监禁。艾哈迈德·蒙塔泽里是大阿亚图拉·侯赛因阿里·蒙塔泽里的儿子，他曾经被视为继伊斯兰共和国创始人阿亚图拉·鲁霍拉·霍梅尼之后最适合任最高领导人一职的人。

Ahmad Montazeri was recently convicted by a clerical court for “acting against national security” after he published a decades-old audiotape of his father bitterly condemning the mass executions of political prisoners in 1988. The details of those events remain shrouded in mystery.
艾哈迈德·蒙塔泽里最近被一所宗教法庭判“危害国家安全”罪，因为他公布了一盘几十年前的录音带，里面记录了他的父亲强烈谴责1988年大规模处决政治犯的事件。那些事件的详情仍然笼罩在一团迷雾中。

While no exact figures are known, Amnesty International estimated that at least 5000 people – mostly political prisoners -- were summarily executed in Iranian prisons in the summer of that year.In the tape, Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri warned that the perpetrators of these extrajudicial killings were betraying the revolution’s values, and the future would judge them as murderers. Soon after voicing his condemnation, Montazeri was stripped of his leadership role and subjected to years of house arrest before his death in 2009.
然而确切的人数还未可知，国际特赦组织估计至少有5000人——主要是政治犯——他们在当年夏天在伊朗监狱被就地处决。在这盘磁带中，阿亚图拉·侯赛因阿里·蒙塔泽里警告称这些法外处决的行凶者背叛了革命的价值观，在未来他们会被认定为凶手。在他发出谴责声后不久，蒙塔泽里被剥夺领导人职务，并被软禁多年直至2009年去世。

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said the prosecution of Ahmad Montazeri for publishing the audiotape of his father demonstrates the lack of freedom of expression in Iran; and the verdict of the Special Court for the Clergy, whose lead prosecutor is one of the officials implicated in the tape,shows the absence of an independent judicial process and the rule of law.
伊朗人权国际运动组织称艾哈迈德·蒙塔泽里因公布父亲的录音带被起诉，说明伊朗缺少言论自由；神职人员特别法庭对此进行裁决，法庭的首席检察官就是磁带中牵扯到的一位官员，这显示了独立司法程序和法治的缺失。

In his recent visit to Greece, President Barack Obama emphasized that the bedrock of good governance is the recognition that certain rights are fundamental and universal:
在他的最近一次希腊之行中，总统巴拉克·奥巴马强调良好治理的基石是承认某些权利是根本的和普世的。

“Freedom of speech and assembly – because true legitimacy can only come from the people, who must never be silenced. A free press to expose injustice and corruption and hold leaders accountable. Freedom of religion –- because we are all equal in the eyes of God. Independent judiciaries to uphold rule of law and human rights.”
“言论和集会自由——因为真正的合法性只可能源于人民，他们永远不应保持沉默。出版自由为的是曝光不公平和腐败，并使领导人忠于职守。宗教信仰自由——因为我们在上帝的眼中都是平等的。司法独立为的是支持法治和人权。”

These are crucial elements of democratic societies,which, as President Obama noted, tend to be more just, more stable and more successful.
这些都是民主社会的关键因素，正如总统奥巴马指出的那样，它们应该是更加公平、更加稳定和更加成功的。

Governments which ignore them, however, do so to their own detriment.
然而，政府忽略这些因素就是损害自己的利益。