The Globe and Mail:

Dear President Obama: With the 68th UN General Assembly under way this week and the possibility of talks between the Unites States and Iran after 34 years of extreme tension and diplomatic silence, I feel it is my duty as an ex-political prisoner from Iran to write to you. Since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, various Western media outlets have shown a great deal of optimism that the relationship between Iran and the United States might take a turn for the better. However, most of this attention has been focused on Iran’s nuclear program, while for millions of Iranians the main problem, as it manifested itself during the 2009 presidential elections, has been that country’s terrible disregard for human rights and the lack of basic civil liberties. During the past 34 years, tens of thousands of Iranians have been arrested for speaking against the Iranian regime, almost all of them have been tortured, and thousands have been arbitrarily executed.

Go to link