Yesterday the president of the Oslo Center, Kjell Magne Bondevik, joined by Kofi Annan and Romano Prodi, met with  president Ahmadinejad of Iran. This is the second time within a few weeks that Mr. Bondevik meets with the president of Iran. The main themes of the encounter was the tense relationship between Iran and the US, Israel’s right to exist and the deplorable situation for human rights in the country.  Mr. Bondevik also asked the president to stop the proposal to adopt the death penalty for conversion, currently being debated in the Iranian parliament.

“We requested the president to take the initiative to halt the proposal to introduce the death penalty for converting from Islam. Iran already violates human rights on a great scale. The number of executions has increased over the last few years, and the country sentences under age criminals to death, although the executions are delayed until they turn 18. When in addition there is at present a proposition to extend the use of the death penalty in order to restrict the freedom of religion, this is totally unacceptable, says Kjell Magne Bondevik, president of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights.

No excuse for death penalty
He emphasizes that there is no excuse for violating human rights, and that all states have a duty to protect the inhabitants’ right to live, according to the human rights.

“The death penalty is a deliberate homicide by the state. It cannot be justified whether it takes place in Iran or in the USA”, Mr. Bondevik says.

Mr. Bondevik also brought up the tense relationship between Iran and the USA. He called on Mr. Ahmadinejad to discard the war rhetoric and engage a dialogue with the USA in order to avoid armed conflict.      

“The aggressive rhetoric creates fertile ground for enemy images, stereotypes and generalizations. Tensions must be reduced so that we will not experience an armed conflict”, Kjell Magne Bondevik says. In the meeting he stressed Israel’s right to exist and the palestinians’ right to a state of their own.

Dialoge conferense in Teheran
This week the Oslo Center is present in Iran in order to organize a dialogue conference between 40 religious and political leaders, in cooperation with  former president Khatami of Iran. Mr. Kofi Annan, Ms. Mary Robinson, Mr. Romano Prodi, Mr. Lionel Jospin an bishop Chane from Washington are among the participants at the conference, which will debate how religious and political leaders can cooperate in furthering peace and the respect for human rights, as well as furthering diversity and peaceful coexistence in today’s world. An initiative will be taken for establishing an alliance to combat violence, intolerance and extremism.

Met with the Supreme Leader
Today, Bondevik also met with the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. He met the Supreme Leder together with a delegation from the conference, including Romano Prodi, bishop Chane from Wasington and Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio. They informed Khamanei about the conference, and talked about the importance of interreligious dialogue and the respect for human rights.