For years, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been making contentious statements about everything from nuclear bombs to the legitimacy of Israel. But the biggest difference between his years of rhetoric and the most recent round of fractious statements has been the forum from which he has launched the verbal salvos.

The mad man from Tehran recently brought his insane claims and entourage of controversy to the United States, justifiably receiving more jeers than cheers before he even opened his mouth. What was the point of inviting the tyrant to the table anyways?

Anyone with the patience and stomach to listen to his often-noxious declarations knows that Ahmadinejad manipulates words effectively to euphemize what occurs within the borders of mystery that surround Iran. He cannot, however, contest countless accusations of human rights violations that continue unchecked in his home country.

He apparently can make ridiculous proclamations whenever he wants though.
In case you couldn’t score a seat at the sideshow, here’s a few of the bold assertions the dictator made at Columbia this week:

“Our people are the freest people in the world, the most aware people in the world, the most enlightened, so to say.”

“The freest women in the world are the women in Iran.”

“In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals, like in your country. We don’t have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”

Human Rights Watch, a private organization less than six Manhattan miles from Columbia University where Iran‘s president said all this, easily disagrees with Ahmadinejad’s claims.

According to their Web page on Iran, the country regularly harasses and imprisons intellectuals, vocal dissenters and journalists. This also allegedly includes solitary confinement and torture, from which judges use coerced testimony in court cases. Additionally, freedom of information is stunted in Iran, as the government censors over 10 million online sites it considers “unauthorized.”

Women in Iran have it somewhat easier than in other Arab nations, but they are far from as free as U.S. women. While Iranian females can run for every political office but president, their testimony in court is considered literally half as valid as an Iranian male’s testimony. Additionally, they cannot acquire a passport without their father’s permission, and must keep their hair covered and their clothing conservative and non-revealing.

According to Human Rights Watch, many women’s right protesters were beaten and jailed in previous peaceful demonstrations in Tehran. Before Ahmadinejad, freedom of assembly in Iran was supposedly more secure, but his administration has made gathering against the government a serious risk of life and limb.

Ahmadinejad’s claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran is by sheers odds, completely false. However, this does not mean that gay citizens are not persecuted to the point of death, and literally forced to remain in the proverbial closet to avoid getting exterminated.

Teenagers Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari were publicly executed in 2005 by the government for engaging in homosexual intercourse. If a couple of men or a couple of women are never seen holding hands or displaying affection in Iran, it is for their own survival.

So why exactly was President Ahmadinejad invited to spew outright lies and defend hate in one of our nation’s most progressive cities?
The First Amendment.

For better or worse, free speech is guaranteed to every man and woman that sets foot in this country, and while the message is sometimes the only thing more foul than the messenger, it is a priceless human right.

Where else can you decry the establishment of the Israeli nation, cast scornful doubt on the perpetrator of 9/11 and still find someone to applaud your maniacal drivel?