Human beings, communities, institutions and systems are fallible. Their constitutions are built around fundamental principles, customs, traditions and laws designed to promote the common good and protect individual freedom. These founding documents and contracts reflect the collective consensus and agreement of generations about the nature and purpose of government. They ensure the peace, security, prosperity and progress of the community.

These constitutions are subject to amendment and reform over time as a function of the development and growth of societies, particularly when they are turned into instruments of tyranny and ignorance detached from the noble principles, purposes and people in whose name they have been established. No individual, institution, religion or republic, whether represented by a prophet, a philosopher, priest or president, can claim that it can embody, represent, interpret or enforce absolute, infallible and eternal principles of law, religion, rationality, morality or justice derived from a perfect and complete source of truth and knowledge.

Iran is a sovereign state binding the Iranian people as one indivisible nation constituting a single legal, geographic, political, cultural and economic unit. The territorial integrity, political independence, economic resources and national security of Iran is sacrosanct. No individual, group, organization or state shall threaten to annex, occupy, partition, dismember, or otherwise violate Iran’s sovereignty.

All Iranians are entitled to enjoy the fruits of progress and prosperity based upon a foundation of peace and security. No one can adopt reckless, arbitrary, ignorant or aggressive policies that erode Iran’s peace and security, damage Iran’s political and economic standing and trigger the flight of knowledge and capital.

All Iranians have the right to good governance based upon sound leadership, honest debate, clear principles, solid policies, accountable management, firm enforcement and strict supervision. No one shall deplete faith in the public trust and treasury by engaging in cronyism and corruption, offering or securing concessions and kickbacks on behalf of domestic or foreign interests, profiting from sanctions and smuggling, or engaging in other forms of contemptuous and degrading behavior to secure bribes, licenses and other unfair political, economic and personal favors.

Popular sovereignty, based upon the vote and consent of the Iranian people, as expressed through democratic elections and processes, is the only basis for accountable and representative government, regardless of its form. No one can act as the Iranian people’s religious guardian or political representative by relying on force and fraud as a substitute for securing the Iranian people’s consent and respect. No foreign or domestic power can strip the Iranian people of their legal rights by treating them as minors, slaves, savages or chattel lacking the legal personality, religious education, maturity, knowledge, authority and standing to represent themselves.

All Iranian men, women and children shall have fundamental human rights that reflect the dignity and worth of the human person. All Iranians of legal age and sane mind shall enjoy equal rights under the law regardless of differences in age, education, religion, ideology, class, gender and origin. Women shall enjoy the same rights as men.

All Iranians shall have the right to practice their religion without the fear of political, economic and cultural reprisal or gain. No one shall use religion as a pretext for the criminal and illegitimate concentration and abuse of power, for the establishment of a political and economic monopoly, or the creation of a clerical or military dictatorship premised on negating the equality, violating the humanity and endangering sovereignty of the Iranian people.

All Iranians have the right to the fair and prompt management of their interests, affairs, petitions and grievances by competent, capable and respectful public servants selected based on character and merit. No branch of government can assume, assert or exercise sovereign powers that negate the doctrine of separation of powers, nor can the leaders and guardians of various branches of government claim to represent divine principles of law, religion or any other ideology that grants them exclusive powers, privileges and immunities that negate the sovereignty of the Iranian people.

All Iranians are entitled to life, liberty, work, opportunity and security, as well as all the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Charter of the United Nations, and codified in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and other treaties to which Iran is a signatory. No individual or group can strip the Iranian people of these rights and freedoms or otherwise incite violence by issuing arbitrary decrees and opinions that negate the rights and freedoms of the Iranian people as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

All Iranians are equal under the law and have the freedom and the right to express, enjoy and celebrate their diverse heritage, religion and culture. No one shall discriminate between the Iranian people by seeking to destroy, degrade, deprive or otherwise discriminate or separate the Iranian people.

All Iranians have the right to privacy and the freedom to exercise personal choice and judgment in the conduct of their private affairs. No one has the right to seize or search the body, family, children, property and homes of the Iranian people in the name of enforcing standards of religious morality, political obedience or ideological conformity.

All Iranians have the right to a free press that can ensure a vibrant and free civil society capable of holding government accountable. No one shall censor, obstruct, restrict or control the media, or otherwise impede the flow of information and the possibility of critical inquiry by intimidating and arresting publishers, editors, journalists and bloggers.

All Iranians have the right and obligation to defend Iran’s national security by serving in the armed forces and police. The armed forces will be subject to civilian control, and will have the exclusive right to use force in defense of the Iranian people’s constitution in accordance with the law. Under no circumstance, can they threaten Iran’s national unity and security by waging wars of aggression, engaging in terrorism and assassination at home or abroad, suppressing civil society and political protest and dissent, establishing or supporting any kind of dictatorship, or becoming a party to domestic or international disputes between competing religious, political, economic and criminal interest groups.

All Iranians have the right to profit from the fruit of their education, labor, capital, land and other resources and investments without fear of expropriation, incrimination or discrimination for their personal and professional work, creativity and success. The state cannot deprive individuals, merchants, unions, corporations, industries and other economic associations by stripping them of their legal, political and economic rights.

All Iranians have the right to a first class education free from political, religious, or ideological discrimination. The Iranian people, especially students and scholars, whether in universities, seminaries or schools, have the right to pursue, exchange, debate and discuss ideas without fear of assault, arrest, expulsion or punishment.