Even while the UN passes a resolution condemning Iran’s human rights record and its treatment of minorities, such as the Baha’is, the Iranian authorities continue to pile pressure on the Baha’is in Iran, as these stories from Iran Press Watch show:
Baha’i followers searched in Iran
Baha’i households raided in Semnan
Raid on Baha’i homes in Semnan
Baha’is detained in Mazandaran
Baha’is detained in Mazandaran
According to a press release from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran:
Security agents detained Masoud Ataian, Soheila Motallebi, and Anvar Moslemi during a six-day period in November in Qa’emshahr and Sari in the Northern province of Mazandaran.
Ataian was detained in his home in Qa’emshahr by Intelligence Ministry officials on 17 November 2008. Led by an agent called Mr. Movahhed, the officials searched his home, destroyed sacred pictures and confiscated holy texts, his computer and business documents. He has not been allowed to see a lawyer and has had only brief contact with his family.
Motallebi was detained in her home in Sari on 21 November also by Intelligence Ministry officials. They presented no warrant but searched her home and confiscated documents and books relating to the Baha’i Faith. She is being held in the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center in Sari and has been denied contact with her family. Human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani has agreed to take on her case, but has not been allowed to see her. Anvar Moslemi was detained two days later on 23 November in Sari.
Comments by British MP
Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee mentioned the deterioration of the situation of the Baha’is in Iran in a Westminster Hall debate on the general topic of human rights on Thursday 18 December:
I wish briefly to mention a number of individual countries referred to in the report, although not all of them, as the agenda is inevitably selective. In a report that we published earlier this year, we examined in depth the human rights and political situation in Iran. That is also mentioned in our human rights report. From recent discussions that I have had with representatives of the Baha’i community, I understand that human rights issues are getting worse for them, with more persecution and more arrests.
Iran has the most executions in the world except for China, and I believe the highest of all per capita. There is also hanging by strangulation, public stoning, flogging and amputation, which are not just part of the criminal code but were justified to us when we met Mr. Larijani, the head of the Iranian Government’s human rights commission. Since 2006, there have been a number of high-profile cases, including the punishment of same-sex relationships by death and discrimination and violence against women. Human rights in Iran should not be treated as a secondary issue. Although it is important to emphasise the continuing breach of the non-proliferation treaty through the Iranians’ enrichment programme and other nuclear-related matters, it is important that we recognise that the human rights situation is very poor for many millions of Iranians.
A colleague and I had met with Mr Gapes on Tuesday 16 December to update him on the situation of the Baha’is in Iran. Mr Gapes listens carefully and is very much on top of his subject, particularly with respect to Iran, which he has visited.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, persecution, House of Commons, Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike Gapes
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