Category — Iran

The Bahá’í World News Service’s Iran Update has just been updated. I’m both angry and deeply concerned to learn that:

The seven members of the committee that sees to the minimum needs of the 300,000-member Baha’i community of Iran are still being held by the government. No formal charges have been filed against them, and none of them have been allowed contact with an attorney.

The Baha’i International Community learned several weeks ago that the seven were each allowed one brief phone call to their families. Since then, however, there has been no contact with them, nor has there been any news regarding their health or well-being.

Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm (all arrested on 14 May) and Mrs. Mahvash Sabet (detained in Mashad on 5 March) are believed to be held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran.

The update makes it clear that these faithful and dedicated Bahá’ís were arrested purely because they are Bahá’ís and not for any alleged risk to Iran’s national security.

The statement of support from the six women Nobel Peace Prize laureates is also mentioned and there’s a round-up of some of the other significant statements of support we have received.

Read the update here. Oh, and please note that the URL for the Bahá’í World News Service is http://www.news.bahai.org/. Apparently some people are still using outdated versions of this address.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, Evin, Nobel Peace Prize, Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli Vahid Tizfahm, Mahvash Sabet

The Khaleej Times reports that the Iranian parliament is about to debate a draft bill which would make certain blogging activities punishable by death.

MPs on Wednesday voted to discuss as a priority the draft bill which seeks to “toughen punishment for harming mental security in society,” the ISNA news agency said.

The text lists a wide range of crimes such rape and armed robbery for which the death penalty is already applicable. The crime of apostasy (the act of leaving a religion, in this case Islam) is also already punishable by death.

However, the draft bill also includes “establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy”, which is a new addition to crimes punishable by death.

Those convicted of these crimes “should be punished as “mohareb’ (enemy of God) and “corrupt on the earth’,” the text says.

Under Iranian law the standard punishments for these two crimes are “hanging, amputation of the right hand and then the left foot as well as exile.”

The bill — which is yet to be debated by lawmakers — also stipulates that the punishment handed out in these cases “cannot be commuted, suspended or changed”.

I certainly don’t approve of promoting corruption or prostitution, but a great deal turns on how the Iranian judiciary interpret “corruption”. And our old friend “apostasy” - already featuring in a draft penal code under consideration by the Iranian parliament - would attract a mandatory death sentence.

Now what the law says and how judges make use of the law are not always straightforwardly related in Iran, and laws worded in this way would almost certainly be used against Iranian Bahá’ís, since any attempt to inform people about the Bahá’í Faith can be interpreted as promoting “apostasy”.

Hat tip: Mideast Youth for blogging this story.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, blogs, apostasy, death penalty, human rights

I was thrilled to learn that six women Nobel Peace Prize winners (only 12 women have ever won the Nobel Prize) have put out a statement calling on the Iranian government to free the seven leading Bahá’ís who are currently in jail in Tehran.

Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire (founders of the Peace People in Northern Ireland and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976), Rigoberta Menchu Tum (a leading advocate of ethno-cultural reconciliation in her native Guatemala and Nobel winner in 1992), Professor Jody Williams (international campaigner for the banning of land mines, Nobel winner in 1997), Dr. Shirin Ebadi (Iranian human rights lawyer, winner in 2003), and Kenyan environmental activist Professor Wangari Muta Maathai (Nobel winner in 2004) have signed the following statement:

We note with concern the news of the arrest of six prominent Baha’is in Iran on 14 May 2008. We note that Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm are members of the informal group known as the Friends in Iran that coordinates the activities of the Baha’i community in Iran; we further note that another member of the Friends in Iran, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, has been held in custody since 5 March 2008; we register our deepest concern at the mounting threats and persecution of the Iranian Baha’i community.

We call on the Iranian Government to guarantee the safety of these individuals (and) grant their immediate unconditional release.

The statement has been issued in the name of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, which the six women laureates established in 2006 to contribute to building peace by working together with women around the world.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Friends in Iran, human rights, Nobel Peace Prize, Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Muta Maathai

One of the strengths of the UK Parliament is the time allotted to MPs to question government ministers about the work of their departments. On Tuesday 24 June it was the turn of ministers at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including Dr Kim Howells MP, Minister for the Middle East to answer oral questions in the House.

Over the years we’ve had many written answers to Parliamentary Questions, but it was exciting news when we learned that Tom Brake MP, a member of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís had won the opportunity to ask an oral question about the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran. There is a great deal of competition amongst MPs for opportunities to ask oral questions.

Here’s the Hansard record of the the questions from MPs and the answers by Dr Kim Howells MP, Minister for the Middle East. (Once an MP has asked an oral question he/she can ask a supplementary question and then other MPs can also intervene.)

Baha’is (Iran)

2. Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD): What recent reports he has received on the situation of Baha’is in Iran; and if he will make a statement. [213056]

The Minister for the Middle East (Dr. Kim Howells): When I raised with the Iranian ambassador to London the UK’s great concerns about reports of maltreatment of adherents of the Baha’i faith in Iran, he told me that Baha’ism is not officially recognised as a religion in Iran. We receive reports that Iranian Baha’is face routine discrimination and harassment on the grounds of their faith, and the informal Baha’i leadership has been detained for more than a month now. We remain deeply concerned by the situation of the Baha’is in Iran and will continue to raise our concerns with the Iranian authorities.

Tom Brake: I thank the Minister for his response. He will be aware of reports from Iran that a new penal code is being drafted, which will be considered by the Iranian Parliament, that would introduce a mandatory death sentence for apostasy. The code would have extra-territorial jurisdiction and could lead to a fundamental attack on the human rights of Christians and Baha’is, particularly those with one Muslim parent, who could, under the new law, be considered apostates. Will the Minister confirm what action the Government are taking on the issue, in particular with the international community, to remind Iran of its responsibilities under international law, in particular article 18 of the international covenant on civil and political rights?

Dr. Howells: Yes, I can confirm that the new draft penal code is currently being considered by a judicial committee in the Iranian Parliament, but it has not yet been debated or voted on in plenary. We are very concerned that the draft code makes apostasy punishable by death and that the provisions contravene the principle of religious freedom. We are worried about the impact that they would have on religious minorities in Iran, including Christians, as the hon. Gentleman said, and the Baha’i community. We have certainly made representations to the Iranian Government about the matter. The EU issued a statement of concern on 25 February and raised its concerns with Iranian officials in Tehran on 4 March. I called in the Iranian ambassador to express the UK’s concerns on 1 April. We are keeping a close watch on the issue, and I very much hope that our concern will help to galvanise international opinion against this barbaric proposal.

David Lepper (Brighton, Pavilion) (Lab/Co-op): As an officer of the all-party friends of the Baha’i faith group, may I thank the Minister for the representations that he and others have made to the Government of Iran about the situation of individual Baha’is whose cases we have drawn to his attention? Will he also make representations to the Government of Iran about the denial of access to higher education of young Baha’is in that country? Of some 200 Baha’is who began university courses in autumn 2006, about 130 have since been expelled on the grounds of their religious faith. Will the Minister raise that point with the Government of Iran, too?

Dr. Howells: Yes, we will certainly raise it with the Government of Iran. That is one example of the way in which Baha’is in Iran are being marginalised because of their beliefs. That is wholly without justice and is a very worrying development.

Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con): The Minister will know that not only Baha’is, but Christians and indeed homosexuals often face torture and sometimes even death in Iran. Does he therefore share my concern about the recent alleged comments made by the Home Secretary when asked about failed asylum seekers who are openly homosexual, that they should return to Iran and be discreet in their sexuality? Given that there is no discretion, with the eyes of the state constantly on the gay community in Tehran and Iran more widely, does the Minister want to put it on record that he perhaps has a different view?

Dr. Howells: I am completely unaware of the alleged statements made by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, but I am only too willing to put it on record that people should not be punished in any way for the way in which their sexuality guides them. They should certainly not be tortured, imprisoned and hanged, as they have been in Iran.

We were all very pleased that the sufferings of the Bahá’ís in Iran have had such a good public airing in Parliament and we have great confidence that the government will continue to defend the human rights of the Bahá’ís.

Bahá’í News UK has covered this story here.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, persecution, human rights, parliamentary questions, Tom Brake, Kim Howells, David Lepper, All Party Group, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Bahá’í community’s international governing council, the Universal House of Justice, has just written another wonderful letter to the Bahá’ís in Iran. The letter is both compassionate and challenging.

Equality of women and men

It calls on the beleaguered Bahá’ís in the land where the Bahá’í Faith originated in the 19th century to help “remove the barriers hindering the progress of women in society” in Iran.

For you, the equality of men and women is not a Western construct but a universal spiritual truth about an aspect of the nature of human beings, promulgated by Bahá’u’lláh nearly one hundred and fifty years ago in His homeland, Iran. It is, above all, a requirement of justice. This principle is consonant with the highest rectitude of conduct, its application strengthens family life, and it is essential to the regeneration and progress of any nation, the peace of the world, and the advancement of civilization.

The House of Justice reminds the Iranian Bahá’ís of their considerable achievements in emancipating women and calls on them to do more to “transcend those cultural practices that impede the progress of women”.

The goal of true equality is not easily attained; the transformation required is difficult for men and women alike. To this end, we warmly encourage you to continue to enhance your understanding of this principle and to strive to uphold it more fully in your families and in your community.

The letter closes by encouraging the Bahá’ís to work with their country-people who aspire to the same universal ideal of equality.

Responding to persecution

This is not the first letter written in recent months by the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís in Iran. The letters remind the Iranian Bahá’ís of their great heritage as a faith community and as being in the forefront of social and economic development in Iran. And they call on the Bahá’ís to rise above the appalling persecution they are suffering and to put their energy and love into doing good for their fellow Iranians - and to work with their compatriots of any faith (or none) in doing so.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Universal House of Justice, Iran, persecution, gender equality, advancement of women, social and economic development

The Bahá’í World News Service site now provides an Iran update:

Note: This report, updated regularly, is provided as a service to news media and others desiring details of the situation of the Baha’is in Iran. All information has been verified by the Baha’i International Community.

It’s worth bookmarking.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Baha’i World News Service, Iran, news, human rights

It is good to learn that Mrs Mahvash Sabet, the secretary of the ad hoc Bahá’í leadership group in Iran, was able to make a short phone call to her family on 3 June. She’d been moved to Evin prison in Tehran on 26 May, having been held incommunicado by the Iranian intelligence ministry in Mashhad since 5 March.

Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi was also allowed to have a brief phone conversation with her daughter. She reassured her family that she was in good health.

A few days earlier prison officials had asked Mrs Kamalabadi’s family to bring her reading glasses to the prison. Mr Vahid Tizfahm’s family had been requested to bring clothes to the jail. Neither family was able to see the prisoners when they took these items to Evin.

Mr Afif Naeim’i’s sons took some clothes to Evin prison for their father on their own initiative, but they couldn’t get to see him.

Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani has also had brief telephone contact with his family.

The very fact that I think it is good to learn that these prisoners have had some very limited contact with their families shows how bad things are. They have not committed any crime. They have not been charged with any offence. They are incarcerated purely because they are Bahá’ís.

Some 15 other Bahá’ís are in jail in Iran. Some are held incommunicado and most of them have not been charged with any crime.

They should be out of jail and free to go about their business, free to live, free to practise their faith, free to be with their families and friends without the fear of arbitrary and outrageous detention.

Read the story on Baha’i World News Service here.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, Evin prison

Last Saturday (14 June) White House spokesman, Gordon Jondroe, who is travelling with President Bush in Europe condemned the arrest of the Bahá’í leadership in Iran, according to this story on the IranVNC site.

In a statement, Jondroe described Tehran’s record on human rights as “shameful” and called for the immediate release of six detained Baha’i community leaders:

The Iranian regime’s human rights record is shameful. A month ago today, the regime arrested six Bahai leaders solely on the grounds of their religion.

They should be released immediately. Iran should uphold the basic human right to practice religion and should end its persecution of the Bahai community.

Quite right! The arrest and continued detention of these dedicated Bahá’ís purely on grounds of being Bahá’ís is utterly disgraceful.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, religious freedom, White House

My good friend Tessa Scrine, Executive Officer for Government Relations for the Baha’i community in Australia, gave an excellent interview on ABC Radio National’s The Religion Report on 11th June about the 14th May arrests of the Bahá’í leadership in Iran.

You can pick up the link to the interview here. Once you’ve downloaded the show, you’ll need to start listening at about 11 minutes and 40 seconds into the programme.

And it’s worth listening to the next interview, which is with John Henderson, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Australian partnership of Religious Organisations.

Go on, have a listen. You know you want to.

My ABC Radio story

Can’t resist telling you this. Some years ago, when I was Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK, I was sitting in my office in the Bahá’í Centre in London one afternoon when the phone rang. It was ABC Radio in Australia. They wanted an interview on the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran.

“Why don’t you call the Bahá’í national office in Australia?’ I asked.

“It’s three o’clock in the morning here,” the voice on the other end of the line said.

“Ah! OK, I’ll do the interview.”

So about an hour later I was hooked up by phone to ABC’s all-night programme for an interview. They’d also got hold of someone from Human Rights Watch in New York. So there we were, a global radio interview masterminded from Sydney. I was really impressed by ABC’s skill and by the quality of their show. The questions were intelligent and the level of discussion was clearly intended for a serious audience - at four o’clock in the morning!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, Australia, ABC Radio, Tessa Scrine

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

The Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations has issued a strong statement calling on the Iranian authorities to release the Bahá’í leaders, who are currently being held in Evin prison in Tehran:

The Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations (APRO) welcomes the Australian Government’s statement of concern about the recent arrest of Baha’i leaders in Iran and the continuing discrimination and harassment of the Iranian Baha’is on the grounds of their religion.

APRO Convenor, Professor Abd Malak said APRO shared the Government’s deep concern for these Baha’i leaders, made in a recent public statement.

“Freedom of religion and belief is a right guaranteed to all people under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party,” Prof Malak said.

“Their detention is in clear breach of the rights to which they are entitled under international law,” he said.

“Members of APRO call on the Iranian authorities to release the Baha’i leaders, if they are not to be charged with a recognisable criminal offence and allowed a fair and prompt trial.”

This support is most welcome.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Australia, APRO, religious organisations, Iran, religious freedom, human rights, inter-faith