A timely update on the latest developments in the decades long persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran - one an article by Barney Leith from his blog Barnabas quotidianus; the other the official report from the Bahá'í International Community.
(Excerpt from the former:)
"Spreading corruption on earth" - new accusation against Iran's Baha'i leadersWhy are they in jail? Because they are Baha'is
Have they been formally charged? No.
Why not? Well, what would they be charged with? They've committed no crimes.
Posted: 12 May 2009
Who is "spreading corruption on earth"?
Come Thursday, six of the members of the ad hoc group that coordinated the life of the Baha'i community of Iran - the Yaran - will have been in jail for exactly a year. They are Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naemi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli and Mr Vahid Tizfam.
The seventh member, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, has been in jail since 5 March 2008.
All seven are in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.
Legal limbo
For a whole year the authorities have not seen fit to treat these leading Baha'is with anything remotely like justice.
Why are they in jail? Because they are Baha'is
Have they been formally charged? No.
Why not? Well, what would they be charged with? They've committed no crimes.
Charging madness
They may not have been formally charged, but they have certainly been publicly accused of "espionage for Israel" (they communicated with the Baha'i World Centre, which has been located in what is now Israel since the late 1806s), of "insulting religious sanctities" (they are Baha'is), and of "membership in an illegal body" (they were members of the Yaran, a body about which the Iranian authorities have known for many many years).
It took seven months of intensive interrogations to get to this point.
The Yaran voluntarily gave up their coordinating role in the Baha'i community so that the Iranian government would not be able to hold anything against them.
Except one thing: they are Baha'is.
And now, a year after their original detention, the authorities have told their families that the seven may face the more sinister charge of Mofsede fel-Arz - "spreading corruption on earth".
What is "spreading corruption on earth"?
It's one of those charges that covers anything the [persecutors] in the Iranian government don't like. If they can't get you for a sensible charge, they'll sure get you for "spreading corruption on earth".
Especially if you're a Baha'i.
And these seven Baha'i leaders could face...death. After all, "spreading corruption on earth" was the charge used against the Baha'is who were executed in the years immediately after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
One thing this clearly demonstrates: the authorities have no basis for any allegation against these individuals, other than blatant religious persecution.
Tip of the iceberg
The seven members of the Baha'i leadership are the tip of a large iceberg. There are more than 300,000 Baha'is in Iran - the community is the largest non-Islamic religious minority in Iran - and they are all facing increased persecution by a government that claims to be a paragon of justice and human rights, but which routinely abuses the rights of women, children, journalists and others who seek dignity and justice.
Time for international action
I hope that the world's governments will tell Iran in no uncertain terms what they think about this utter injustice. I hope that the world's governments will demand the immediate release of Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naemi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli and Mr Vahid Tizfam. Or at least for a fair trial.
NEW YORK — The seven Baha'i leaders currently imprisoned in Iran are facing the anniversary of their arrest this Thursday, along with new and extremely grave accusations, after spending a year in jail without formal charges or access to their lawyer, Shirin Ebadi.
"Despite their obvious innocence and the call by many for their immediate release, these seven men and women have been in legal limbo for a year now, against all international human rights standards," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.
"Moreover, their families have recently been told of a possible new charge - 'the spreading of corruption on earth,' which goes by the term 'Mofsede fel-Arz' in Persian and carries the threat of death under the penal code of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Ms. Dugal.
"The sequence of events surrounding their detention exposes a shameless travesty of justice. Notwithstanding their having been subjected to intensive interrogations, it took a full seven months before they were given even a single pretext for their detention. On February 10, 2009, the Iranian Student News Agency quoted Tehran deputy prosecutor Hassan Haddad as having said that the investigation of these individuals was complete and that 'the case will be sent to the revolutionary court next week' and that these Baha'is are accused of 'espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.' The international protest expressed by governments and civil society was immediate and widespread, causing the Iranian authorities to review their approach.
"Now a new wrongful accusation reportedly has been added some three months after the investigation was supposed to have concluded. The charge of being spreaders of corruption was used against the Baha'is who were executed in the years immediately following the Islamic revolution. That it may now be resorted to in this case is a further demonstration that the authorities have no basis for any allegation against these seven individuals, other than blatant religious persecution. This action against the Baha'i leadership reflects the government's sharply increased persecution of the entire Iranian Baha'i community of more than 300,000 members.
"The upcoming anniversary of their arrest offers an important milestone and we ask that the international community re-state once again in the strongest terms its demand for their immediate release, or, at least, for a fair and open trial that meets international standards of justice," said Ms. Dugal.
Ms. Dugal also noted that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has frequently emphasized the importance of "justice and human dignity" and "the establishment of a just world system," such as when he addressed the UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva last month.
"How can the calls of the Iranian leadership for justice in the international sphere be taken seriously if they do not grant justice to their own citizens? In Iran, by all accounts universally agreed upon human rights are routinely ignored, not only for Baha'is but also for women, journalists, and others who only seek dignity and justice," she said.
The seven are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad.
For more information, go to http://news.bahai.org.
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