Brazilian Congressman Pompeo de Mattos recently released an open letter to the legal authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The statement signals yet another wave of support from governments from all corners of the globe regarding the circumstances of the trial of the Yaran. We enclose a copy of the letter (available in full below):
Download the Open Letter (PDF)
Commission for Human Rights and Minorities [logo]
Open Letter to the Legal Authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran
For the Freedom of Bahá'í Citizens Imprisoned in Iran
The Commission for Human Rights and Minorities of the House of Representatives of Brazil defends association and religious tolerance to be heritage of all human beings, assumed to be pillars to the full validity of human rights, which must govern international relations of Brazil, as determined by Article 4 of the Federal Constitution.
It is on this basis that we express our concern with the news released by the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) concerning accusations against seven members of the Bahá'í leadership, known as "Friends in Iran", a group responsible for the community activities in that country – imprisoned in Tehran since the second trimester of 2008.
This publication quotes Hassan Haddad, deputy prosecutor of Tehran, as having stated that "the case will be forwarded to the revolutionary court", and that these Bahá'ís are being accused of "espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic".
The Bahá'í International Community categorically denies the accusations against these individuals – one of whom has been imprisoned since March and the remaining six since May 2008.
The peace-loving, humanistic principles and practices for which the Baha'is are known in Brazil have earned this community respect and credibility among the country's human rights supporters. There is therefore no reason to doubt the credibility of their claims.
This community recalls that all elected or appointed Bahá'í institutions have been banned by the Iranian government for nearly thirty years, soon after the Islamic Revolution. In the absence of a national administrative council (National Spiritual Assembly), the group of "Friends in Iran" was formed with the full knowledge of the government, and since then has served as the coordinating body of the 300.000 Bahá'ís in that country. The various governments that came to power in Iran since then have always been aware of the activities of this group, with whom they have dealt regularly during the past years, although informally. To now declare them to be an "illegal" group does not appear correct to us.
The accusations against these five men and two women that they would be "spying" is vehemently denied by the Bahá'í community, who believes it to be merely a pretext to persecute the Bahá'ís.
Since the early years of 1930, the antagonists of the Bahá'í Faith in Iran have insisted that this new religion is a political sect created by imperialistic governments who seek to weaken Islam. The Bahá'ís have been consecutively accused of being instruments of Russian imperialism, of British colonialism, of American expansionism, and more recently of Zionism.
The Bahá'í Community points out that the international administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith is based today within the modern borders of Israel merely as a result of the banishment of the Founders of the Faith by the Persian and Ottoman Empires in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1860 – and therefore eighty years before the creation of the State of Israel, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled to his perpetual imprisonment in the city of Acre (Akka).
The Bahá'í Community questions: if in fact these Bahá'ís are being accused of espionage for Israel, why were hundreds of others executed for having refused to recant their Faith and embrace Islam? For what motives have thousands been deprived of their employment, pensions, businesses, and educational opportunities? For what reason where their holy places, temples and cemeteries confiscated and demolished? All of these questions demonstrate an orchestrated attempt to destroy a religious community, it must be concluded.
It has taken the Iranian Government more than eight months to present accusations against these individuals for nay crime, and no evidence against them has been presented during this period. During their imprisonment they have not been allowed access to their lawyer, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi. She has been harassed, threatened and intimidated ever since she took over the case, and up to the present has not been able to obtain access to the case files. Now that these Bahá'ís have been accused, we demand that the government allow Ms. Ebadi access to these documents, as well as to the prisoners themselves.
The prossecution of the "Friends in Iran" represents only one more step in the 30-years systematic campaign orchestrated by the governments to eliminate the Bahá'í Community as a viable entity in Iran, the cradle of the Bahá'í Faith – a campaign for which documentary evidence is available and has been brought to light by agencies of the United Nations.
One of the fundamental principles of the Bahá'í Faith is that its followers must strictly abstain from involvement in any type of activities related to partisan politics, be it local, national or international. The Bahá'ís view government as a system for maintaining the wellness and orderly progress of human society. They reject violence and are constructive, peace-loving citizens, with no interest in assuming power.
The human rights defender who profess the Bahá'í Faith in Brazil also affirm that thirty other Bahá'ís are currently in prison in Iran. Some eighty others have been required to post deeds of property and business licenses as collateral for bail, having equally been falsely charged and are awaiting trial.
In view of this situation of risk and persecution against the above mentioned individuals due to their their belonging to a religious minority, we address the constituted Authorities of Iran, through the Embassy in Brazil, and having as witnesses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as international organizations and civil society organizations – to whom we transmit this official communication – in order to respectfully plead for the lives, security and liberty of the Bahá'í citizens in Iran.
[Signed]
Congressman Pompeo de Mattos (PDT-RS)
President
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United Religions Initiative in Brazil
Posted: 13 Mar 2009 10:01 PM PDT
By Sam H. Cyrous
The United Religions Initiative (URI) based in Brasília, the capital of Brazil, has sent two open letters (texts in full below) asking for the immediate release of the Baha'is in Iran, one to the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the other to the Iranian Ambassador to Brazil.
They request the Minister to "issue a public statement on these arrests, and to urge the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to promptly see the equivocal and illegality of these acts that must be repaired, first of all with the release of the prisoners."
They summon the Ambassador to apply the Quranic principles: "In the Holy Quran, Justice and Mercy are values which are always reminded to all the believers. Thus even if we are to consider the total independence of the Iranian State, we cannot understand such attitudes, and even less accept them, as we hereby respectfully express. (…) We also feel impelled to request from those responsible for these human rights violations, and particularly the Iranian Government, good sense and real practice of justice, through the release of these prisoners and the full reestablishment of their rights, since the Christians and Jews among Iranian citizens do not suffer – or they should not – any such violations – facts that yet again cannot justify the mentioned acts."
Cautioning that by acting otherwise, they are the ones endangering Islam:
"Dearest Mr. Ambassador, to conclude I would like to express that I understand that, at the eventuality of the continuity of this situation, we shall see it as a setback on the world's view on human rights in Iran, as well as on the very image of the country, which certainly will give room to those heralds of untruthfulness against Islam and their specific arguments to work solidly in their propaganda."
Moreover, there is no doubt that if this situation that we now repudiate comes to occur, all of us, who work for the social and organizational awareness on the theological and cultural, legal and scientific richness that Islam brought to all humankind through the centuries, will be in a difficult position to argument in defense.
Download: Letter to the Iranian Ambassador Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (texts included below in full)
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Brasília, December 21st 2008
Official Letter 88/2008
Dear Mr. Mohsen Shaterzadeh
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The United Religions Initiative – URI is an organization drawn upon the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and today it has a membership of some four hundred groups in more than sixty countries. One of its main objectives is to work to put an end of religiously-motivated violence, one of its areas of focus being the defense of human rights.
Having done this small presentation, we hereby provide you Your Excellency with information on facts that are worrisome to human rights defenders, particularly religious leaders. Hence we ask for your attention.
Firstly, let me convey to Your Excellency that, as a member of the coordinating board of the Cooperation Circle of the United Religions Initiative in Brasília, for a long time we have been in close contact with our Islamic brothers from many different states of this country, whom we always invite to participate at significant events that take place within and outside the country, allowing for wider public knowledge of Islam.
We are fully convinced and aware of the problems that hit the Islamic communities globally and in particular of those questions linked to political and economical interests that use campaigns that often seek to associate the image of Muslims with violence. As far as this is concerned, we can recognize and at the same time denounce such injustices.
Through dialog and cooperation we seek to deepen interaction, respect and friendship ties among religious leaderships from diverse backgrounds, so that through these actions we can demonstrate that peaceful and justice-based coexistence is feasible. Therefore, reports sent from Iran throughout this year, particularly at this moment, regarding the imprisonment of the members of the Bahá' Community, occurred last May, with no legal real motives, with the aggravating factor that, after all this period, lawyer and member of the Human Rights Defenders Center Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, Peace Nobel laureate, has been denied access to the prisoners or their case files.
It also saddens us the fact that, certainly because of their seeking to defend the rights of the mentioned Bahá'í prisoners, Mrs. Shrin Ebadi's office was closed, under unsustainable arguments, which proves to have been an act of reprisal of which the international community is aware.
In the Holly Quran, Justice and Mercy are values which are always reminded to all the believers. Thus even if we are to consider the total independence of the Iranian State, we cannot understand such attitudes, and even less accept them, as we hereby respectfully express. As Human Rights and Religious Freedom defenders, we also ask for clarification from the Iranian Embassy in Brazil on the conditions under which the Bahá'í leadership, whose names are not even on Tehran's Evin Prison official lists, are being held captive.
We also feel impelled to request from those responsible for these human rights violations, and particularly the Iranian Government, good sense and real practice of justice, through the release of these prisoners and the full reestablishment of their rights, since the Christians and Jews among Iranian citizens do not suffer – or they should not – any such violations – facts that yet again cannot justify the mentioned acts.
Dearest Mr. Ambassador, to conclude I would like to express that I understand that, at the eventuality of the continuity of this situation, we shall see it as a setback on the world's view on human rights in Iran, as well as on the very image of the country, which certainly will give room to those heralds of untruthfulness against Islam and their specific arguments to work solidly in their propaganda.
Moreover, there is no doubt that if this situation that we now repudiate comes to occur, all of us, who work for the social and organizational awareness on the theological and cultural, legal and scientific richness that Islam brought to all humankind through the centuries, will be in a difficult position to argument in defense.
We thank you for your precious attention,
Elianildo da Silva Nascimento
Coordinator of URI-Brasília
www.uri.org (English) – www.uri.org/americalatina (Spanish/Portuguese)
Tels: 55 61 3340.4095 – 9633.8420
Brasília, December 21, 2008
Official Letter 89/2008
To His Excellency Mr. Celso Amorim,
Ministry of Foreign Relations –Government of Brazil
The United Religions Initiative – URI is an organization drawn upon the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and today it has a membership of some four hundred groups in more than sixty countries. One of its main objectives is to work to put an end of religiously-motivated violence, one of its areas of focus being the defense of human rights.
Having done this small presentation, we hereby provide you Your Excellency with information on facts that are worrisome to human rights defenders, particularly religious leaders. Hence we ask for your attention.
The question that we refer to is the imprisonment of the members of the Bahá' Community last May for no legal motives, with the aggravation that, after all this time, the lawyers of the Human Rights Defender Center, of which Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the Peace Nobel, is a member, to even be granted access to the prisoners or their case files
It also saddens us the fact that, certainly because of their seeking to defend the rights of the mentioned Bahá'í prisoners, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi's office was closed, under unsustainable arguments, which proves to have been an act of reprisal that all the international community is aware.
In the face of these facts, we cannot but to request this Ministry of Foreign Relations to issue a public statement on these arrests, and to urge the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to promptly see the equivocal and illegality of these acts that must be repaired, first of all with the release of the prisoners.
We emphasize that by doing so, this Ministry will be aligning itself with the actions that other agencies of the Brazilian Government are carrying out, especially on issues linked to Human Rights and Religious Freedom – issues that constitute the reference model for other countries – apart from the fact that it reflects the yearning for dialog and cooperation that guide the contacts and joint actions embraced by the religious leadership of the diverse religious segments which are represented in Brazil.
Sincerely yours,
Elianildo da Silva Nascimento
Coordinator of URI-Brasília
www.uri.org (English) – www.uri.org/americalatina (Spanish/Portuguese)
Tels: 55 61 3340.4095 – 9633.8420
E-Mail: elianildonascimento@yahoo.com.br
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