Governments in Australia, Canada reiterate call for release of Baha'i prisoners

Australia, Canada call for immediate release of imprisoned Baha'is

27 May 2009

CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian Parliament has called on the government of Iran to release seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders "without delay."

A motion from the House of Representatives expresses "serious concern" that the detained Baha'is have had no access to legal representation and have not been subject to due legal process.

It also expresses concern about charges of "spying, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and that these charges could attract the death penalty."

Finally, the motion calls on Iran to "to respect rights to freedom of religion and the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression and association, in accordance with international human rights conventions."

Six members of Parliament from both major parties spoke in support of the motion, which was approved on 25 May. One of them was Mr. Luke Simpkins.

"I would like to be able to say there has been some progress since I last spoke on this issue," he said, "but the cause of justice in Iran has only gone backwards in the last few months.

"It has recently been publicized that the Baha'i seven may face another charge, that of spreading corruption on earth, which is in addition to the other charges reportedly laid. It is my firm view that all these charges have no validity and remain inconsistent with the teachings of the Baha'i Faith."

IN OTTAWA, the Canadian government also issued a statement, published on 14 May – the one-year anniversary of the imprisonment of six of the seven Baha'i leaders. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon said his government "calls upon the Iranian authorities to immediately release the seven Baha'i leaders and to cease the harassment of members of the Baha'i Faith."

He said Canada is "deeply troubled by the continued imprisonment of these Baha'i leaders, without charge or legal representation."

"We believe they are being detained solely because of their faith," he said.

IN BRUSSELS, the Presidency of the European Union has issued a strong statement expressing "deep concern about the increasing violation of religious freedom in Iran."

The statement specifically names 13 individuals – five Christians, seven Baha'is, and one Shiite – who the EU says are currently imprisoned for legitimate expression of religious belief.

About the Baha'is, it says "evidence suggests that the persecution deliberately aims to suppress Baha'i religious identity and legitimate community activities."

"Concerns relating to this case are further reinforced by numerous reports of official harassment of members of the Baha'i community, including detentions; police summons and pressure to desist from community religious activities," said the statement, issued on 25 May.

The seven Baha'is referred to in all the pronouncements 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 Mrs. Sabet were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad. The seven are being held in Evin prison in Tehran.

(Editor's note: The photograph was added to this Web page on 2 June 2009. Wording describing the statement from the European Union was changed on 8 June 2009.)

Source: http://news.bahai.org/story/717

Brazil: Two further gestures in defense of 7 arrested Bahá'í leaders

Following are two news articles from iranpresswatch.org.

Letter from Brazilian Congressman on the Yaran

Posted: 13 Mar 2009

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)

[logo: Federative Republic of Brazil]

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Commission for Human Rights and Minorities [logo]

Brasilia, 17 February 2009

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
----- end

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

60+ Academics arise UNITEDLY in calling for Iranian government to end persecutions of Baha'is

From iranpresswatch.org

Prominent Academics Call for End of Persecutions

March 11, 2009

A prominent group of more than sixty professors and scholars who specialize in Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies have added their voices in protest over the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran and have asked the Iranian government to accord its Baha'is citizens their full civil rights and freedoms.

Statement:

We, the undersigned scholars and academic specialists in the fields of Middle Eastern and Iranian studies, call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to put an end to human rights abuses against Baha'is in Iran, which have been greatly escalating in recent months, and grant them full civil rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. We note with great concern evidence of an ongoing campaign to deprive the Baha'is of Iran of their fundamental human rights. This all points to a worrisome development inside Iran that appears to be preparing the way for further human rights violations against the Baha'is. Recent events include but are not limited to the following:

• Arbitrary Arrests. Authorities arrested five Baha'is in Tehran on January 14, 2009: Ms. Jinous Sobhani, Mr. Shahrokh Taef, Mr. Didar Raoufi, Mr. Payam Aghsani and Mr. Aziz Samandari, followed by the arrest of two Baha'is in Mashhad, raids on eight homes and the arrest of Mr. Nima Haghar in Tehran on February 1, 2009. They join not only numerous individual arrested and detained in cities and towns throughout Iran, but also the seven Baha'i leaders who were arrested in 2008, and who remain in prison, despite statements by the United Nations, six Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, and various human rights organizations calling for their immediate release.

• Attacks on Baha'i Homes. Authorities have been entering homes either to arrest Baha'is and/or confiscate personal belongings such as photos, books, and computers. A new and troubling development is the recent dissemination of a 31-page list of Baha'is in Shiraz that includes their names, professions, and home and work addresses. The list was accompanied by several quotes from high-ranking clerics, including Ayatollah Khomeini, against the Baha'is, and could lead to attacks on the listed Baha'is.
• Denial of Access to Education. Since 1979, the Iranian government has enforced a ban on Baha'i students from access to higher education, a recognized universal human right, and frequent restriction of home schooling to children who have been denied access to public education institutions.
• Campaigns of Intimidation. These include the harassment of school children, government sponsored propaganda against the Baha'is in the media, public seminars and symposia, the distribution of anti-Baha'i CDs in various school districts throughout the country, and harassment of those who seek to help the Baha'is, such as Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi.
• The Financial and Economic Strangulation of the Baha'i Community. The Iranian government has, over the course of the past decades, expelled all Baha'i employees of national and local governments, and has moved to confiscate homes, businesses, financial assets, and other properties in a systematic attempt to destroy financially the Iranian Baha'is.
• Attacks on and Desecration of Baha'i Cemeteries. Baha'i cemeteries in Qaimshahr, Yazd, Najafabad, and elsewhere have been repeatedly vandalized and then completely destroyed.

We stand in solidarity with the Baha'is and indeed with members of all religious communities who do not have full rights and freedoms in Iran.

Signed:

Ervand Abrahamian, City University of New York

Janet Afary, University of California, Los Angeles

Gholam R. Afkhami, Foundation for Iranian Studies

Reza Afshari, Pace University

Hamid Akbari, Northeastern Illinois University

Payam Akhavan, McGill University

Abbas Amanat, Yale University

Camron Michael Amin, The University of Michigan-Dearborn

Said A. Arjomand, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Muriel Atkin, George Washington University

Sussan Babaie, Independent Scholar

Ali Banuazizi, Boston College

Shahzad Bashir, Stanford University

Nasser Behnegar, Boston College

Mansour Bonakdarian, University of Toronto (Mississauga)

Michael E. Bonine, University of Arizona

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University

Charles E. Butterworth, University of Maryland

Houchang E. Chehabi, Boston University

Paul M. Cobb, University of Pennsylvania

Dick Davis, Ohio State University

Khalil Dokhanchi, University of Wisconsin at Superior

Fred M. Donner, University of Chicago

John L. Esposito, Georgetown University

Farideh Farhi, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Willem Floor, Independent Scholar

Latifeh Hagigi, University of California, Los Angeles

Nader Hashemi, University of Denver

Hormoz Hekmat, Foundation for Iranian Studies

Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown University

Mehrangiz Kar, Harvard University (Law School)

Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University of Maryland

Farhad Kazemi, New York University

Stephen N. Lambden, University of California, Merced

Kate Lang, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

Todd Lawson, University of Toronto

Loren Lybarger, Ohio University

Denis MacEoin, Independent Scholar

Afshin Marashi, California State University, Sacramento

Lenore G. Martin, Emmanuel College

Rudi Matthee, University of Delaware

Ann Elizabeth Mayer, University of Pennsylvania

Farzaneh Milani, University of Virginia

Margaret Mills, Ohio State University

David Morgan, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Negar Mottahedeh, Duke University

Roy P. Mottahedeh, Harvard University

Parvaneh Pourshariati, Ohio State University

Sholeh A. Quinn, University of California, Merced

Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California, Irvine

Thomas M Ricks, Independent Scholar

Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Sunil Sharma, Boston University

Nader Sohrabi, Columbia University

Rosemary Stanfield-Johnson, University of Minnesota

Mark L. Stein, Muhlenberg College

Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona

Georges Tamer, The Ohio State University

Mohamad Tavakoli -Targhi, University of Toronto

Nayereh Tohidi, California State University, Northridge

Frances Trix, Indiana University

A. L. Udovitch, Princeton University

Farzin Vahdat, Vassar College

Fereydun Vahman, University of Copenhagen

Margit Warburg, University of Copenhagen

Madeline C. Zilfi, University of Maryland

Download the accompanying Press Release

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