wfn.org | Baha'i news: Nations rally to defend human rights in Iran

[Sally Weeks <sweeks@bwc.org>]

>Baha'i World News Service
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>Nations rally to defend human rights in Iran

GENEVA, 16 February (BWNS) - Countries from around the world have voiced st rong concern at the United Nations Human Rights Council over Iran's deterio rating human rights record.

In speeches yesterday and in documents filed with the Council, nations and  human rights groups described the degree to which Iran has failed to live u p to its obligations under international human rights law.

"The good news is that governments and organizations are rallying to defend  innocent Iranians, who have over the last year seen their human rights so  gravely violated," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i Inter national Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"The bad news is that Iran continues to ignore such appeals," she said, spe aking after yesterday's session of Council, which specifically focused on I ran's human rights record.

Muhammad Javad Larijani, secretary general of the Islamic Republic of Iran' s High Council for Human Rights, told the session that there is religious f reedom in Iran and that no Baha'i is persecuted for his beliefs. If any Bah a'is are imprisoned, he said, it is because of "illegal activities" as a cu lt.

"Put bluntly, Iran once again completely discredited itself before the eyes  of the international community," said Ms. Ala'i, noting that last week Ira n arrested at least 14 more Baha'is.

Among those arrested, she said, was Niki Khanjani, the son of one of the se ven Baha'i leaders who are currently on trial on false charges.

"As the Nobel laureate Mrs. Shirin Ebadi has recently stated in an open let ter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Iran is now trying to inc rease pressure on prisoners by taking their relatives hostage," said Ms. Al a'i. "Jamaloddin Khanjani is 76. He has been incarcerated for almost two ye ars - and then they arrested his granddaughter at the beginning of January  and now, his son."

"These are the desperate acts of a regime that is frantically lashing out t o blame others for its troubles and to suppress any viewpoint that is diffe rent from its own ideology," she said.

The majority of countries who spoke out against Iran focused on the violenc e following last June's presidential election and also on the situation of  the country's religious minorities.

Brazil called for Iran to extend rights to all religious groups in the coun try, saying Baha'is should enjoy the same rights as everyone. Mexico said a ll minorities - particularly the Baha'i community - must be able to practic e their religion.

"Romania and Slovenia devoted almost the entire allotment of their time to  discussing the increasing repression of Iran's Baha'i community," reported  Ms. Ala'i.

Human rights groups, in documents filed with the Council, made similar poin ts.

"Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, individuals belonging to mi norities in Iran are subject to an array of discriminatory laws and practic es," wrote Amnesty International in its statement. "Minorities suffering pe rsecution include ethnic and linguistic minorities such as Kurds, Arabs, Az erbaijanis, Turkmen and Baluchis, and religious minorities such as Baha'is  and the Ahl-e Haq."

"The government systematically denies rights associated with freedom of rel igion to members of the Baha'i faith, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious m inority. In most cases, including the persecution of the Baha'i community,  the government uses 'security' as a pretext for detaining individuals and d enying them basic due process rights," said a statement from Human Rights W atch.

The session was part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a relatively n ew procedure that seeks to review the human rights record of all 192 United  Nations member states once every four years. This year is the first time I ran has come up for review.

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