Baha'i news: Global support intensifies for Iran's seven Baha'i leaders

[Baha’i World News Service - Subscribe <bwns-subscribe@bwc.org>]

Baha'i World News Service
http://news.bahai.org
For more information, contact: news@bahai.org


Global support intensifies for Iran's seven Baha'i leaders

GENEVA, 26 August (BWNS) – An increasing number of governments, human 
rights groups and prominent individuals are raising their voices 
against the harsh prison sentences handed down earlier this month to 
Iran's seven Baha'i leaders.

As lawyers for the prisoners prepare to appeal against the 20-year 
jail terms, the government of New Zealand has voiced its concern that 
the trial "was conducted in a manner that was neither fair nor 
transparent."
 
"New Zealand is dismayed that Iran has failed to uphold its 
international human rights commitments, and its own due legal 
processes in this case," said Foreign Minister Murray McCully. 

"The sentences appear to be based wholly on the fact that these 
people are members of a minority religious group," said Mr. McCully, 
in a statement issued on 20 August. 

"New Zealand calls on the Government of Iran to protect the 
fundamental rights of all its citizens, and to end its ongoing and 
systematic persecution of the Baha'i," he said.  

The governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the 
Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States of America - as well as 
the European Union and the President of the European Parliament - 
have already condemned the sentencing of the seven. 

In the wake of calls from numerous international organizations for 
the prisoners to be released, groups focused specifically on human 
rights abuses in Iran –  such as the Human Rights Activists News 
Agency and United4Iran – as well as Amnesty International, have now 
launched letter-writing campaigns encouraging supporters to call for 
justice for the seven. Prominent individuals, including British 
barrister Cherie Blair, have also been raising their voices in 
support of the Baha'i leaders.

Minority Rights Group International (MRG) - which campaigns on behalf 
of disadvantaged minorities and indigenous peoples - has expressed it 
deep concern over the lengthy sentences. 

"Given that independent observers were not allowed to attend the 
trial, and the history of persecution that the Baha'i community has 
faced in Iran, the outcome will do nothing to encourage faith in the 
Iranian justice system," said Carl Soderbergh, MRG's Director of 
Policy and Communications.

"MRG calls on Iran to quash the convictions and release the 
defendants immediately," Mr. Soderbergh added.


Human rights campaigns

Before their arrest in 2008, the seven prisoners were all members of 
a national-level group known as the "Yaran" –  or "Friends" –  that 
helped to see to the minimum needs of Iran's 300,000-strong Baha'i 
community.  

Among the human rights groups now calling for justice for the seven, 
the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) is asking people 
throughout the world to join a "We are Yaran" campaign of letter 
writing.

The HRANA draft letter states: "There is no evidence in support of 
the charges leveled against these Baha'is, and the ultimate judgment 
of imprisonment is unjust and insupportable."

United4Iran –  a non-partisan global network promoting fundamental 
human and civil rights in Iran – is requesting that visitors to its 
website call attention to the plight of the prisoners, by sending 
email letters to world leaders and Iranian officials.

"Considering the advanced ages of several of these spiritual leaders, 
the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) has effectively dealt life 
sentences," says the group. A spokesperson for United4Iran said that, 
as of Wednesday, more than 1100 messages had been sent via the 
website link.

In the United States, Amnesty International is urging its members to 
write to the head of Iran's judiciary to protest the trial and 
sentencing.


Prominent individuals speak out

Noted British barrister Cherie Blair described the legal proceedings 
against the seven as a "sham trial" in an article published on 
Wednesday by The Guardian newspaper in the UK.

"During two years of incarceration, lawyers working with [Nobel 
laureate Shirin] Ebadi were granted less than two hours with their 
clients," wrote Ms. Blair. "They had only a few hours to examine the 
case files, comprising hundreds of pages. In the little time they 
were granted, they discovered the files were compiled by officials 
from the ministry of intelligence, despite Iranian law stipulating 
that such agents 'should not be entrusted with the investigation ... 
of the accused.'

"The catch-all charge of espionage exposes the reality behind the 
regime's cruel behaviour. Over the years, Baha'is have found 
themselves accused of being tools of Russian imperialism, British 
colonialism, American expansionism and most recently Zionism.

"But when we learn that Baha'is accused of spying for Israel are 
offered exoneration and the restoration of all the rights of 
citizenship if they will simply recant their faith, we can see such 
charges are totally baseless.

"The desecration of Baha'i cemeteries, the demolition of shrines and 
confiscation of Baha'i property are unlikely punishments for a band 
of spies.

"The truth behind this sentence is that it is an attempt to 
decapitate Iran's 300,000 strong Baha'i community. As members of 
Iran's biggest religious minority, they have suffered decades of 
discrimination, harassment and appalling treatment. Most recently, 50 
Baha'i homes were razed in northern Iran, and we know of at least 47 
other Baha'is currently imprisoned," wrote Ms. Blair.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, the Archbishop 
of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, today called the 20-year jail terms for 
the Baha'i leaders "a most appalling transgression of justice and at 
heart a gross violation of the human right of freedom of belief."
 
"I unite myself in prayer for those of the Baha'i Faith who are 
suffering at this present time in Iran and also to the many other 
peoples of goodwill who are suffering for their faiths in other parts 
of the world," said Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien.

In a video statement posted on YouTube, the actor and comedian Omid 
Djalili said he was "very upset" by news of the prison sentences.

"The Baha'i Faith is a peaceful religion with a world embracing 
vision of unity for all people, of all faiths. It is a staunch 
defender of human rights. So the fact that these seven are held in 
prison as if they are perpetrators of the most heinous crimes is just 
ridiculous," said Mr. Djalili, whose clip received more than 8,000 
views in its first few days.


"International outcry will continue"

The prisoners –  Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, 
Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – 
denied all the allegations made against them which included 
espionage, propaganda against the Islamic republic and the 
establishment of an illegal administration. They are now incarcerated 
in Gohardasht prison in Karaj, some 20 kilometers west of Tehran.

"By all accounts, the charges against them were utterly baseless, and 
the trial itself was nothing but a charade," said Diane Ala'i, 
representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United 
Nations in Geneva.   

"For as long as they are held in prison, this international outcry 
will continue," said Ms. Alai. 



To read the article online and view images and links, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/790