Baha'i News: Attacks on Baha'is continue as Iran's human rights record comes under further UN scruti

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

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


Attacks on Baha'is continue as Iran's human rights record comes under further 
UN scrutiny


GENEVA, 4 November 2011 (BWNS) – As a United Nations body concluded that Iran's 
persecution of Baha'is is clearly violating one of the world's major human 
rights treaties, the Baha'i International Community has learned of a recent 
wave of attacks on Baha'is and their property.

In Rasht, three women were arrested on charges of activity against national 
security following terrifying raids on 16 Baha'i homes. In Semnan, around ten 
Baha'i-owned shops were sealed up by the authorities and two business licences 
were cancelled. In the city of Sanandaj, it has been reported that authorities 
have attempted to persuade groups of Baha'is to give an undertaking not to 
participate in gatherings – known as the Nineteen Day Feast – held in the homes 
of their co-religionists. 

"These recent events have all the appearance of being centrally coordinated," 
said Diane Ala'i, representative of the Baha'i International Community to the 
United Nations, "and clearly contradict statements we often hear from the 
Iranian authorities that Baha'is are entitled to the same rights as others and 
that activities related to personal beliefs and community affairs are 
permitted."

More than 100 Baha'is are currently held in Iranian prisons. They include the 
community's seven leaders – each serving 20-year jail sentences on trumped up 
charges – and seven educators imprisoned for their involvement in an informal 
initiative established to help young Baha'is barred by the government from 
higher education. But that is not the whole story. 

In addition to those already behind bars, more than 300 Baha'is who have been 
previously arrested and then released are either awaiting trial or the call to 
begin serving out their sentences. The sums they have been required to post for 
bail – most often using property deeds or business licenses as collateral – are 
exorbitant. Hundreds of Baha'i homes have been raided and personal belongings – 
including books, computers, mobile phones, photographs and documents – have 
been confiscated. 

All of this constitutes a further drain on the resources of Baha'is who are 
already being subjected to wide-ranging and systematic efforts to impoverish 
them through tactics such as: being debarred from owning – or working in – more 
than 25 types of business; the summary cancellation of business licenses; the 
sealing up of Baha'i-owned shops; the threatening of employers against hiring 
Baha'is; and the banning of Baha'i youth from higher education.  

Yesterday, the UN Human Rights Committee – a body of 18 independent experts – 
criticized Iran's non-compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights (ICCPR), which the country has signed and ratified. 

The Committee's findings came two weeks after a hearing at which an Iranian 
government delegation sought to defend their human rights record. The 
delegation's 27-page written report claimed that "no Iranian citizen enjoys 
priority over others due to his/her race, religion or particular language." 

During the hearing, numerous questions were posed by the Committee about Iran's 
treatment of Baha'is. One Committee member, Ahmad Fathalla of Egypt said that 
since religion and conviction or belief are given the same status in the ICCPR, 
Iran must allow Baha'is the right to manifest their beliefs "both individually 
and in community with others, both in public or in private," even if the 
authorities do not consider the Baha'i Faith to be a religion. 
  
Concern was also expressed over a wide range of other human rights violations, 
including the high rate of death sentences, the lack of women in top government 
positions, and the widespread use of torture.

Among its conclusions, the Committee urged Iran to "take immediate steps to 
ensure that members of the Baha'i community are protected against 
discrimination in every field, that violations of their rights are immediately 
investigated, that those found responsible are prosecuted and that they are 
provided with effective remedies." 

Welcoming the Committee's report, Diane Ala'i said, "The UN Human Rights 
Committee is telling Iran to stop making excuses and to live up to its 
commitment to protect the rights of all its citizens to enjoy complete freedom 
of religion."






To read the article online, see photographs and access links, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/863

________________________________________________

Copyright 2011 by the Baha'i World News Service. Stories and photographs 
produced by the Baha'i World News Service may be freely reprinted, re-emailed, 
re-posted to the World Wide Web and otherwise reproduced by any individual or 
organization as long as they are attributed to the Baha'i World News Service. 
For more information, go to http://news.bahai.org/terms-of-use/