Baha'i news: Support for Iran's seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders spreads worldwide

[Rob Weinberg <rweinber@bwc.org>]

>Baha'i World News Service

>http://news.bahai.org

For more information, contact: news@bahai.org<mailto:news@bahai.org

Support for Iran's seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders spreads worldwide

GENEVA, 16 September (BWNS) - The call to release seven Iranian 
Baha'i leaders - whose prison sentences have reportedly been reduced 
to 10-years each - is spreading around the world.

Prominent figures in India, medical professionals in Austria, a 
Muslim leader in El Salvador and human rights activists in Germany 
have added their voices to the concern already expressed by numerous 
governments and non-governmental organizations who have publicly 
condemned the sentences.

In an open letter, 31 leading figures from India's religious 
communities, judiciary, civil society organizations and academia, 
wrote that the "only crime that these seven individuals - two women 
and five men, the oldest among them being 77 years old - have 
committed is that they are Baha'is. They are peace-loving and 
obedient to the law of their land and have worked for the betterment 
of Iranian society."

The letter, dated 31 August, was sent by Maja Daruwala, the Director 
of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, to the Ambassador of the 
Islamic Republic of Iran to India.

"India and Iran have had historic ties of language, poetry, 
architecture, music and religion," the letter said. "In the name of 
these ancient ties that bind our two nations, we call on the 
Government of Iran to act according to the provisions of the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it has 
ratified. These provisions mandate the upholding of the principles of 
justice and freedom - principles cherished by all great religions of 
the world and all nations."

"In speaking up for these seven Baha'i leaders we are therefore also 
standing up for the 300,000 Iranian Baha'is, who constitute that 
country's largest religious minority, whose lives have been blighted 
and whose progress has been crippled by the injustices that have so 
systematically and remorselessly been visited upon them," they wrote.

Medical Professionals for Human Rights in Iran

In Austria, a group called Medical Professionals for Human Rights in 
Iran have also issued an open letter, addressed to Iran's Head of 
Judiciary, Sadeq Larijani.

The letter - signed by Dr. Ali Gushih, Professor Dr. Sirus Mirza'i 
and Professor Dr. Mihrdad Baghistaniyan - calls for the "seven 
leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran" to be released as soon as 
possible.

Among other requests, the letter asks that the human rights of all 
Iranian citizens be respected and for a stop to arbitrary arrests and 
raids on people's homes.

>Day of action in Berlin

The sentencing of the seven was also protested at a large gathering 
held on 12 September in Berlin, Germany, which included participation 
by some 400 people, including numerous human rights advocates.

In front of the city's historic Brandenburg Gate, Markus Loning, 
Human Rights Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany, 
stressed that the continuous flouting of human rights in Iran cannot 
be tolerated: "We will not tolerate how in Iran, with its 
civilization and culture, human rights are still disregarded and 
trampled upon."

Claudia Roth, chair of Germany's Green Party, called the arrest and 
conviction of the seven Baha'is, "an act of sheer arbitrariness and 
nothing else".

Freedom of faith and religion are not acts of "mercy of those in 
power" or "governmental clemency", said Ms. Roth, but a "cornerstone 
of the human rights conventions of the present."

Frauke Seidensticker, deputy director of the German Institute for 
Human Rights, stressed the obligation of the Iranian government to 
honor its commitments to article 18 of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. "The Baha'i community is distinguished by speaking out 
for the human rights not only of its own members but also for others 
whose human rights are violated. Therefore they deserve our 
solidarity and our deepest respect," she said.

The event, organised by the human rights network United4Iran, 
included the display of messages of solidarity, spelled out in one 
meter high letters.

>Other action

Sheikh Abderrahman Agdaou of El Salvador's Muslim community has also 
spoken up for the seven prisoners. In a message posted on 9 August on 
a personal, online social network page, Sheikh Abderrahman wrote of 
his hope that the seven would be freed, and that the Iranian 
authorities would be illumined "so that these persons may live free 
as God created them."

In Australia, the Australian Partnership of Religious Organizations 
(APRO) added its support to "deep concern" already expressed by the 
Australian government at the sentencing of the Baha'i leaders.

"We call on the Iranian government to respect and protect the right 
of all Iranians, including Baha'is and other religious minorities, to 
profess and practise the religion of their choice," APRO wrote on 8 
September.

There has also been extensive press coverage of the sentence around 
the world.

An opinion piece published on 29 August in the European edition of 
the Wall Street Journal, titled "Why Iran's Bahai Matter", said: "For 
more than three decades, the Bahai have formed the ground zero for 
repression in Iran. Rights groups say there is no evidence for the 
charges against the Bahai leaders, though Tehran's accusations should 
tell you all you need to know about who they are. The followers of 
this 19th-century religion hold unity among peoples as their main 
tenet. That, combined with their spiritual base in Israel, has made 
them the heretics that ayatollahs love to hate."

An article by American journalist Roxana Saberi - who was charged and 
imprisoned after allegations of espionage in Iran - praised the 
courage and spirit of the two women among the jailed Baha'i leaders. 
Ms. Saberi shared a cell with Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi in 
Tehran's Evin Prison early last year.

"I came to see them as my sisters, women whose only crimes were to 
peacefully practice their religion and resist pressure from their 
captors to compromise their principles," wrote Ms. Saberi.

"They felt it their duty to serve not only Bahais but all 
Iranians...," wrote Ms. Saberi in The Washington Post on 28 August . 
"I know that despite what they have been through and what lies ahead, 
these women feel no hatred in their hearts. When I struggled not to 
despise my interrogators and the judge, Mahvash and Fariba told me 
they do not hate anyone, not even their captors."

The seven Baha'i leaders - 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.

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