Baha'i News: Canadian university presidents speak out for Baha'i educators

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Canadian university presidents speak out for Baha'i educators
http://news.bahai.org/story/878 


TORONTO, 9 January 2012, (BWNS) – Two pre-eminent university presidents are 
urging all of their fellow Canadians to join them in calling for an end to 
Iran's persecution of Baha'i educators and students. 

The appeal comes from Canada's former minister of foreign affairs and president 
of the University of Winnipeg, Lloyd Axworthy, and Allan Rock – who is 
president of the University of Ottawa and former Canadian ambassador to the UN.

In an article in the Canadian edition of The Huffington Post, they speak of how 
"deeply troubled" they are that Baha'is are denied access to higher education 
in Iran, and express concern that "the brutal regime in Tehran has turned a 
deaf ear" to calls to end the systematic persecution.

Read the article here: 
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/allan-rock/bahai-iran-politics_b_1186039.html

"As Presidents of Canadian universities," they write, "we attach enormous value 
to access by young people to the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in 
tomorrow's world. We regard education as the key to a better future for all 
peoples, and believe passionately that each person has the right to an 
education."

Their article particularly draws attention to the attack launched by Iranian 
authorities on an informal community initiative – known as the Baha'i Institute 
for Higher Education (BIHE) – which was set up to provide education for young 
Baha'is barred from university. 

Among those arrested in May last year for their association with BIHE was 
Nooshin Khadem – an MBA graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa. She is now 
serving a four-year jail term. A married couple currently awaiting trial, 
Kamran Rahimian and Faran Hessami, completed their graduate studies in 
psychology counseling at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education.  

"They were charged with teaching without valid accreditation," the article 
states. "The Iranian authorities confiscated their U of O degrees and then 
alleged that they had never earned them."

Presidents Axworthy and Rock are encouraging "all Canadians to add their voice 
in calling on the Iranian government unconditionally to drop all charges 
against educators, to halt all further aggression towards the Baha'i Institute 
for Higher Education and to allow the Baha'i access to education. The Baha'i of 
Iran must know that in resisting the cruel oppression of those who persecute 
them, they do not stand alone."

The article concludes with the two presidents stating that they are "proud to 
join" with a "growing group of academics, university administrators and notable 
advocates for peace including Desmond Tutu, Romeo Dallaire and Jose 
Ramos-Horta" who are "condemning the Iranian regime's denial of the right to 
education." 







To read the article online, view photograph and access links, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/878

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