Aug25
Cherie Blair: “Iran is attempting to decapitate its Baha’i community”
On Wednesday, August 25, Cherie Blair, a barrister at Matrix Chambers in London and the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, published an op-ed in The Guardian concerning the recent sentencing of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders each to 20 years in prison.
From The Guardian op-ed:
The truth behind this sentence is that it is an attempt to decapitate Iran’s 300,000 strong Bahá’í community. As members of Iran’s biggest religious minority, they have suffered decades of discrimination, harassment and appalling treatment. Most recently, 50 Bahá’í homes were razed in northern Iran, and we know of at least 47 other Bahá’ís currently imprisoned.
Yet the Bahá’í faith, which has its roots in Iran, is a gentle religion which emphasises the spiritual unity of all humankind and builds on the prophets of many faiths, including Jesus and Mohammed. It poses no threat to the Iranian regime. The peaceful, constructive lives led by millions of Bahá’ís in other countries contradict the fears of the Iranian regime. Iran’s disregard for its own laws, let alone its human rights obligations, exposes its religious fanaticism.
The foreign secretary, William Hague, has already said he was “appalled” at this “shocking example of the Iranian state’s continued discrimination against the Bahá’ís”. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, called the sentence a “violation” of Iran’s international obligations. Australia, Canada, the European parliament and European Commission, France, Germany and the Netherlands have expressed their concern as have, among others, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
A chorus of condemnation is reminding Iran that it signed and ratified the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, in which Article 18 upholds the right to adopt and practice a religion or belief. The Iranian authorities, despite what they pretend, are not deaf to international criticism. We must all add our voices on this latest abandonment of Iran’s human rights obligations so the regime hears us loud and clear.
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