Persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran

Baha’i World News Service– The harsh prison sentences handed down to seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who are absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing is a judgment against an entire religious community, the Baha’i International Community said today.

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, whose Defenders of Human Rights Center represented the Baha’i defendants, said she was “stunned” by the reported 20-year jail terms.

“I have read their case file page by page and did not find anything proving the accusations, nor did I find any document that could prove the claims of the prosecutor,” said Mrs. Ebadi in a television interview, broadcast on 8 August by the Persian-language service of the BBC.

The flagrantly unjust sentence has provoked vehement protest from governments throughout the world – including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S.A. The European Union and the President of the European Parliament have also joined the chorus of condemnation, along with numerous human rights organizations – including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and FIDH – as well as other groups, and countless individuals. Read international reaction here.

• Read the full story from Baha’i World News Service
• Read a special report chronicling the trial of these seven Baha’i leaders
• Blog coverage: The Huffington Post, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, America.gov

ShareThis

On Thursday, August 12, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued the following statement concerning the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who have each been sentenced to 20 years in prison for their religious beliefs. According to new reports, the seven prisoners have been transferred from Evin prison in Tehran to Gohardasht Prison – also known as Rajaishahr Prison – in Karaj, some 20 kilometers west of the Iranian capital.

From Secretary Clinton’s statement “Persecution of Religious Minorities in Iran”:

The United States is deeply concerned with the Iranian government’s continued persecution of Baha’is and other religious minority communities in Iran.

This week, seven Baha’i leaders, who were incarcerated and held for nearly two years without due process, were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. The United States strongly condemns this sentencing as a violation of Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Freedom of religion is the birthright of people of all faiths and beliefs in all places.  The United States is committed to defending religious freedom around the world, and we have not forgotten the Baha’i community in Iran.  We will continue to speak out against injustice and call on the Iranian government to respect the fundamental rights of all its citizens in accordance with its international obligations.

• Media coverage: AFP, CNN’s “Belief” blog, Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog

ShareThis

Today, August 11, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom joined the international outcry on behalf of seven Iranian Baha’is recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for their beliefs.

From the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom statement:

The five Baha’i men and two women had been charged with several baseless and unsubstantiated crimes which carry the death penalty, including espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, and spreading “corruption on earth.” Their attorneys are in the process of filing an appeal.

“This is an outrageous miscarriage of justice and one more example of how the Iranian regime is a gross violator of human rights and religious freedoms,” said Leonard Leo, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) chair. “The prosecutions and sentences are, pure and simple, politically and religiously motivated acts, and the Commission calls for the unconditional release of these seven individuals.”

ShareThis

Several statements of international support for seven Iranian Baha’is each recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for their religious beliefs have been issued by the governments of Canada, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, the European Parliament and the European Union.

In Canada, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement issued on August 10, “Canada is deeply disturbed by reports that these individuals have now been sentenced to 20-year prison terms on charges of espionage, acting against national security and being enemies of God, and that these sentences were passed without either written judgements or due process. Canada once again urges Iran to grant bail to the seven Bahá’í leaders and to ensure that they are accorded fair treatment, in accordance with international standards. Canada further urges Iran to protect the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The persecution of the Bahá’í community in Iran is intolerable and deeply troubling.”

In France, the government was “distressed to learn of yesterday’s sentencing of seven Baha’i leaders to 20 years in prison without parole by a court in Tehran.” Its statement of August 10 further called on the Iranian government to ” release these seven Baha’i leaders immediately” and “to halt the persecution against Baha’is and religious minorities in Iran and to respect the freedom of religion and conscience as defined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran freely signed.”

In Australia, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman told the newspaper Canberra Times in an article published on August 11, “We continue to call on Iran to ensure that all trials are fair and transparent and are conducted in accordance with Iran’s international obligations.”

In the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement issued on August 11 that he was “appalled to hear of the 20 year prison sentence handed out to the seven spiritual leaders of the Bahá’í faith in Iran…I call on the Iranian authorities urgently to consider any appeal against this decision, and to cease the harassment of the Bahá’í community.”

European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton said in a statement issued on August 12, “The European Union expresses its serious concern about the sentencing of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran to 20 years imprisonment and calls for their immediate release. The verdict appears to be based on the defendants belonging to a religious minority and the judicial process was seriously flawed, respecting neither Iran’s international commitments under the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) nor its national legislation regarding fair trial rights.”

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said in a statement issued on August 11, “I am very concerned at this news. The sentences against the representatives of the Baha’i faith are a shocking signal and an immense disappointment for all who have hoped for an improvement of the human rights situation in Iran. We have strong doubts about the fairness and transparency of the judicial procedure and I deeply deplore this. Therefore I call on the relevant authorities to allow a fair and open appeal procedure…”

In the Netherlands, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen said in a statement issued on August 12, “That these people seem to be condemned because of their faith is shocking…I urge the Iranian authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations. The Baha’i leaders have a right to a fair trial and they must be released as soon as possible,” according to a translation provided by the Baha’i World News Service.

In Germany, Markus Löning, commissioner for human rights and humanitarian aid in the Foreign Office of the Federal Government, issued the following statement (provisional translation provided by the Baha’is of Germany):

The prison sentences against the Bahá’í-leaders are a massive setback for all those who engage themselves for the promotion of human dignity and human rights in Iran. There are major doubts as to the compliance with the basic legal rights during the judicial proceedings.

I therefore strongly appeal to the relevant authorities to annul yesterday’s judgment and to provide a fair and transparent court procedure.

Freedom of opinion, religious freedom, the protection of minorities and constitutional judicial proceedings are international obligations, which Iran has committed itself to.

For a long period of time, the German Federal Government has been observing the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran with concern. Together with its EU-partners, it is continually advocating the improvement of their situation as well as the freedom of opinion and religious freedom in Iran.

The religious community of the Bahá’í has been forbidden in Iran since 1983. Their adherents are suffering from massive systematic repressions. The seven leading Bahá’í-members who were arrested in Mai 2008 are accused of espionage, collaboration with Israel and “conspiracy against the national security”.

• Further information about this statement can be found in German at http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/Infoservice/Presse/Web-Archiv.html
• View more statements of international support via Baha’i World News Service
  

ShareThis

On August 10, Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the reported sentencing of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders each to 20 years in prison. News of their sentences followed six brief court appearances, which began on January 12, 2010, after they had been incarcerated without charges for 20 months. The trial ended on June 14.

Statement from Amnesty International:

Amnesty International has condemned the sentencing of seven members of Iran’s Baha’i religious minority to 20 years in jail on a series of politically motivated charges.

The five men and two women, leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran who were arrested over two years ago, were convicted on Saturday 7 August of crimes including “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities” and “propaganda against the system” by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm have denied all the charges against them and lawyers for the seven have indicated that they will appeal.

“This verdict is a sad and damning manifestation of the deeply-rooted discrimination against Baha’is by the Iranian authorities,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director.

“These seven Baha’i leaders, some of whom are elderly, are prisoners of conscience jailed solely on account of their beliefs or peaceful activities on behalf of the persecuted Baha’i minority.”

ShareThis

Today, August 10, Human Rights Watch issued a public statement calling for the release of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who were reportedly sentenced last Sunday to 20 years in prison for false charges stemming from their religious beliefs.

From the Human Rights Watch statement:

The Iranian judiciary should set aside any judgments issued in closed judicial proceedings against seven Baha’i leaders and release them immediately given that no evidence appears to have ever been presented against them, and they have not been given a fair and public trial, Human Rights Watch said today.

The authorities arrested the seven in May 2008 and severely restricted their access to lawyers and their families. Government officials reportedly informed one of their lawyers in recent days that Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court had sentenced each of the seven to 20 years in prison on charges that include propaganda against the state and espionage.

“For more than two years now the Iranian authorities have utterly failed to provide the slightest shred of evidence indicating any basis for detaining these seven Baha’i leaders, let alone sentencing them to 20 years in prison,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch.

ShareThis

Baha’i World News Service– The Baha’i International Community has received reports indicating that seven Iranian Baha’i leaders have each received jail sentences of 20 years.

The two women and five men have been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since they were arrested in 2008 – six of them on May 14 and one of them two months earlier.

“If this news proves to be accurate, it represents a deeply shocking outcome to the case of these innocent and harmless people,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“We understand that they have been informed of this sentence and that their lawyers are in the process of launching an appeal,” said Ms. Dugal.

The prisoners – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – were all members of a national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Iran’s 300,000-strong Baha’i community, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority.

• Read the full story from Baha’i World News Service
• Media coverage: CNN, The Los Angeles Times,  Radio Free Europe, Reuters, Religion News Service
• Blog coverage: The Huffington Post, The Houston Chronicle’s “Houston Belief” blog, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, Iran Press Watch, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, International Federation for Human Rights, Georgetown Security Law Brief, Enduring America

ShareThis

On June 10, U.S. Representatives Frank Wolf and Mark Kirk submitted statements to the Congressional Record, calling for renewed support of seven imprisoned Baha’i leaders in the days preceding their next court session, which is expected to occur on Saturday, June 12 in Tehran.

“The U.S. and the rest of the free world must continue to speak with one voice about the deplorable human rights situation in Iran,” Wolf said in his statement. “We must continue to advocate for due process and a fair trial for these seven Baha’i leaders and for basic rights for the community as a whole which according to the recently released report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, “has long been subject to particularly severe religious violations in Iran.”

“The world cannot turn a blind eye to this regime’s brutal repression of its own people.”

• Download Wolf’s statement as PDF

“The post-election crackdown fully exposed the Iranian regime’s continuing oppression of political dissidents as well as religious and ethnic minorities,” Kirk said in his statement for the Congressional Record.

“In the spring of 2008, seven leaders of the Baha’i community were arrested and detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on charges of ‘‘spreading corruption on earth,’’ among other outrageous falsehoods. They have been incarcerated for 20 months before a show trial can even commence. Moreover, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, as many as 45 members of the Baha’i community are currently imprisoned in Iran solely on the basis of their religious identity. The fourth court appearance of the Baha’i leaders is scheduled for June 12 to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the stolen election.

“The cynicism of the Iranian regime knows no bounds.

“It is time that the United States and the international community hold Iran accountable for denying the fundamental freedoms to its people.”

• Download Kirk’s statement as PDF

ShareThis

On Thursday, May 14, spokesman Philip J. Crowley of the U.S. Department of State issued the following statement condemning the continued incarceration of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran.

The United States is deeply concerned about the ongoing persecution of Baha’is and other religious minority communities in Iran.

Today marks the second anniversary of the imprisonment of seven Baha’i leaders.  Although there have been three hearings of their case since January 2010, no date has yet been set for another hearing, and they continue to be denied access to their attorneys.  The United States strongly condemns their continued incarceration as a violation of due process and calls on Iran to meet its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

During the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council in February 2010, Iran pledged to abide by international law and highlighted its ethnic and religious diversity. We were disappointed, however, that the Iranian government publicly rejected a UPR recommendation to end discrimination against the Baha’i religious minority.  Once again, we join the international community in urging Iran to uphold its obligations to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all its citizens.

ShareThis

On March 12, 2010, the U.S. State Department released the following statement expressing increasing concern about “Iran’s ongoing persecution of Baha’is and other religious minority communities.”

In recent weeks, authorities detained at least 25 Baha’is. Reports indicate there have been more than 45 new detentions of Baha’is in the last four months alone, and currently as many as 60 Baha’is are imprisoned in Iran solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. Authorities also detained more than a dozen Christians, some of whom are being held in custody without substantiated charges. Further, we remain concerned that seven Baha’i leaders on trial for espionage have been denied access to their attorneys and neither does their trial meet its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

During the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council in February 2010, Iran pledged to abide by international law. Therefore, we are deeply disappointed that the Iranian government rejected a UPR recommendation to end discrimination against its Baha’i religious minority. We join the international community in urging Iran to uphold its obligations to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all its people.

• Read coverage from CNN, Reuters, and Radio Free Europe.

ShareThis

On March 9, 2010, Voice of America published an editorial drawing further attention to the plight of Iran’s Baha’i community. In it, Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner is quoted condemning Iran’s post-election crackdown and calling on the country to observe religious freedom, among its other human rights treaty obligations.

“The United States strongly condemns the recent violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens,” said Assistant Secretary of State Posner. He called on the government of Iran, among other measures, to uphold its constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of worship, end its severe restrictions on the rights to free expression, association and assembly, and respect all of its international human rights treaty obligations.

ShareThis

On February 23, 2010, Human Rights Watch issued the following statement calling on Iran to end its persecution of the country’s Baha’i minority.

The Iranian government should immediately stop harassing and arbitrarily detaining members of the Baha’i community, Human Rights Watch said today.

The detention of 13 Baha’is on February 10 and 11 follows the arrest of 13 others in early January. The government alleges that those arrested in January helped to organize recent anti-government demonstrations but has not made public any charges against those detained in February. These arrests come during a broad government crackdown on opposition activists.

“The Iranian government seems to be using the post-election unrest as a cover for targeting the Baha’i community,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These arrests are only the latest chapter in the government’s systematic persecution of the Baha’i.”

ShareThis

On February 17, Amnesty International issued a statement criticizing Iran for rejecting “important recommendations by the United Nations to improve human rights in the country,” including a recommendation that would end discrimination against the nation’s Baha’i minority.

From the statement…

While accepting a recommendation to cooperate with UN’s human rights experts, Iran rejected several others to allow the Council’s Special Rapporteur on torture to visit the country.

The delegation accepted the recommendation to respect freedom of religion but rejected a recommendation to end discrimination against the Bahai’s.

“By rejecting specific recommendations made by dozens of countries the Iranian authorities showed contempt for international obligations just as they have done in their treatment of their own people,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

ShareThis

On February 15, 2010, the United States and other member-nations of the U.N. Human Rights Council expressed concern over Iran’s human rights record, particularly since the crackdown that followed the country’s disputed presidential election last June. The session was part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a relatively new procedure that seeks to review the human rights records of all 192 United Nations member states once every four years. This year is the first time Iran has come up for review.

In the U.S. statement, Assistant Secretary of State Michael H. Posner made the following remarks about the status of religious freedom and the Baha’i minority in Iran:

More than 200 Baha’i leaders have been executed since 1979. We are concerned about the welfare and legal rights of seven Baha’i leaders imprisoned for more than a year and now on trial on unsubstantiated charges. Members of these religious communities, as well as Iran’s Sufi Muslims, are increasingly subject to surveillance, harassment, prolonged arbitrary detention, and unsubstantiated legal proceedings.

According to a statement from the Baha’i International Community, many other countries and human rights groups also spoke out in defense of the Baha’is of Iran.

Brazil called for Iran to extend rights to all religious groups in the country, saying Baha’is should enjoy the same rights as everyone. Mexico said all minorities – particularly the Baha’i community – must be able to practice their religion.

“Romania and Slovenia devoted almost the entire allotment of their time to discussing the increasing repression of Iran’s Baha’i community,” reported Diane Ala’i, representative for the Baha’i International Community.

Human rights groups, in documents filed with the Council, made similar points.

“Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, individuals belonging to minorities in Iran are subject to an array of discriminatory laws and practices,” wrote Amnesty International in its statement. “Minorities suffering persecution include ethnic and linguistic minorities such as Kurds, Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Turkmen and Baluchis, and religious minorities such as Baha’is and the Ahl-e Haq.”

“The government systematically denies rights associated with freedom of religion to members of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. In most cases, including the persecution of the Baha’i community, the government uses ’security’ as a pretext for detaining individuals and denying them basic due process rights,” said a statement from Human Rights Watch.

News media coverage: Radio Free Europe

ShareThis

The trial of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, which began January 12,  has drawn widespread attention from the international community. According to a Baha’i World News Service article published today, public statements of concern on behalf of the seven have been issued by the governments of Brazil, Canada, India, the United States, and by the European Union. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate and the lead attorney defending the seven Baha’is, also commented about yesterday’s trial proceedings in an interview with Washington TV, a web-based news service based in the United States.

Below are excerpts of her statements as reported by the Baha’i World News Service:

“If justice is to be carried out and an impartial judge should investigate the charges leveled against my clients, no other verdict can be reached save that of acquittal,” said Mrs. Ebadi, in comments posted on WashingtonTV.

Mrs. Ebadi, who is one of the lawyers for the seven, said she had carefully read the dossier of charges against them and “found in it no cause or evidence to sustain the criminal charges upheld by the prosecutor.”

…

In the WashingtonTV interview, Mrs. Ebadi, who is currently outside Iran, also offered a glimpse of what happened yesterday inside Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, where the “first session” of the trial was held.

She said only two lawyers of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, which she established, were able to be present in the court. And that in spite of a request for an open hearing, the court was closed.

The charges against the seven were reiterated yesterday in news accounts in government-sponsored news media. They were given as: espionage, “propaganda activities against the Islamic order,” the establishment of an illegal administration, cooperation with Israel, the sending of secret documents outside the country, acting against the security of the country, and “corruption on earth.”

Diane Ala’i of the Baha’i International Community said the seven have consistently and categorically denied such accusations. “We can be certain that they also did so in front of the judge yesterday,” she said.

ShareThis

On January 12, 2010,  the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a statement denouncing the trial of seven Baha’i leaders as a “sham” and stating that the trial should be “condemned in the strongest possible terms by the international community.”

We are extremely concerned about the fate of the seven Baha’is, who could face the death penalty for several of the charges leveled against them today in court,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair.   “It appears that the Iranian government has already predetermined the outcome, and is once again using its courts as an instrument of religious persecution in blatant violation of international human rights law.

Related media coverage: Washington TV

ShareThis

On January 12, 2010, the High Representative on behalf of the European Union issued the following declaration about the trial of seven Baha’i leaders, which commenced today in Iran:

The European Union expresses its serious concern about the start today of the trial against seven Baha’i leaders in Iran, as the charges against them appear to be motivated by their belonging to a minority faith.

The EU recalls that freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a fundamental and undeniable right which shall be guaranteed in every circumstance, in accordance with article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Islamic Republic of Iran has signed and ratified.

The EU calls for a just, fair and open trial respecting all international standards and obligations under the ICCPR. The EU reiterates its request to the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow independent observation of the judicial proceedings.

The EU also expresses its deep concern about the recent detention of another 13 members of the Baha’i community for alleged involvement in anti-government protests. The EU calls on Iran to end the persecution of the Baha’i community and to release the detained individuals.

The Candidate Countries Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

ShareThis

On January 11, 2010, Voice of America highlighted the latest persecution of Iran’s Baha’i community in an editorial expressing concern about human rights abuses in that country.

Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community representative to the United Nations in Geneva, has voiced grave concern over the plight of 7 Iranian Baha’is who have been in Evin prison for over 20 months on false charges and who are reported to face trial on January 12. Iranian authorities have accused them of espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.

In addition, Ms. Ala’i says the Iranian government is responsible for an anti-Baha’i media campaign which has culminated in accusations that Baha’is are provoking civil unrest in Iran. Thirteen Baha’is were rounded up in Tehran and taken to a detention center on January 3, she said, where authorities tried to get them to sign a document saying they would not engage in future demonstrations.

ShareThis

On January 11, 2010,  the U.S. Department of State issued a statement condemning the trial of seven Baha’i leaders in Tehran and indicating that Iran is responsible for the safety of all 48 Baha’is who are currently detained in prisons throughout Iran. Of the seven leaders, the statement asserts:

These persons are entitled to due process. The right to a fair and public hearing is embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Iran’s constitution provides the right to legal representation in criminal cases, as does the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party. In addition, the right to freedom of belief and conscience is enshrined in both the UDHR and ICCPR.

We are deeply concerned about Iran’s ongoing persecution of Baha’is and treatment of other members of religious minorities who continue to be targeted solely on the basis of their beliefs.

We join the international community in urging the Iranian authorities to release all religious minorities who are currently in detention for peacefully exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

ShareThis

On December 1, the U.S. Senate passed by unanimous consent a resolution condemning the state-sponsored persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran, the country’s largest religious minority. Human rights violations against the Iranian Bahá’í community have increased since 2005, including the incarceration of Baha’i leaders in Evin prison eighteen months ago.

S.Res.71 is a concurrent resolution to H.Res.175—the eleventh congressional resolution since 1982 to address the religious oppression of the Baha’is in Iran—which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on October 22, 2009.

In a press release issued on Dec. 3, Senator Ron Wyden, who sponsored the Senate resolution, made the following statement about its passage:

While the Baha’i faith teaches equality, unity and peace, the baseless persecution of Baha’is at the hands of the Iranian regime is the antithesis of those sacred beliefs,” Wyden said. “The actions taken by Iran against this religious minority fly in the face of basic human rights as well as Iran’s own international commitments. With this resolution, the United States Senate unequivocally denounces Iran’s discrimination against the Baha’i and urges the release of their religious prisoners.

And in a similar press release, Senator Sam Brownback made this statement:

For too long, the Iranian regime has targeted and persecuted religious minorities in Iran, including, and especially, members of the Baha’i faith. For a regime that commits violence and repression at home and exports terrorism abroad, the stakes are too high for us to remain silent.

• Read media coverage from Washington TV
  
• Read other online coverage from the National Iranian American Council
  

ShareThis