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The European Union says it is “deeply disturbed” by the arrests in Iran of members of the Bahá’í community, as well as converts to Christianity.

In a declaration issued on 26 September 2008, made on behalf of the 27 EU member states – and also signed by 10 other European countries – the EU expressed its concern at the deterioration in the exercise of freedom of religion or belief, and especially the freedom of worship, in Iran.

Pressure on people belonging to religious minorities in Iran has worsened in recent months, according to the declaration. It calls for their “immediate and unconditional release and the cessation of all forms of violence and discrimination against them.”

“There have been many reports that people belonging to the Christian, Bahá’í, Sufi and Sunni minorities in Iran are regularly suffering forms of persecution such as confiscation of property, desecration of their places of worship, imprisonment and numerous acts of violence, including some life-threatening,” says the declaration.

The European Union is also concerned at the Iranian parliament’s decision to consider a draft law making apostasy one of the crimes punishable by death. “If adopted, that law would be a serious infringement of the freedom of religion or belief, which includes the right to change religion and the right to have no religion,” says the declaration. “It would violate Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was freely ratified by Iran, and would threaten the lives of a number of Iranians who have been arrested and held without trial for several months on account of their religious beliefs.”

The EU is urging the Islamic Republic of Iran to reconsider its decision to examine the law in question, release all those who have been imprisoned because of their religious affiliation and allow all its citizens to exercise their freedom of religion or belief in full.

Technorati Tags: Iran, Baha’i, Bahai, minorities, human rights, persecution