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May
12
One year on, Iranian Bahá’í leaders face new accusation
Filed Under Human Rights, Iran, Parliamentary | Leave a Comment
Seven Bahá’í leaders currently imprisoned in Iran are facing the first anniversary of their arrest this Thursday, along with new and extremely grave accusations.
“Despite their obvious innocence and the call by many for their immediate release, these seven men and women have been in legal limbo for a year now, against all international human rights standards,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations.
“Moreover, their families have recently been told of a possible new charge – “the spreading of corruption on earth” – which goes by the term ‘Mofsede fel-Arz’ in Persian – and carries the threat of death under the penal code of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Ms. Dugal.
The international protest expressed by governments and civil society about the detention has been widespread. Last month, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the UK Bahá’í community, “We have raised our concerns with the Iranian Government as I urge the authorities to ensure that these individuals receive a fair trial and ask them to put an end to discrimination against the wider Bahá’í community within Iran.” The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Wiliams has also expressed his “solidarity with the Bahá’í leadership imprisoned in Iran”.
“Now a new wrongful accusation reportedly has been added some three months after the investigation was supposed to have concluded,” said Ms Dugal. “The charge of being spreaders of corruption was used against the Bahá’ís who were executed in the years immediately following the Islamic revolution. That it may now be resorted to in this case is a further demonstration that the authorities have no basis for any allegation against these seven individuals, other than blatant religious persecution.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has frequently emphasized the importance of “justice and human dignity” and “the establishment of a just world system,” such as when he addressed the UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva last month.
“How can the calls of the Iranian leadership for justice in the international sphere be taken seriously if they do not grant justice to their own citizens?” said Ms Dugal, “In Iran, by all accounts universally agreed upon human rights are routinely ignored, not only for Bahá’ís but also for women, journalists, and others who only seek dignity and justice.”
The seven detained Bahá’ís are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad.
Read the full story at Bahá’í World News Service