The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution on Dec. 19, 2007, expressing "serious concern" over the worsening situation of human rights in Iran, mentioning specifically the continuing persecution of members of the Baha'i faith.
This is not the first incidence of international concern, nor is it the first condemnation of the Islamic Republic of Iran's systematic violation of minority rights.
The recent resolution, which was put forth by Canada and ultimately passed by a vote of 73 to 53 with 55 abstentions, marks the 20th time since 1985 that the United Nations expressed such concern with specific mention of the Baha'i population. According to Baha'i human rights officer Aaron Emmel of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly Office of External Affairs, both the European Parliament and the U.S. Congress have adopted similar resolutions calling for the elimination of discrimination on religious grounds.
While the Baha'i faith, founded on notions of equality and humanitarianism, originated in what would become the Islamic Republic of Iran, members of the religious community have faced persecution since the republic's establishment under the Islamic constitution of 1979.
According to the Iranian government, the Baha'i population represents a political sect, not a religious community, and is consequently regarded as apostate. Although the rights of certain minority groups, such as Christians and Zoroastrians, are explicitly protected under the constitution of the Islamic republic, the Baha'i population, estimated by the U.S. Department of State to be approximately 300,000-350,000 of the majority Muslim population, enjoys no rights.
The unprotected status of the Baha'is facilitates discrimination without justification within the Iranian legal system. Courts in Iran have denied Baha'is the right of redress or protection against assault, killings, or other forms of persecution. These courts have established that Iranian citizens who kill or injure Baha'is are not liable for damages because their victims are "unprotected infidels," Emmel said.
According to the Department of State's annual International Religious Freedom report, the Iranian government uses Articles 500 and 698 of the Islamic Penal Code, relating to activities against the state and spreading falsehood respectively, to justify violence against the Baha'i population.
The U.N. resolution explicitly recognizes and condemns "attacks on Baha'is and their faith in state sponsored media, increasing evidence of efforts by the state to identify and monitor Baha'is and prevention of Baha'is" from attending university and from sustaining themselves economically" and expressed concern over a marked increase in the number of arbitrary arrests and detention.
The increasing trend toward such targeted illegality and violation of human rights was explicitly manifested when in November 2007, three Baha'is in Shiraz, Iran were initially detained by the Ministry of Intelligence and then imprisoned without trial. According to Diane Alai, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, the prisoners were working to educate underprivileged children at the time of their arrests. Their efforts were ultimately described by the Iranian authorities as "offenses relating to state security."
Both the Department of State and Amnesty International have issued recent statements urging Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to launch a full investigation into the incident and, if not charged with criminally recognizable offenses, to release the prisoners. To date, however, these calls have gone unheeded.
The critical nature of the situation necessitates an equally critical response from the international community, say human rights activists.
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