The Ordeal of Seven Baha'i Leaders in Iran Requires World's Attention

The following piece was written by Ms. Donna Hakimian, a researcher and historian focusing on modern Iran and human rights.  Ms. Hakimian obtained her MA in Women’s Studies from the University of Toronto. She also holds a BA in Religious and Middle Eastern Studies from McGill University.

As many in the Middle East clamor for freedom, the ongoing saga facing the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran has taken another devastating turn. And it is just one episode in the thirty year long pattern of oppression experienced by this community, solely on the basis of their beliefs. This same oppression is faced, in varying degrees, by millions of Iranians who live under the current regime.

These seven Baha’I leaders were summarily arrested in their homes in 2008, spending their first year in the notorious Evin prison without formal charges or access to lawyers. During this ordeal they have faced a string of closed door trials, seen their own lawyers harassed -notably the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, and had limited and irregular contact with their families.

And just days ago, in what seems a final act of cruelty, six months after Iran’s appeal court reduced the jail terms handed down to these seven Baha’i leaders to 10 years, the prisoners have been told that their original 20-year sentence has been reinstated.  There has been no official record of any of the sentences, evidence of the arbitrary approach of the judiciary. With no official documentation of their sentences, they have been barred from securing temporary leave on compassionate grounds and obtaining much needed medical attention.

As of August 2010, this group was transferred to Gohardasht prison and held in ever more inhumane conditions. This is all occurring while remembering that the oldest among the group is a father and grandfather in his late seventies with others being mothers and fathers with young children. This eldest member, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, just a few short weeks ago endured the passing of his beloved wife of over fifty years, Mrs. Ashraf Khanjani. Shockingly, he was barred from attending his wife’s funeral. The human impact and cost is no doubt far-reaching.

In recent years, with the gaining of ascendancy of hardliners to power, there has been a dramatic increase in the marginalization of the Baha’i community. Whether one looks to the fact that Baha’i students are barred from obtaining a university education, the increase of arson attacks on Baha’i-run businesses, or the 79 Baha’is currently in prison on baseless charges -a state sanctioned pattern of economic and social marginalization has emerged that seeks to strangle and root out the Baha’i community in its native land.

The International outcry condemning their imprisonment has been swift and unanimous with governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States all expressing similar sentiments of concern and outrage.

Most recently, the European Union and the President of the European Parliament have joined the growing number of institutions to speak out in defense of the Baha’is.

In the past few weeks, the UN Human Rights Council voted to appoint a special investigator to monitor Iran’s compliance with international human rights standards. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also released a report expressing concern about reports of persecution of minorities in Iran. The latter specifically highlighted the case of Baha’i community and the imprisonment of the seven Baha’i leaders.

The ills that have now come to face the Baha’i community can be placed along a spectrum of oppression that in some way, whether directly or indirectly, is faced by all the people of Iran. The incitement of religious hatred towards anything perceived as a threat to the outlined norms of the state, which is instilled into children’s mind in institutions of education, run the risk of poisoning the hearts and minds of future generations.

Iran, a nation of diverse geographic, ethnic and religious diversity should revere its rich cultural history, not use it to create divisions and arouse a culture of hatred. The world watches closely as month after month new cases of torture, arbitrary arrest and executions are carried out in Iran.  But the world community will also show that it refuses to remain silent, and it is hoped that the people of Iran, with the full support of the international community, will show to the world its rich potential.