Dear Editor,
I hold no grouse against our President for his recent visit to Iran soliciting potential fiscal aid and touting for much needed investment for our country. In fact, I am pleased and happy that he did, so that I can have the opportunity to allow him and readers perchance to become au fait with the truth that Iran and its current leaders are systematically and inexorably, since 1979, violating the human rights of its largest religious minority, the Baha’is.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has censured Iran for its human rights record, expressing grave concern about the use of unwarranted force after the Iranian presidential election. There is also the harassment of women’s rights activists, the regular execution of juveniles and the continued persecution of minorities, including Baha’is. In a recent report released in October, Mr Ban said there had been “negative developments” in the area of civil and political rights since 2008. Members of various ethnic and minority groups, including members of the Baha’i faith faced harassment, violence and, in some cases, persecution.
That report made mention of seven imprisoned Baha’is (men and women) being held in Evin prison, noting that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had written to Iran “on several occasions to express concern and seek clarification” about the status of the seven. Mr Ban also noted that during the year reports “continued to be received about members of the Baha’i community being subjected to random detention, confiscation of property and denial of employment, government benefits and access to higher education.”
Before now many Baha’is were imprisoned for their religious beliefs and subsequently executed in the infamous Evin prison, and I fear the worst for those seven.
Yours faithfully,
Rooplall Dudhnath