Foreign Affairs minister slams detention of Baha'i leaders in Iran
Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008
UNITED NATIONS - Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has
criticized Iran's jailing of six Baha'i leaders this week without charges
as
"unacceptable."
Iran intelligence officials arrested the four men and two women early
Wednesday in raids that officials of the internationalist faith say are
reminiscent of the deadly sweeps of the 1980s.
The Canadian-based son of one of the six has said he fears the group may
face torture.
"I'm very worried about his health and safety," Naeim Tavakkoli, 30, of
Ottawa, said of his father, Dehrouz, 57.
"These guys will do anything, and there is a big chance of torture."
Leaders of Canada's 30,000-strong Baha'i community had called on the
Foreign
Affairs minister to join the United States in issuing a "strong
condemnation" of the arrests, which followed the March detention of
another
Baha'i leader.
"Canada is deeply concerned by the arbitrary arrest," Bernier said Friday
night in a statement.
"These individuals were detained solely on the basis of their faith. This
is
unacceptable. We call on the Iranian authorities to ensure the immediate
and
safe release of these prisoners."
Baha'i representatives at the United Nations have contacted UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, reminding him of the outcome of the last mass arrest.
"This latest sweep recalls the wholesale arrest or abduction of the
members
of two national Iranian Baha'i governing councils in the early 1980s -
which
led to the disappearance or execution of 17 individuals," said Bani Dugal,
principal Baha'i representative at the UN.
"The raids were well co-ordinated, and it is clear they represent a
high-level effort to strike again at the Baha'is and to intimidate the
Iranian Baha'i community at large."
Founded in then-Persia in the 19th century, the faith today has about
300,000 followers in Iran, but they have faced increased persecution as
"apostates" since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"Iran has a history of abuse against religious minorities," Bernier's
statement says.
"For years, (the Baha'i) community has been targeted by the Iranian regime
and subjected to persecution, discrimination and detention, despite its
peaceful nature."
Baha'i officials at the UN say they believe Iran is holding the six at
Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
Tavakkoli, a structural engineer who arrived in Canada with his wife in
late
2005, said his family has not heard from his father since the raid.
"My mother is seeking information from the Revolutionary Court, but they
definitely won't let her see him," he said.
Tavakkoli said the authorities also detained his father three years ago,
holding him for a while at Evin's "209 Department" for political
prisoners.
The prison was the scene of the 2003 murder of Montreal Iranian-Canadian
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, whose death led Canada to table annual
condemnations of Iran's human rights record at the UN.
Several plain-clothes officials burst into the Tehran home of Tavakkoli's
parents as they slept, then "turned the place upside down" over the next
four hours, he said.
Amnesty International has called for urgent action on behalf of the group
"detained solely because of their religious beliefs or their peaceful
activities on behalf of the Baha'i community."
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises the
U.S. president and Congress, said the arrests were the "latest sign of the
rapidly deteriorating status of religious freedom and other human rights
in
Iran."
All seven are members of a national co-ordinating group that helped to
provide the "minimum needs of Baha'is in Iran," say international
representatives.
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