Baha'i delegation meets Prime Minister Brown - read more
PM underlines concern for Iran’s Bahá’ís at historic meeting with Bahá’í delegation
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The Prime Minister Gordon Brown has underlined the UK government’s concern over the seven Bahá’í leaders being detained in Iran.
Mr Brown’s remarks were made at a meeting which took place this afternoon at the Prime Minister’s office in the Houses of Parliament, attended by Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire – who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís group – and a delegation of three Bahá’ís, including two members of the national governing council of the Bahá’í Faith in the United Kingdom.
It was the first ever meeting between a UK Prime Minister and representatives of the Bahá’í community, which was established in Britain in 1898.
Baha'i News UK has the full story of the historic meeting yesterday between a delegation comprising Lembit Opik MP and three UK Baha'is.
A key member of the delegation was Mrs Bahar Tahzib.
Mrs Tahzib – originally from Iran, but now living in Sussex – shared with the Prime Minister her first hand experience of religious persecution. Her father Yusuf Subhani was executed in Iran for being a Bahá’í in June 1980. Her uncle, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, is one the seven detained Bahá’í leaders in Iran.
“My uncle is 75 years old and he has been kept in unsuitable conditions for more than a year,” Mrs Tahzib told the Prime Minister. “This is clearly a cause of great concern for the family and their wish is for a fair trial.”
“I was very touched by the Prime Minister’s genuine expressions of sympathy and concern,” said Mrs Tahzib after the meeting.
After the meeting Dr Kishan Manocha, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the UK and delegation leader, commented:
We expressed our gratitude to the Prime Minister for the government’s ongoing support of our persecuted co-religionists in Iran, and we particularly thanked Mr Brown for his personal support and understanding. We raised with him the need for the seven Bahá’í leaders to be released immediately – and that if Iran refuses to do this, a public trial must be held that respects internationally recognized trial standards.
