This excellent article from today's Huffington Post makes an intriguing point about the damage that the media focus on the Wikileaks revelations may be doing to less high profile human rights abuses. Amongst the victims of those abuses are the Baha'is in Iran.

Wikileaks has revealed government and diplomatic violations of the truth while paradoxically keeping their own sources secret. In the process, editor in chief and whistleblower Julian Assange has become a hero for human rights defenders. Sadly, the intense publicity surrounding Wikileaks diverts attention from serious injustice and continuing human rights violations, some already on the back burner and badly neglected. A good example is the state-sponsored persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

The 300,000-strong Baha'i community, the largest religious minority in Iran, represents less than 1% of the population. Over the past 30 years, they have suffered torture and execution. They have been denied tertiary education and government jobs, their shops and properties are often seized, cemeteries desecrated and children harassed at school. In addition, Bahai's are facing stepped-up persecution and have been falsely blamed for organizing and inciting anti-government protests although they abstain from partisan political activity on religious principles. Charges against them include espionage, "propaganda activities against the Islamic order" and "corruption on earth," the latter a capital offence. Baha'i communities around the world insist these charges are spurious and part of a campaign to scapegoat members of the faith.

During the Shah's era, Baha'is strove for education and became successful and prominent, creating envy and suspicion, and although police sometimes protected them against Islamic extremists, they were victims of periodic outbreaks of violence. A major source of ideological friction with Islam is the doctrine of a hierarchy of traditions that subsumes previous ones. According to Baha'is, the Prophet Mohammad was not the last prophet but one in a progressive line, and the next one is not due for a thousand years!

Women's rights are central to Baha'i teaching and in stark contrast to the discriminatory sharia laws implemented by the Islamic Republic of Iran. These rights include full support for the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

There are numerous documented stories of violent arrests and incarcerations in the hundreds of prisons situated in basements of houses in Tehran.

Rozita Vasseghi is a Baha'i prisoner. In Kafkaesque fashion, a man claiming to be a 'postman' arrested her three years ago after a knock on the door, and during repeated interrogations while blindfolded, her captors threatened her with death. Throughout her ordeal, she was denied a lawyer. Following release from prison, she found a job but government authorities exerted pressure on her employers to have her fired. A few years later, she was arrested at her home, and for the next six months, found herself in solitary confinement. Her elderly mother, who was allowed visits of only five minutes, was horrified by her wasted appearance. Accused of insulting Islam, acting against national security and teaching the Baha'i religion, she is serving a five-year sentence.

Rozita's sister Rosa, suffered multiple incarcerations before escaping Iran. She was on her way home in a shared public taxi when the driver asked about her religion. Discovering she was a Baha'i, he stopped and made a phone call. A car with several people soon showed up, the women fully covered in chadors. Rosa was blindfolded and forced into the vehicle and when they reached their destination, she was thrown onto the pavement, her hands were tied and she was dragged down stairs to a room and beaten. Her captors repeatedly called her an infidel and declared her blood would be impure until she renounced her faith and converted to Islam. Over several years, she was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned.

As proponents of a religion originating from Islam, stamped by modernity, universal human rights and compatibility with many Western values, Baha'is are vulnerable targets for persecution by the Iranian theocracy. Baha'i women are doubly at risk, being female and Baha'i, and as victims of severe injustice, they deserve more outrage and support than Assange and Wikileaks.

Ida Lichter is the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression, published by Prometheus Books, New York.

Human rights and the media 

In the years that I worked on the protection of the human rights of the Baha'is in Iran, I came to the conclusion that the media generally want to see blood on the floor - or at least the threat of blood on the floor - before they will get excited about human rights abuses.

Slow-burn abuses, such as are suffered by the Baha'is in Iran, are not usually dramatic enough to reach the front or centre pages of the broadsheets or make the evening news on TV. 

The case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Azeri-Iranian mother who was sentenced to a death by stoning understandably - and rightly - grabbed the headlines. She is an identifiable person, a mother, subject to flagrant neglect of the rule of law and sentenced to an utterly barbaric form of execution.

At the same time as the Ashtiani case took the interest of the media, the seven former members of the Yárán, the national-level group that helped to see to the minimum spiritual needs of the Baha'is of Iran, were undergoing trial and had been sentenced to 20 years in jail (subsequently reduced to 10 years) for no good reason other than they are Baha'is. This trial and the sentences handed down to the seven are, it should be noted, part of a long-term campaign by the Iranian authorities to stifle and ultimately to eradicate the Baha'i community in Iran.

Like Ashtiani, the seven had been put through a trial that clearly lacked what we would consider due process.

Unlike Ashtiani, they were not sentenced to death, but "only" to prison. However, prison in Iran is not a healthy place to be, and the original twenty-year sentences were long enough to ensure that the oldest member of the seven would have died in jail.

Dying by degrees and constructive resilience

A recent open letter from the Baha'i International Community (BIC) to Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, makes it clear that the seven are now languishing in the most appalling prison conditions.

"They are now effectively placed in exile in contravention of Iran's statutes governing the transfer of prison inmates," says Bani Dugal [BIC Principal Representative to the UN]. "Amongst other indignities, they are forced to endure appalling filth, pestilence, exposure to disease, and quarters so crammed that it is difficult for them to lie down or even to perform their daily prayers."

"It is clear from recent reports that their health has deteriorated and they have no access to adequate medical treatments," she says.

The seven may be dying by degrees. At least, that's what the Iranian authorities hope. However, the Baha'is are constructively resilient people and the community will continue to flourish, even under the severe repression it currently suffers.

Baha'is are the litmus test

The Ashtiani case is clearly more dramatic and immediate and symbolises something appalling about the Iranian regime's attitude to human rights.

However, the Baha'i situation is a better litmus test for human rights in Iran. There is a long history of persecution of Baha'is in Iran and a state that expressly wishes to extirpate the community from the land of its origin. This is a form of cultural cleansing and the Iranian regime keeps working away, hoping that no one will notice what it is doing to the Baha'is.

It's a vain hope. Governments around the world know what is going on and have raised their voices in protest. The media do report the suffering of the Baha'is from time to time. But when the attention of the media is drawn by Wikileaks and the like, the life of those who are trying to keep the Baha'i situation in Iran in the public eye is made just that little bit more difficult.

The Baha'i International Community's open letter to Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, head of Iran's judiciary, is wonderfully direct.

Having highlighted the utter injustice that has been meted out to Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm, the seven individuals who before their arrest were responsible, as the members of the group known as the Yaran, for administering the social and spiritual affairs of the Bahá’í community in Iran, and having highlighted their great suffering as they continue to languish in jail, the letter says this:

The Bahá’ís are not “others” in your country: they are an inseparable part of the Iranian nation. The injustices meted out to them are a reflection of the terrible oppression that has engulfed the nation. Your respect now for the rights of the Iranian Bahá’ís would signal a willingness to respect the rights of all the citizens of your country. Redressing the wrongs suffered by the Bahá’ís would bring hope to the hearts of all Iranians that you are ready to ensure justice for everyone. Our call, then, is in reality a call for respect of the rights of all the Iranian people.

Anyone who follows reports of the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran will have noted the increasingly arbitrary and cruel behaviour of the judges in Iran's Revolutionary Courts. These judges no longer seem to consider the law as passed by the Majlis (the Iranian parliament) and set down in print as binding on them. They give verdicts and hand down sentences according to their own prejudices.

Constructive resistance to persecution 

I was struck by this passage from the Baha'i International Community's letter:

Consider how the members of the Bahá’í community are continually forced to withstand the slander of their beliefs and the distortion of their history in government-supported mass media; to endure provocations in the streets, from the pulpits, and with the support of certain officials, that incite hatred against them; to suffer illegal imprisonment; to see themselves denied access to higher education and to the means of earning a livelihood; to have their children suffer abuse and vilification in schools; and to witness their properties destroyed and their cemeteries desecrated with the support and approval of government authorities. Yet, what results have such efforts yielded? The response of the Bahá’ís of Iran to the persecution they have suffered in recent decades has made them, in the eyes of the Iranian population, embodiments of unyielding attachment to spiritual principle and of constructive resistance to oppression. What is more, it has brought about a heightened desire among that population to become acquainted with the verities of their Faith.

The experience of the Baha'is throughout a century and a half of persecution demonstrates beyond a peradventure that it is possible for a persecuted community (and its individual members) to stick to its foundational principles, to hold its head up while constructively resisting oppression. No violence, no demonstrations, just "unyielding attachment to spiritual principles" and a determination to continue to be of service to their fellow Iranians, despite the worst that can be thrown at them.

It was precisely this that Roxana Saberi, the Iranian American journalist who was imprisoned in Iran last year, found when she shared a cell in Evin prison with Mrs Kamalabadi and Mrs Sabet, two members of the Yaran. Roxana told the story in the Washington Post on 28 August:

For several weeks last year, I shared a cell in Tehran's notorious Evin prison with Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, two leaders of Iran's minority Bahai faith. I came to see them as my sisters, women whose only crimes were to peacefully practice their religion and resist pressure from their captors to compromise their principles. For this, apparently, they and five male colleagues were sentenced this month to 20 years in prison.

I had heard about Mahvash and Fariba before I met them. Other prisoners spoke of the two middle-aged mothers whose high spirits lifted the morale of fellow inmates.

...my cellmates' spirits would not be broken, and they boosted mine. They taught me to, as they put it, turn challenges into opportunities -- to make the most of difficult situations and to grow from adversity. We kept a daily routine, reading the books we were eventually allowed and discussing them; exercising in our small cell; and praying -- they in their way, I in mine. They asked me to teach them English and were eager to learn vocabulary for shopping, cooking and traveling. They would use the new words one day, they told me, when they journeyed abroad. But the two women also said they never wanted to live overseas. They felt it their duty to serve not only Bahais but all Iranians.

Later, when I went on a hunger strike, Mahvash and Fariba washed my clothes by hand after I lost my energy and told me stories to keep my mind off my stomach. Their kindness and love gave me sustenance.

Roxana closes her article by quoting what these women told her:

We believe in love and compassion for humanity, they said, even for those who wrong us.

This is unyielding attachment to spiritual principle and demonstrates constructive resistance to persecution.

Litmus test

For historical reasons, the treatment of the Baha'is in Iran is truly a litmus test of the the Iranian authorities' regard for human rights, for freedom of religion, for freedom of speech, and for the rule of law for all Iranian citizens. The Baha'is will probably be the last group to have their rights recognised - if the Baha'is are emancipated, everyone else will have been emancipated.

As things stand, the litmus paper has turned red.

Reciprocity

I'd just like to highlight one other point. In the final paragraph of its letter, the Baha'i International Community points out the need for reciprocity:

We likewise request that the Bahá’ís in that country be granted their full rights of citizenship, in order that they may be able to fulfill their heartfelt aspiration to contribute, alongside their fellow citizens, to the advancement of their nation. This, indeed, is no more than what you rightfully ask for Muslim minorities who reside in other lands. Bahá’ís merely seek the same treatment from you.

Islamic governments are never backward in calling for rights of Muslim minorities in the West. Well, that call cuts both ways. Islamic governments must reciprocate by ensuring that the rights of Baha'is, Christians and other minorities in their countries are protected.

NEW YORK — In an open letter to the head of Iran's Judiciary, the Baha'i International Community today contrasted the country's persecution of Baha'is with Iran's own call for Muslim minorities to be treated fairly in other countries.

"We...request that the Baha'is in that country be granted their full rights of citizenship, in order that they may be able to fulfill their heartfelt aspiration to contribute, alongside their fellow citizens, to the advancement of their nation," says the letter.

"This, indeed, is no more than what you rightfully ask for Muslim minorities who reside in other lands. Baha'is merely seek the same treatment from you," the Baha'i International Community states.

Respecting the rights of Iranian Baha'is now would "signal a willingness to respect the rights of all the citizens of your country," the letter says.

The document, dated 7 December and addressed to Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Larijani, states that the injustices meted out on Iran's Baha'i citizens are a "reflection of the terrible oppression that has engulfed the nation." Redressing the wrongs suffered by the Baha'is would "bring hope to the hearts of all Iranians that you are ready to ensure justice for everyone."

"Our call, then, is in reality a call for respect of the rights of all the Iranian people," the Baha'i International Community says.

"How can a just society, or a just world, be built on a foundation of irrational oppression and the systematic denial of basic human rights to any minority? Everything your country overtly professes to seek on the world stage is contradicted by your treatment of your own people at home."

Read the full letter in English

Read the full letter in Persian

"Reprehensible measures"

The letter catalogs in detail the "many reprehensible measures" resorted to by officials during the detention, trial, sentencing and appeal, of the seven Baha'i leaders, who formerly served as the members of a national-level group that – with the Iranian government's knowledge – helped see to the minimum spiritual needs of the Baha'is of Iran.

The seven were accused of propaganda activities against the Islamic order and the establishment of an illegal administration, among other allegations. All the charges were categorically denied.

The letter charts how the prosecutors at the trial of the seven were “ultimately unable to present any credible evidence in support of their claims.” The trial, it observes, "was so devoid of the impartiality that must characterize judicial proceedings as to render the process a complete mockery." "How was it," the letter asks in this respect, "that the verdict issued by the judges could refer to the religion of the defendants as a ‘misguided sect’?”

"...[W]hat is now starkly visible to all is the willingness of the authorities to trample the very standards of justice they are mandated to uphold on behalf of the peoples of Iran," the open letter states.

Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations says that there was never any foundation to the charges that the seven had acted against the interest of Iran.

"To add to this manifest injustice, the judiciary has not yet formalized the appeal verdict," says Ms. Dugal, "thus depriving the prisoners of the right to seek bail or to be granted leave from prison."

"In defiance of all reason, the prisoners are now in the third year of what is still termed a ‘temporary’ detention," she says.

Appalling conditions

After receiving their sentence, the seven Baha'i leaders – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – were moved from Evin Prison to Gohardasht prison in Karaj.

"They are now effectively placed in exile in contravention of Iran's statutes governing the transfer of prison inmates," says Bani Dugal. "Amongst other indignities, they are forced to endure appalling filth, pestilence, exposure to disease, and quarters so crammed that it is difficult for them to lie down or even to perform their daily prayers."

"It is clear from recent reports that their health has deteriorated and they have no access to adequate medical treatments," she says.

Reports of the trial and sentencing of the seven provoked a chorus of condemnation from governments around the world. The European Union and the President of the European Parliament also joined the protest, along with prominent religious leaders, numerous human rights organizations, and countless other groups and individuals.

"We join with governments and well-meaning people throughout the world, as we call upon Iran's Head of the Judiciary to immediately set these seven innocent Baha'is – and, along with them, all of the Baha'is incarcerated across the country – free," says Ms. Dugal.

The Importance of Raising Awareness about the Persecution of Baha’is in Iran

Thank goodness for excellent organisations like FIDH (Federation Internationale des Droits de l'Homme - International Federation for Human Rights)

They've just issued a hard-hitting report condemning Iran's appalling treatment of its ethnic and religious minorities - including the Baha'is. 

Download the FIDH report here.

It's really important for governments around the world to continue to defend the rights of those whose freedoms, whose very lives, are under threat.

And each of us can keep up with reports, such as this one by FIDH, and support excellent organisations like United4Iran.

The Baha'i World News Service has just posted a round-up of statements of support for the seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders in Iran from organisations and prominent individuals.

Governments, human rights organisations and prominent individuals, such as lawyers, artists and religious leaders, have condemned the utterly unjust treatment of the seven former leaders of Iran's Baha'i community, sentenced to 20 years in prison just for being Baha'is, and have called for their release.

You can read the round-up here.

Scottish Catholic leader adds his voice

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh and head of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Scotland is amongst those who have roundly condemned the harsh treatment meted out to the Baha'i leaders. He has written:

Having been united in prayer with seven Baha’i Leaders, who were arrested more than two years ago in Iran, I deeply regret the news that these leaders have now been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

I am happy to join in the recent statement issued by William Hague MP, Foreign Secretary, on this matter and regard what has happened as being a most appalling transgression of justice and at heart a gross violation of the human right of freedom of belief.

Unfortunately, I myself cannot be at the forthcoming vigil of protest on Saturday 28 August 2010 by the St Mungo Museum in Cathedral Square, Glasgow, but I unite myself in prayer for those of the Baha’i faith who are suffering at this present time in Iran and also to the many other peoples of goodwill who are suffering for their faiths in other parts of the world.

+ Keith Patrick Cardinal O’Brien

Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh

You can read more about the statement here.

Cherie Blair has published an excellent article on The Guardian's Comment is Free blog condemning Iran's treatment of its Baha'i minority and particularly the utterly unjust and cruel imprisonment of the Yaran (aka the Friends in Iran, often referred to as Iran's Baha'i leaders) for 20 years.

The sham trial of seven Bahá'í leaders is a violation of Iran's international human rights obligations and the country's own law

The sentences follow a sham trial in which the accused faced a variety of charges ranging from spreading propaganda against the state and engaging in espionage, to conspiring to commit offences against national security. Unless international pressure can force a change of mind, many of the Bahá'í leaders are doomed to die in prison. The oldest – Jamaloddin Khanjani – is already 77 years old.

Their former lawyer, the Nobel peace prizewinner Shirin Ebadi, who has herself been forced into exile because of her outspoken criticism of the Iranian regime's record on human rights, has said that there is no evidence to support the charges or claims of the prosecutor. What is also clear is that the trial comes after over two years of harsh and illegal detention and unfair treatment which violated not just international norms but also Iranian law.

The five men and two women had already spent eight months in jail before they were charged with any offence. Though Iranian law grants the accused the right to have a lawyer present during the investigation, this right was denied the prisoners.

 

The imprisonment of these seven innocent people for no good reason other than that they are Baha'is seems to be part of a wider strategy on the part of the Iranian authorities.

The truth behind this sentence is that it is an attempt to decapitate Iran's 300,000 strong Bahá'í community. As members of Iran's biggest religious minority, they have suffered decades of discrimination, harassment and appalling treatment. Most recently, 50 Bahá'í homes were razed in northern Iran, and we know of at least 47 other Bahá'ís currently imprisoned.

Yet the Bahá'í faith, which has its roots in Iran, is a gentle religion which emphasises the spiritual unity of all humankind and builds on the prophets of many faiths, including Jesus and Mohammed. It poses no threat to the Iranian regime. The peaceful, constructive lives led by millions of Bahá'ís in other countries contradict the fears of the Iranian regime. Iran's disregard for its own laws, let alone its human rights obligations, exposes its religious fanaticism.

There have been some very strong statements from senior government figures around the world, including the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, condemning the imprisonment of the Baha'i leaders in forthright terms.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, has already said he was "appalled" at this "shocking example of the Iranian state's continued discrimination against the Bahá'ís". The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, called the sentence a "violation" of Iran's international obligations. Australia, Canada, the European parliament and European Commission, France, Germany and the Netherlands have expressed their concern as have, among others, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

A chorus of condemnation is reminding Iran that it signed and ratified the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, in which Article 18 upholds the right to adopt and practice a religion or belief. The Iranian authorities, despite what they pretend, are not deaf to international criticism. We must all add our voices on this latest abandonment of Iran's human rights obligations so the regime hears us loud and clear.

It's worth reading the whole of Cherie Blair's article here.

Picture © Baha'i International Community 2010

I was very glad to see my good friend and former colleague on the UK national Baha'i governing council, Rob Weinberg, giving a good interview on CNN.com as part of this video tour of the Baha'i gardens.

Rob is Director of the Office of Public Information at the Baha'i World Centre.

In the interview he explains the purpose of these beautiful gardens and contrasts their beauty and the beauty of the Baha'i teachings with the horrible suffering of the unjustly imprisoned Baha'i leaders in Iran.

Omid Djalili, high profile actor and comedian has released a video on YouTube to protest about the 20-year prison sentences handed down to the seven former leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran.

More information

This special report on the Baha'i World News Service provides crucial information about the arrest and trial of of the seven Baha'i leaders.

On 5 March 2008, Mahvash Sabet – a schoolteacher and mother of two – was arrested having been summoned to the Iranian city of Mashhad to discuss some matters regarding a Baha’i burial. She has been in prison since that time – including the first 175 days spent in solitary confinement.

Two months later, on 14 May, six other prominent members of Iran’s Baha’i community were incarcerated in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, after they were arrested in early morning raids at their homes in a sweep that was ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Baha’i leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

The six were Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm.

These five men and two women were all members of a national-level group known as the “Yaran-i-Iran” – or “Friends in Iran”.

Some 20 months after being imprisoned without charge, a trial began on 12 January 2010. Throughout their long wait for justice, the seven had received hardly one hour’s access to their legal counsel and suffered appalling treatment and deprivations, including psychological and physical hardship.

The seven were charged with, among other things, espionage, propaganda against the Islamic republic, the establishment of an illegal administration - charges that were all rejected completely and categorically by the defendants.

Their crime, though, is nothing more than being members of the Baha’i Faith, a religion which has been the focus of a systematic, government-sponsored persecution in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

Indeed, the trial of the seven in many ways was the trial of an entire community of more than 300,000 Iranian Baha’is. Over the last 30 years, more than 200 Baha’is have been killed, hundreds more imprisoned, and thousands deprived of jobs, education, and the freedom to worship.

The charges against the seven moreover reflects the kinds of false accusations and campaign of misinformation that Iran’s regime has used to vilify and defame Baha’is for decades.

The trial of the seven Baha’i leaders ended on 14 June 2010 after six brief sessions, characterized by their lack of due legal process.

The reported sentences of 20 years imprisonment for each of the defendants has been met with outrage and condemnation throughout the world. The lawyers of the seven defendants are preparing an appeal.

It's well worth reading the rest of the report.

You can raise your voice too

You could write to the Iranian ambassador in your country, you could write to your MP or other representative, you could organise a vigil to draw attention to the suffering of the Baha'is and other minorities in Iran.

United4Iran have some excellent suggestions here. Do please visit their site and consider following one or some of their recommendations.

And remember, it is not just Baha'is who are deprived of the freedom to practise their religion. The human right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) is one of the most sadly abused and neglected. We all suffer when this freedom is blocked or abridged. Let's ensure that our governments and parliaments understand how vital it is that they protect this right.