Proposals being considered by the Iranian Parliament to execute religious converts are a chilling threat to human rights, a spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community said today.
“Under the proposed law, anyone in Iran who leaves Islam for another religion and does not immediately recant would have to be sentenced to death,” Natalie Mobini-Kesheh said.
“The draft legislation now before the Iranian Parliament even prescribes execution for someone who has never been a Muslim, but had one parent who was a Muslim at the time of his or her conception,” Dr Mobini-Kesheh said.
“If the proposals on apostasy become law they would imperil Baha’is, Christians, Jews and others, even outside Iran,” she said.
Dr Mobini-Kesheh said it was very important that the international community protest against the draft before it becomes the law of the land.
Violation of international treaties
The principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, Bani Dugal, said the proposed law would go against all human rights norms, including international treaties to which Iran has agreed.
The draft law would also extend the government’s reach over alleged security violations outside the country, Ms Dugal said.
It would give legal effect to discriminatory practices already in wide use against Baha’is and others, and redefine a series of “religious” and other crimes so vaguely as to place in jeopardy virtually any group facing government disapproval, she said.
EU statement welcomed
Dr Mobini-Kesheh said the Australian Baha’i Community welcomed the statement on 25 February by the Presidency of the European Union in which it expressed its “acute concern” about the review of the draft penal code.
In its statement, the EU calls on the Iranian authorities to modify the code in order to respect Iran’s obligations under international human rights conventions.
Read a full report from the Baha’i World News Service.