Federal Member for Fremantle, Melissa Parke MP, has spoken out in the Australian Parliament about the jailing of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran and the “systematic, government-sponsored” persecution of the Baha’i community in that country.
“Baha’is have been persecuted simply for the faith they follow notwithstanding that freedom of religion is part of the Iranian constitution,” Ms Parke told the House of Representatives on 25 October 2010.
Seven leaders had recently been sentenced to 20 years jail later reduced to 10 years, on charges they have “categorically denied”, she said.
A former senior international lawyer with the United Nations, Ms Parke is a member of the joint standing committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. She is also co-chair of the UN Parliamentary Group.
Ambassador
Ms Parke said that she and a former Australian Attorney-General, Duncan Kerr, have raised the issue with Iran’s ambassador to Australia.
“Iran can be assured that the international community is watching intently the cases involving the seven Baha’i leaders and that of Sakineh Ashtiani, who is still facing the death penalty,” she said.
“I will continue to pursue these matters closely on behalf of my many Baha’i constituents living in East Fremantle, Fremantle, Cockburn and Melville and on behalf of people everywhere who believe in justice and human rights.”
Ms Parke’s statement is in line with similar statements by other MPs and resolutions by the Australian Federal Parliament and State parliaments condemning the persecution of Baha’is in Iran.
On several occasions this year, the Australian Government has spoken out about the treatment of the Baha’i leaders and of the Iranian Baha’i community in general at the UN Human Rights Council.
The seven Baha’i leaders – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – were all members of a national-level group that, with the Iranian government’s knowledge, helped see to the minimum spiritual needs of Iran’s 300,000-strong Baha’i community.