The Australian Government has spoken out about the treatment of seven wrongfully-imprisoned Baha’i leaders in Iran.
“We are particularly concerned at the situation of seven leaders of the Baha’i community who have been detained since 2008, whose trials began recently,” Australia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations (Geneva), Miranda Brown, said on 15 February 2010.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Iran, Ms Brown said Australia was concerned by reports of the treatment of minority ethnic and religious communities in Iran and particularly the treatment of Baha’is. The full statement can be viewed here.
In its recommendations, the Australian Government called on Iran to “ensure the trials of seven Baha’is are fair and transparent and conducted in accordance with international standards, and that Iran amend all legislation which discriminates against minority groups”.
Australia was one of many countries at the 15 February session of the UN Human Rights Council to call on Iran to respect the human rights of Baha’is and other oppressed people in Iran. Read the report on the session by the Baha’i World News Service.
The seven Baha’is have been imprisoned since March and May 2008. Preliminary sessions of their trial, closed to independent observers and family members, were held before a Revolutionary Court on 12 January and 7 February 2010. No date has been given for any future session.
The seven have strongly denied all charges which include espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, acting against the security of the country, and spreading corruption on earth.
Australia’s statement to the UN Human Rights Council was in line with its role in co-sponsoring the December 2009 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the human rights situation in Iran.
That resolution expressed concern over “attacks on Baha’is and their faith in State-sponsored media, increasing evidence of efforts by the State to identify, monitor and arbitrarily detain Baha’is, preventing members of the Baha’i Faith from attending university and from sustaining themselves economically”.
In Australia’s statement on human rights at the UN Third Committee, Ambassador Gary Quinlan expressed Australia’s concern over “discrimination against minorities such as the Baha’is” in Iran. The full statement can be viewed here.
Last May, the Australian Federal Parliament passed a resolution calling for Iran to release the seven Baha’i leaders “without delay”.