The reinstatement of 20 year sentences for seven Baha’i leaders in Iran has “stunned and appalled” the Australian Baha’i Community, spokesperson Tessa Scrine said today.
A decision by the Appeal Court six months ago to reduce the sentences of the leaders to 10 years has been rescinded and the original 20 year term has been reinstated, Ms Scrine said.
The seven were members of a national-level ad hoc group that attended to the needs of Iran’s Baha’i community, with the full knowledge and tacit consent of the Iranian authorities, until they were rounded up and jailed in 2008.
Two of the leaders have siblings in Australia, and others have other relatives here.
“We are dismayed, stunned and appalled by this cruel treatment of people who the world knows have done no wrong and who should be released immediately,” Ms Scrine said.
“It appears that the move has followed a challenge by the Prosecutor General who can appeal any court judgement he believes contradicts Shariah law,” she said.
“The intervention by Iranian authorities to double what was already a completely unjustified sentence flies in the face of world opinion,” Ms Scrine said.
“For some of the seven, a 10 year sentence, let alone a 20 year term, is effectively a life sentence,” she said.
“This move comes as a campaign of terror and intimidation continues to be waged by the Iranian authorities against the 300,000 strong Baha’i community, the biggest non-Muslim religious minority in that country.
“These law-abiding people are facing arson attacks on their businesses, desecration of their cemeteries, dawn raids and arbitrary arrests, random assaults, and defamation by State-sponsored media. Some 79 Baha’is are currently in jail in Iran due to their faith.”
Ms Scrine said Australian Baha’is were grateful to the Australian Government and the Federal Parliament for their strong statements against the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran.
“We call on fair-minded people throughout Australia and the world to stand up in the name of justice for these oppressed, innocent people,” Ms Scrine said.
“In the past two weeks, there has been mounting international criticism of the treatment of the Baha’is in Iran and that was even before this latest outrage was known.”
International condemnation
In his report this month on Iran, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon specifically highlighted the case of its Baha’i community and the imprisonment of the seven Baha’i leaders.
That was followed by the UN Human Rights Council voting to appoint a special investigator to monitor Iran’s compliance with international human rights standards.
On 14 March, prior to the vote, Australia told the UN Human Rights Council that it was “deeply concerned” at Iran’s treatment of minorities, including Baha’is.
In his message of 20 March 2011 for the traditional Persian New Year, U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted human rights abuses in Iran, saying: “The world has watched these unjust actions with alarm … We have seen … the Baha’i community and Sufi Muslims punished for their faith …”
Read the Baha’i World New Service story on the “duplicity, crass cynicism and vile motives” of the Iranian authorities in this matter.
Read the reaction of an Australian Baha’i whose brother is one of the seven imprisoned leaders on the ABC Religion and Ethics Web site