{"id":1128,"date":"2009-03-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/interfaith-statement-welcomed\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:49:56","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:49:56","slug":"interfaith-statement-welcomed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/interfaith-statement-welcomed\/","title":{"rendered":"Interfaith statement welcomed"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/Portals\/0\/friends%20in%20iran.jpg\" alt=\"Interfaith statement welcomed\" \/><figcaption>The seven arrested Baha&#8217;i leaders in Iran: Standing L to R: Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naemi, and Mahvash Sabet Seated L to R: Behrouz Tavakkoli and Saeid Rezaie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The call by Australia\u2019s peak interfaith body to the Government of Iran to respect the human rights of Baha\u2019is has been welcomed by the Australian Baha\u2019i community.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Partnership of Religious Organisations (APRO) said today that it shared the Australian Government\u2019s deep concern for the seven Baha\u2019i leaders imprisoned in Iran for nearly a year.<\/p>\n<p>The signatories to the statement included Australia\u2019s major Christian ecumenical organisation, the National Council of Churches, and national representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Sikh communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe welcome the statement by APRO,&#8221; said a spokesperson for the Australian Baha\u2019i Community, Natalie Mobini.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis follows a statement by the Australian Government delegation to the UN Human Rights Council on 17 March expressing deep concern at the discrimination against Baha\u2019is in Iran and calling on Iran to adhere to its international human rights obligations,\u201c Dr Mobini said.<\/p>\n<p>APRO said the detention of the seven Baha\u2019i leaders without access to lawyers or the laying of formal charges is in clear breach of their rights under international law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey must be allowed to communicate with their lawyers and either released or allowed fair and open trial,\u201d APRO said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFreedom of religion and belief is a right guaranteed to all people under the International Conventions on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Charges<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In February, an Iranian spokesman said the seven Baha\u2019i leaders would face charges of espionage for Israel, insulting Islam and propaganda against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Mobini said all the charges are strongly denied by the Baha\u2019i Community.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is a fundamental principle of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed Faith that its followers strictly refrain from involvement in any partisan political activity and are obedient to the law of the land in which they live,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in February 2009 that it is \u201chard to believe that there is any basis to the charges or that they will receive a fair trial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On March 12, 2009, Andrew Robb MP told the House of Representatives: \u201cI implore the Iranian Government to stop persecuting the Baha\u2019i people and allow their citizens the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On 25 February 2009, Luke Simpkins MP told the House of Representatives: &#8220;This issue is about persecution. It is about the withdrawal of the right to freely practise religion, it is about religious intolerance, and it is about the extreme practice of politics. These Baha\u2019is are on trial for their lives. It should never have come to this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The call by Australia\u2019s peak interfaith body to the Government of Iran to respect the human rights of Baha\u2019is has been welcomed by the Australian Baha\u2019i community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interfaith statement welcomed - Australian Baha&#039;i Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/interfaith-statement-welcomed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interfaith statement welcomed - 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