December 12, 2024 16:49 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess | Devendra Fadnavis meets PM Modi amid suspense over Maharashtra portfolio allocation | Congress wants to deviate the issue of Sonia Gandhi-George Soros link: JP Nadda | Bengaluru techie suicide: Atul Subhash's family demanded Rs. 10 lakh as dowry leading to my father's death, claims estranged wife | Syria rebels torch tomb of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's father | Donald Trump vows to eliminate birthright citizenship after taking charge | No alliance with Congress in Delhi polls: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal | Bengaluru techie's suicide: Atul Subhash's wife and her family booked | Bengaluru techie's suicide: Atul Subhash's wife and her family booked
Iran
Image: Unsplash/Sajad Nori

Rights experts urge Iran to end ‘systematic persecution’ of religious minorities

| @indiablooms | Aug 23, 2022, at 06:44 pm

New York: Authorities in Iran must stop the persecution and harassment of religious minorities, a group of independent UN human rights experts said in a statement issued on Monday expressing alarm over the escalation in incidents there.

The experts said they are deeply concerned at the increasing arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of members of the Baha’i faith, as well as the destruction or confiscation of their properties, “in what bears all the signs of a policy of systematic persecution”.

These acts were not isolated, they added, but formed part of a broader policy to target any dissenting belief or religious practice, including Christian converts, Gonabadi dervishes and atheists.

Appeal for action

“The international community cannot remain silent while Iranian authorities use overbroad and vague national security and espionage charges to silence religious minorities or people with dissenting opinions, remove them from their homes and effectively force them into internal displacement,” their statement said. 

The Baha’i community is among the most severely persecuted religious minorities in Iran, according to the experts. The faith was founded in the 19th century by an aristocrat called Baháʼu'lláh, who followers consider a prophet.

The UN experts said this year has seen a marked increase in arrests of Baha’is, as well as targeting. By April, they had received reports that over 1,000 members were awaiting imprisonment, following their initial arrests and hearings.

Raids and arrests

Since July, security forces have raided the homes of more than 35 Baha’is in various cities across Iran.  Several persons also have been arrested, including three former leaders, who were later charged with “managing the unlawful [Bahá'í] administration”, which carries a 10-year sentence. 

One of the leaders, Afif Naimi, was forcibly disappeared for more than a month, until his fate and whereabouts were disclosed.

This month, security and intelligence agents violently demolished at least eight homes belonging to Baha’i families in Mazandaran Province and confiscated 20 hectares of their land. Persons who tried to challenge the operations were arrested. 

The experts have previously written to the Iranian authorities about the situation of the Baha’i minority, recalling their February 2021 communication that raised concern over systematic violations of property and housing rights.

‘State-sanctioned intolerance’

They added that more than 90 Baha’i students have been barred from enrolling in universities so far this year.  Last month, the Ministry of Education accused community members of being involved in espionage, propagating Baha’i teachings, and infiltrating educational institutions.

The independent rights experts are seriously concerned that provisions of the Penal Code are being used to prosecute individuals on grounds of religious affiliation and based on allegations that they have expressed views considered critical or derogatory towards Islam.

The experts have also repeatedly raised concerns about the criminalisation of blasphemy under the Penal Code, which carries severe penalties such as life imprisonment and capital punishment, contrary to international human rights law.

“Such state-sanctioned intolerance furthers extremism and violence,” they said.  “We call on the Iranian authorities to de-criminalise blasphemy and take meaningful steps to ensure the right to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression without discrimination.”

About UN experts

The experts who issued the statement are Javaid Rehman, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on Minorities Issues, and members of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

Experts receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and work on a voluntary basis.

They are neither UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia Mar 22, 2023, at 08:26 pm