Following the early morning arrests of Baha’i leaders in Iran two days ago, several human rights organizations and government representatives have spoken out strongly against the arrests. The State Department of the United States issued a statement late Thursday 15 May, and Amnesty International has issued an “urgent action” notice (MDE 13/068/2008) about the arrests which have deeply distressed Baha’is in Canada and around the world because of the resemblance to the “disappearance” and jailing that preceded executions of Baha’is in the early 1980s.
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran have issued strongly worded statements as has the Commission on International Religious Freedom of the United States. A recent story by CNN also highlights the arrests.
Around the world representatives of national Baha’i communities have informed governments and non-governmental organizations of this, the latest attack on the Baha’i community. This incident follows systematic harassment and vilification of Baha’i school-children throughout Iran over the past several months, continued refusal to allow Baha’is to attend university, destruction of cemeteries and other Baha’i properties including Baha’i homes, the sentencing of 54 young Baha’is in Shiraz last fall for carrying out service projects in their city, and a series of escalating economic attacks aimed at further crippling and eventually eliminating the Baha’i community in the country in which this five million-strong world religion was born a century and a half ago.
Click here for ongoing world news coverage regarding the arrest of the Baha’i leaders in Iran. Click here for ongoing Canadian coverage regarding these arrests.