[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E246-E247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            IRAN CONTINUES SYSTEMATIC PERSECUTION OF BAHA'IS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I would like to bring to my colleagues' 
attention some deeply disturbing news coming out of Tehran. Tehran's 
deputy prosecutor recently announced that the revolutionary court will 
hear the cases of seven members of the Baha'i faith accused of spying 
for Israel. The continued systematic persecution of the Baha'is by the 
tyrannical government of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is unacceptable 
and must stop. I ask that a report from the Agence France Press be 
inserted into the record, as well.

                Iran To Try Bahais for Spying for Israel

       Tehran (AFP)--Iran will soon try seven members of the 
     banned Bahai religion on charges including ``espionage for 
     Israel,'' the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.
       ``The charges against seven defendants in the case of the 
     illegal Bahai group were examined .  .  . and the case will 
     be sent to the revolutionary court next week,'' deputy Tehran 
     prosecutor Hassan Haddad was quoted as saying.
       Haddad said the charges included ``espionage for Israel, 
     insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the 
     Islamic republic.''
       Iran and Israel are arch-enemies, and Iranian President 
     Mahmud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the Jewish state 
     to be wiped off the map.
       In late January, judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said 
     Iran had arrested six adherents of the Bahai faith on the 
     same charges.
       Earlier last month, the Fars news agency said the ex-
     secretary of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi's office was 
     detained for links with an organisation of the Bahai faith, 
     adding that the ex-staffer was a Bahai herself.
       Haddad did not say if the seven being charged were the same 
     as those arrested in January.
       Followers of the Bahai faith, founded in Iran in 1863, are 
     regarded as infidels and have suffered persecution both 
     before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
       Bahai teachings emphasise the underlying unity of major 
     religions, with history having produced a succession of 
     divine messengers, each of which founded a religion suitable 
     for the times.
       Bahais consider Bahaullah, born in 1817, to be the last 
     prophet sent by God. This is in direct conflict with Islam, 
     the religion of the vast majority of Iranians, which 
     considers Mohammed to be the last prophet.
       In late 2008, Iran reported the hanging of a Bahai man for 
     rape and adultery.

[[Page E247]]

       The European Union has expressed ``serious concern about 
     the continuing systematic discrimination and harassment of 
     the Iranian Bahais on the grounds of their religion.''

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