[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 30 (Friday, February 13, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E290-E291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     BIPARTISAN RESOLUTION CONDEMNING IRAN'S PERSECUTION OF BAHA'IS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARK STEVEN KIRK

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 13, 2009

       ``In Germany, they first came for the gypsies, and I didn't 
     speak up because I wasn't a gypsy. Then they came for the 
     Bolsheviks, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a 
     Bolshevik. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up 
     because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade 
     unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade

[[Page E291]]

     unionist. Then they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up 
     then because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and 
     there was no one left to speak up.''
       --Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor arrested by the 
     Gestapo in 1937.

  Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, then they came for the Baha'is.
  The Baha'i Faith is the youngest of the world's independent 
monotheistic religions. Founded in Iran in 1844, it now claims more 
than 5 million adherents in 236 countries and territories. Gathering 
worshipers from nearly every national, ethnic and religious background, 
the Baha'is preach tolerance, diversity and equality.
  To an Islamic dictatorship that denies its people basic political and 
human rights, this religion founded in Iran on the tenets of religious 
tolerance remains an anathema to the Supreme Leader. And the world is 
standing by as Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i 
minority nears its final stages.
  In 2006, Iran's Armed Forces Command Headquarters ordered the 
Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Police Force 
to identify members of the Baha'i Faith in Iran and monitor their 
activities.
  In that same year, we saw the largest roundup of Baha'is since the 
1980s. The Iranian Interior Ministry ordered provincial officials to 
``cautiously and carefully monitor and manage'' all Baha'i social 
activities. The Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, 
Research and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any 
student discovered to be a Baha'i.
  In 2007, the situation worsened. More than two-thirds of the Baha'is 
enrolled in universities were expelled once identified as Baha'is. 
Police entered Baha'i homes and businesses to collect details on family 
members.
  Twenty-live industries were ordered to deny licenses to Baha'is. 
Employers were pressured to fire Baha'i employees and banks were 
instructed to refuse loans to Baha'i-owned businesses. Baha'i 
cemeteries were destroyed.
  In November 2007, three Baha'i youths were detained for educating 
underprivileged children.
  The following month, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic 
penal code, requiring the death penalty for all ``apostates''--a term 
applied to Baha'is and any convert away from Islam.
  On May 14. 2008, seven members of Iran's national Baha'i coordinating 
group were arrested. This is reminiscent of the mass disappearance and 
assumed murder of all the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of 
the Baha'is of Iran in August, 1980.
  On August 1, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Res. 
1008, condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran and calling for the 
immediate release of all Baha'is imprisoned solely on the basis of 
their religion.
  Our bipartisan voice bought the Baha'i leadership some time--but it 
appears only 6 months.
  This week, the Government of Iran charged the seven Baha'i leaders 
with ``espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and 
propaganda against the Islamic republic.'' Deputy Tehran Prosecutor 
Hassan Haddad declared, ``The charges against seven defendants in the 
case of the illegal Baha'i group were examined . . . and the case will 
be sent to the revolutionary court next week.''
  It is time for the international community to act.
  Today, along with my colleagues Jim McGovern and Brad Sherman, I am 
introducing a bipartisan resolution calling on the Government of Iran 
to immediately release the seven Baha'i leaders and all others 
imprisoned solely the basis of their religion.
  I urge President Obama and Secretary Clinton, in concert with the 
international community, to publicly condemn Iran's persecution of its 
religious minorities and demand the release of these seven community 
leaders.

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