[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6762-6763]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PLIGHT OF THE BAHA'I COMMUNITY

 Mr. KIRK. Madam President I wish to call attention to the 
plight of the Baha'i community and the atrocious human rights situation 
in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today marks the fifth year Fariba 
Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naemi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz 
Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm have been behind bars in Iran due to their 
faith. These six individuals, along with Mahvash Sabet, imprisoned 2 
months earlier, make up the ``Yaran-I-Iran,'' or Friends of Iran, which 
is the former leadership group of the Baha'i community of Iran. We must 
not let up on our efforts to defend the Baha'i community until the 
Iranian Government's intensifying persecution comes to an end.
  Iran outlawed Baha'i institutions in 1983, leading to the 
establishment of an ad hoc leadership group to meet the basic spiritual 
and social needs of the Baha'i community of Iran. In August 2010, the 
Government of Iran sentenced the Yaran to 20-year prison terms on the 
absurd charges of ``spying for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, 
propaganda against the regime and spreading corruption on earth.''
  The Baha'i faith is an independent world religion that began in 19th-
century Persia. Its central tenets include unity, peace, and 
understanding. The Baha'is are currently the largest non-Muslim 
minority in Iran, numbering some 300,000 members, and the Baha'i faith 
is one of the world's fastest growing religions with more than 5 
million followers worldwide. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the 
Baha'is have been a target of systematic government-sponsored 
persecution. Roughly 200 Baha'is in Iran have been killed by government 
authorities since 1978 and more than 650 Baha'is have been arrested 
since 2005 alone.
  In May 2011, the government conducted raids on the Baha'i Institute 
of Higher Education, an informal learning system created by the Baha'i 
community in response to the exclusion of Baha'is from universities. 
Several educators were arrested and detained. Seven of them--Mahmoud 
Badavam, Noushin Khadem, Vahid Mahmoudi, Kamran Mortezaie, Farhad 
Sedghi, Riaz Sobhani, and Ramin Zibaie--were sentenced to 4 and 5-year 
prison terms, although Vahid Mahmoudi has since been released. Since 
October 2011, four more BIHE instructors were imprisoned.
  The 2013 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Report 
stated that ``during the past year, the already poor religious freedom 
conditions continued to deteriorate, especially for religious 
minorities, in particular for Baha'is.'' On February 28, 2013, the U.N. 
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic 
Republic of Iran reported that there were 110 Baha'is currently 
imprisoned in Iran solely for practicing their faith. Baha'is in Iran 
are restricted from filling public and private jobs, denied business 
licenses, and excluded from university. In recent years, the state-
sponsored media in Iran embarked on a systematic campaign to demonize 
and incite hatred against Baha'is through the use of false and 
offensive propaganda pieces. An increasing amount of personal property 
has been confiscated, an increasing number of Baha'i-owned businesses 
have been vandalized and attacked, and an increasing number of Baha'i 
cemeteries have been desecrated over the past year across the country.
  Despite being bound to numerous international treaties, the Iranian 
Government continues to persecute those who seek to exercise their 
freedom of expression, thought, conscience, and religion. As Americans, 
we honor our fundamental rights and freedoms by speaking out for the 
rights and freedoms of the Baha'is and all others who are oppressed in 
Iran. And it is incumbent on the Senate to reveal the truth about the 
situation of the Baha'i community in Iran and take steps to eradicate 
the violence and injustice.
  Illinois is home to the world-renowned Baha'i Temple, so the plight 
of Baha'is in Iran holds special significance for our citizens. I am 
proud to have joined with my Illinois colleague, Senator Durbin, in 
introducing S. Res. 75, a resolution that condemns the

[[Page 6763]]

Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i 
minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on 
Human Rights. Today, we reaffirm our solidarity with the faithful 
Baha'is in Iran who are subject to discrimination, detention, or worse 
solely for their beliefs and views. It is my hope that S. Res. 75 will 
bring the persecution of Baha'is and the issue of human rights in Iran 
to the forefront of the international agenda.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, it has been 5 years since the Iranian 
regime arrested and imprisoned seven members of the Baha'i community's 
ad hoc leadership group. Today I rise to mark this sad anniversary and 
to remind folks of the persecution that religious minorities continue 
to face in Iran.
  The Baha'i faith was founded in Iran during the 19th century. It is 
an independent religion not a sect of Islam and it rejects violence. 
The Baha'i faith is practiced today by more than 5 million people 
around the world, roughly 300,000 of whom still live in Iran.
  But rather than celebrate its own religious history, the Iranian 
regime considers the Baha'i faith to be a heresy and brutally represses 
its practitioners. The regime routinely seizes personal property from 
members of the Baha'i community, denies them access to education and 
employment opportunities, and detains them based solely on their 
religious beliefs. According to some reports, more than 600 Baha'is 
have been arrested since 2004. The American Baha'i community counts 115 
Baha'is currently in Iranian prisons and another 437 awaiting trial, 
appeal, sentencing, or for their sentence to begin.
  Five years ago, the Iranian regime arrested seven leaders of the 
Baha'i community--Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, 
Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm--and 
detained them in Iran's notorious Evin prison. Iranian leaders accused 
the seven of espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and 
propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
  These seven have since faced sham trials in kangaroo courts. One of 
their lawyers, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, reported 
difficultly establishing basic, meaningful access to counsel. She also 
stated that the regime had no evidence against the accused and that 
their trial was riddled with irregularities. Despite these concerns the 
regime sentenced all seven to 20 years in prison in 2010.
  I and many others found these sentences unconscionable and said so at 
the time. Imagine being sentenced to prison because your faith 
recognized the divine origin of the world's great religions, the 
oneness of the human race, and the equality of men and women. Imagine 
losing 20 years of your life because somebody objected to your personal 
beliefs.
  For the Iranian regime, I am sorry to say, this is more business as 
usual. This religious persecution is hardly limited to the Baha'is 
either. In fact, since 1999 the State Department has designated Iran as 
a ``country of particular concern'' for its human rights record. The 
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's 2012 annual report 
cited the regime for engaging in ``systematic, ongoing, and egregious 
violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, 
torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion 
of the accused.'' The report goes on to state that ``even the 
recognized non-Muslim religious minorities protected under Iran's 
constitution--Jews, Armenian and Assyrian Christians, and 
Zoroastrians--faced increasing discrimination, arrests, and 
imprisonment.''
  The Iranian regime must stop its assault on religious expression and 
freedom of conscience, and there is no better day to do so than this 
sad and dubious anniversary. I call upon Iran's rulers to immediately 
release the seven Baha'i leaders and all other prisoners held on 
account of their beliefs. I also want to urge my colleagues to join me 
in cosponsoring S. Res. 75, introduced by Senators Kirk and Durbin. 
This resolution condemns the Iranian regime for its state-sponsored 
persecution of its Baha'i minority and for its continued violation of 
the International Covenants on Human Rights, to which Iran is a party.

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