The Bahá’í community of Sooke is increasingly concerned about the escalating human rights abuses in Iran.
According to Amnesty International, currently there are over 200 people of various ethnic and religious minorities unlawfully imprisoned by the Iranian Islamic regime.
In February, a Christian church was burned to the ground in Mashad, Iran, because a local Muslim man had converted to Christianity. In recent weeks Churches have been forcibly closed and other discriminatory actions have been taken against Christians.
There has also been a significant increase in the persecution of the 300,000 Iranian Bahá’ís by the government of Iran. There are more than 30 Bahá’ís including youth, women and elderly people in their 70s, in prison, suffering inhumane conditions solely because of their religious belief.
These criminal violations against the Bahá’ís and the human rights abuses of other peoples of the world are, we believe, acts of prejudice. We ask for your prayers for an end to the persecutions in Iran and for all those suffering religious and human rights violations in the world. The more that people of all faiths and spiritual beliefs join together in opposing oppression, the sooner we will all be freed from the devastating consequences of religious, racial and ethnic hatred.
There has been strong, concerted actions by national governments, leaders of thought, and international human rights organizations to the recent acts of persecution against the Iranian Bahá’ís. On March 30th, 2009, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously adopted a strongly worded motion condemning the persecution of Baha’is in Iran. In his opening remarks in the House of Commons introducing this motion, M.P. Mr. Mario Silva, made the following statement:
I am reminded of the famous quote by Pastor Martin Niemöller who remarked, when referring to the Holocaust, “When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out”.
For more information on the Bahá’í Faith and the current situation in Iran please visit the website: www.bahai.org. For further information on the House of Commons motion please visit our website: www.Sookefriends.com.
Don Brown, the Bahá’í Community of Sooke, phone: 250-642-7992 email: donhbrown@shaw.ca
