| 2021 5 Feb |
More than 40 prominent members of Canada's legal community, including former Supreme Court judges and justice ministers, have penned an open letter to the Chief Justice of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, in order to draw attention to what they call "an alarming new chapter" in Iran's state-sanctioned persecution of its Bahá'í religious minority.
Their letter came in response to a series of court rulings in 2020 that sanctioned the confiscation of the properties of dozens Bahá'ís in the village of Ivel in northern Iran justifying the seizure and sale of land on the grounds their religion denies them the right to own property. [Globe & Mail 8Feb21]
For a complete report see Land confiscation and mass displacement of Bahá'ís in Iran.
For the letter and the list of signatories see Open Letter to the Chief Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney included his signature on this open letter. [BWNS1488]
Letter from the American Islamic Congress.
Iran Press Watch.
Open letter by Nobel Laureate Torsten Wiesel.
Statement by Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra Chair of the Virtues Ethics Foundation and one of the leading Islamic scholars in the United Kingdom.
A "Twitter Storm" was organized using #ItsTheirLand on the 22nd and 23rd of February.
The Canadian Foreign Minister, Marc Garneau, said his government was "concerned" by the ruling, urging Iran to "eliminate all forms of discrimination based on religion or belief." The call was echoed by officials in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Brazil, the United States, the European Parliament and the United Nations.
Support also came from the All India Tanzeem Faiahul Muslimeen and the all India Safi Association. [BWNS1480]
See the letter of support from South Africa's Legal Resources Centre. The LRC was established in 1979 to use the law as an instrument of justice,
challenging the legal structures of apartheid. Since its inception, the LRC has always engaged in strategic legal interventions aimed at ensuring that all persons regardless of the race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation
realise and enjoy their fundamental human rights.
Ahmed Shaheed, the UN's Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief, said he stood in solidarity with the Bahá'ís in Iran "who are facing systemic persecution [and] egregious rights violations." [BWNS1495]
A webinar was held at the European Parliament on the situation in Ivel with participation from European Union officials and a former UN Special Rapporteur, Miloon Kothari. Additionally, the Chair of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Iran, Cornelia Ernst, called the Bahá'ís a "particularly vulnerable community" and condemned the Iranian government's "disastrous policies towards the Bahá'ís." [BWNS1495]
The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights strongly condemned the continued persecution of the Bahá'í community in Iran. [Iran Press Watch]
Canadian MPs from all five political parties recorded a video calling on the Iranian authorities: "Enough is enough". [Iran Press Watch] |
Persecution, Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran; Mazandaran, Iran; Iran |
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Canada