Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My local spiritual assembly of the Baha’is of Cardinia Shire wrote to me on 29 March this year, seeking to inform me of the situation faced by the Baha’i faith living in Iran. They feared that the Baha’i people in Iran faced imminent danger and wanted to bring this to the attention of the Australian government and their local member. I want to particularly thank Hasan Sabet and Kris Bernard from the Cardinia assembly for raising this with me, as their local member and as a representative of the federal government. I also thank them for arranging a get-together with the representative group of Baha’is in Pakenham recently.

I share the member for Throsby’s deep concern over the Iranian government’s treatment of the Baha’i people. In Australia we have prohibitions against a government controlling or mandating for a particular religion under section 116 of our Constitution. We are a signatory to international conventions that safeguard the behaviour of states towards human rights. We are a free and democratic society where the idea of a state owned and run newspaper deliberately inciting hatred and violence against a particular group of people based on their religious beliefs seems foreign to us. Following the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Baha’is say that hundreds of their faith have been executed and jailed by the Iranian government. Despite the Iranian government vehemently denying this, there have been documented cases by news services, governments and international human rights groups supporting these claims.

The Baha’i people are a religious minority. Worldwide, it is estimated their followers number around five million. The largest population of Baha’is live in India and number around 2.2 million, and the next largest population live in Iran, where there are around 350,000 Baha’i followers. The Britannica Book of the Year accounts that the Baha’i faith is established in 247 countries throughout the world. Its members represent over 2,100 ethnic, racial and tribal groups, its scriptures have been translated into over 800 languages and the Baha’is are very proud of their multi-ethnic composition.

On 20 March this year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief released a report into the persecution of the Baha’i people. The report detailed a confidential letter sent on 29 October 2005 by the Chairman of the Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces in Iran to a number of government agencies that gave instructions to monitor the activities of the Baha’i people. The special rapporteur expressed her grave concerns in the report. The report refers to the special rapporteur as being ‘apprehensive about the initiative to monitor the activities of individuals merely because they adhere to a religion that differs from the state religion’. It says:

She considers that such monitoring constitutes an impermissible and unacceptable interference with the rights of members of religious minorities.

The report continues:

She also expresses concern that the information gained as a result of such monitoring will be used as a basis for the increased persecution of, and discrimination against, members of the Baha’i faith, in violation of international standards.

This is also evidenced by other documented cases that we do not have time to go into now.

Since the beginning of 2005, according to Reuters news service, there have been more than 125 arrests. The state owned and run newspaper, the Kayhan, and its role in the persecution of the Baha’is is also of major concern. Baha’i people have been arrested whilst partaking in study groups and barred from attending university, they have had their homes ransacked and they have been banned from taking government jobs. In fact one United States congress report states that, since 1979, Iranian government authorities have killed more than 200 Baha’i leaders and that more than 10,000 have been dismissed from government and university jobs.

Despite the disturbing state of current affairs, these incidents have not gone unnoticed in the international community. Amnesty International and the United Nations have been closely following the deteriorating situation facing the Baha’is in Iran. In December 2005, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Iran’s poor human rights record. I am proud to say that Australia was a co-sponsor of that motion. The Australian government has also been monitoring this and has taken some action. The Australian government has raised the issue with the Iranian Ambassador to Australia, and our embassy in Tehran has made representations to the Iranian government. In addition to this, in December 2005 Australia co-sponsored the proposition before the UN General Assembly that I have already raised.

There has also been a disturbing rise in the incidence of anti-Semitism in Iran. Of particular note is the increase in official government policy that singles out members of the Jewish community and defames them. I deplore strongly the persecution of anyone based simply on the foundation of that person expressing or practising their faith, particularly the Baha’is. In this motion today I particularly and wholeheartedly implore the Iranian government to stop persecuting the Baha’i people and to allow people of all persuasions to be able to practise their religion freely.

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