Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an honour to speak on this motion tonight as the member for Cowan and represent the Wanneroo Baha’i community within my electorate. On 25 February this year I spoke in the House regarding this very issue, being the persecution of the practitioners of the Baha’i faith and other religious minorities by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On that occasion I spoke specifically about the Baha’is and the struggles they face in their homeland. In particular this matter is about the imprisonment of the seven main Baha’i leaders in Iran. Those leaders are Mrs Mahvash Sabet, Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naemi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli and Mr Vahid Tizfahm.

On 14 May, just a week ago, the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran had spent a full year in detention. I would like to be able to say that there has been some progress since I last spoke on this issue, but the cause of justice in Iran has only gone backwards in the last few months. It has recently been publicised that the Baha’i seven may face another charge, that of spreading corruption on earth, which is in addition to the other charges reportedly laid. It is my firm view that all these charges have no validity and remain inconsistent with the teachings of the Baha’i faith.

I would now like to turn my attention to the latest charge of ‘spreading corruption in the world’. This was apparently the charge by which the Iranian government after the 1979 revolution executed many Baha’is. No doubt it is a thin veil for the intent to eliminate dissent in Iran. It is a trumped-up, catch-all excuse with a single purpose, and that is for an illegitimate and paranoid regime to maintain control over an increasingly sceptical general population. My point is that this charge has nothing to do with offences, and everything to do with political control and religious persecution.

It would, however, be wrong of me not to speak of this charge in more detail. This charge goes to religious intolerance and it is clear that in Iran tolerance seems to be a very rare value at this point. While I believe that such a charge is primarily about exerting political control, we cannot ignore the religious intolerance at the core. I am not Baha’i; I worship at the Church of Christ and it is there through faith that I seek strength, support and guidance. I believe in Christianity. But that does not mean I consider any other faith corrupt.

What I do find reprehensible is that the Islamic leadership in Iran think themselves so high and significant that they can determine the followers of another faith to be spreaders of corruption. The whole world should be concerned about such a base fundamentalist belief. Any religion that finds justification in its holy books to authorise executions and exercise judgments that another faith is a corruption on the world should be of great concern to the followers of all faiths and religions. The Christian world has moved on in the last 800 years since the Crusades. Clearly, Islam in Iran has not moved on. What is happening in Iran to the Baha’is stands as a warning to all of us—nonbelievers in Islam are all called ‘infidels’ and that is not a term of respect and we should be on guard. In Iran there are more than 300,000 followers of the Baha’i faith. It is worth noting that the persecution of the Baha’is has continually occurred over the 150 years since its origin. They have been a convenient scapegoat for the failures of the Iranian government and the Iranian economy.

In February I wrote to the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to inform him of my view that the arrest of the seven leaders was wrong and that their treatment whilst in custody has been unfair, unreasonable and inhumane. I also asked for the charges to be dropped and if that was not possible then a fair and open trial be conducted in front of international media. As expected, I have not received a reply. But I can assure the Islamic Republic of Iran that I have no regard for their actions and will continue to be critical of them for as long as I am here or until fundamental reform takes place.

On 12 June the Iranian presidential elections will take place. I believe that the President seeks to shore up his position by blaming and persecuting the Baha’is as a political tactic. After the election, talks between the US and Iran are due to take place. I wait to see if the government’s attitude to the Baha’is then changes; I also wonder whether the seven Baha’i leaders will be used as political pawns and may be tried and executed as part of the President’s re-election campaign. This issue is about politics and persecution, and it is about the withdrawal of the right to freely practise religion. It is about religious intolerance and it is about the extreme practice of politics. The seven Baha’i leaders should have their charges dropped and they should be released immediately. The Iranian government should also restore the rights of Baha’is and withdraw discrimination and religious intolerance towards the Baha’is. That should happen now.

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