Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1)

notes the statement made on 20 March 2006 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief expressing concern about the treatment of followers of the Baha’i faith in Iran;

(2)

expresses its grave concern that instructions have been issued to collect information and monitor activities of members of the Baha’i faith in Iran;

(3)

regards such action as an unacceptable interference with the rights of members of religious minorities;

(4)

fears that such monitoring could be used as the basis for persecution and discrimination against members of the Baha’i faith; and

(5)

urges the Government to pursue these concerns with our Embassy and with representatives of the Iranian Government.

I submit the motion that appears before us for debate following my meeting with representatives of the Baha’i community in Wollongong, who came along and expressed at that meeting their fears and concerns for the safety of fellow Baha’i followers living in Iran. The motion it places special emphasis on the report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief issued in March this year, which expressed concern about the treatment of followers of the Baha’i faith in Iran. It expresses grave concern that instructions have been issued to collect information and monitor the activities of members of the Baha’i faith in Iran. It regards such action as an unacceptable interference in the rights of members of religious minorities and fears that such monitoring could be used as the basis for persecution and discrimination against members of the Baha’i faith.

Following that meeting, I thought it was important that the issue receive the due attention of the Australian parliament. It is in that regard that I submit the motion on behalf of all followers of the Baha’i faith. There are 13,000 living in Australia, many of whom have ongoing relationships and relatives still in Iran, and they are particularly concerned about their plight. In March this year, as I indicated in my motion, the UN special rapporteur revealed a confidential letter which conveyed high-level instructions from senior Iranian officials at the government level to identify persons who adhere to the Baha’i faith and to monitor their activities. The UN special rapporteur expressed concern that the information so gained would be used as a basis for increased persecution and described the potential monitoring of people as ‘an impermissible and unacceptable interference with the rights of members of religious minorities’.

The latest reports come in the wake of mounting attacks on the Baha’i followers published in government sanctioned press, radio and TV broadcasts in Iran. The delegation pointed out to me that these latest developments are part of an ongoing systematic program of persecution against Iran’s 300,000 Baha’i community, which is in fact the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. I was advised that the current campaign of persecution began in 1979 with the coming to power of the Islamic government and that, in the late seventies and early eighties, virtually the entire leadership of the Iranian Baha’i community either was arrested and executed or disappeared. Thousands of Baha’i followers were then fired from their jobs, deprived of pensions and excluded from education. All manner of rights to religious freedom, worship and assembly were abrogated.

Interestingly enough at the time, international condemnation of such acts of oppression, including through resolutions of the United Nations, saw changes and improvements in the late 1990s which offered hope to members of the Baha’i community. The government, it appeared, from that time onwards did in fact refrain from the most egregious human rights violations, even though religious intolerance remained. I give as one example the fact that, for more than 25 years, members of the Baha’i community in Iran have been refused entry to university and colleges except in the case where they deny allegiance to their faith, and very few are prepared to do that. Such actions, in the view of all here, would appear inconsistent with long-held human rights and religious freedom commitments made by governments at the international level.

As recently as 19 May we saw 55 Baha’i followers arrested in the city of Shiraz. They were teaching classes to underprivileged children as part of a UNICEF community service activity. So the acts of persecution continue. This motion, I know, is above party politics, and the member for Gilmore has asked that I add her name to the comments made today. I ask the government to act urgently on the motion before us. (Time expired)

Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Throsby on bringing before the House this important motion relating to the Baha’i faith in Iran. It comes after reports that the Iranian regime, one that has an extremely poor human rights record, has stepped up its campaign of religious persecution against non-Muslims in that country. This issue was first raised with me by constituents who had fled the persecution of the Iranian regime and who hold grave fears for friends and family who are still in Iran.

I investigated the claims that they made to me, which were truly horrific. Sadly, those claims were backed up by substantial evidence from independent bodies, including the UNHCR and Amnesty International. In fact, on investigation, what I found exceeded the horror of the stories they had told me. The steps being taken currently by the Iranian government are truly frightening, and those with a good knowledge of history should be extraordinarily worried about the actions of that regime. Specifically, steps being taken to monitor and identify people of the Baha’i faith, combined with an increase in the ferocity of media propaganda vilifying them, are grave cause for concern.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief highlighted some of these concerns on 20 May this year. She outlined to the world an official letter sent on 29 October 2005 by the Chairman of the Command Headquarters of Iran’s Armed Forces to several Iranian government agencies. This letter stated that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, had instructed the command headquarters to identify and monitor, in a highly confidential manner, members of the Baha’i faith. She has since expressed her fear that the information gained through such monitoring will be used as a basis for increased persecution and discrimination against members of the Baha’i faith—in gross violation of all international standards. The UN has since issued more than 56 pronouncements condemning Iran’s execution and imprisonment of Baha’i followers solely because of their membership of the Baha’i community and criticising the overt discrimination of this religious community by Iran’s government.

Amnesty International supports these concerns. It has written to the head of Iran’s judiciary to express concern at continuing abuses committed against the country’s Baha’i community. It has urged him to ensure that no-one is imprisoned on account of their religious or cultural identity or because of their peaceful activities in support of their community. Amnesty International has criticised the increasing pattern of harassment of the Baha’i community, which has seen at least 66 Baha’i followers arrested since the beginning of 2005—apparently on account of their identity as Baha’i or because of their peaceful activities on behalf of the Baha’i community. Amnesty believes that in recent months members of Iran’s Baha’i community have been attacked repeatedly by unidentified assailants and Baha’i cemeteries and holy sites have been vandalised and destroyed. Some Baha’i followers have had their homes confiscated by authorities.

Baha’is are generally subject to discriminatory laws and regulations that limit their access to employment and to benefits such as pensions. For many years young people belonging to the Baha’i community have been denied access to higher education by an official requirement that applicants state their allegiance to Islam or one of three other recognised religions. History tells us that identifying and then vilifying minorities in this way can be the beginning of increasing persecution.

Given the situation as it now stands, the Baha’is in Iran can only be living in fear about what these measures might mean in practice. I do not think this parliament or the world in general should keep quiet. We need to ensure that the principles of freedom, respect, dignity, equality and justice are upheld in Iran for the Baha’i minority. I would also congratulate the Australian government on making representations, on behalf of the Baha’i community, to the Iranian authorities. I conclude by commending again the member for Throsby for bringing this very important motion before the House. (Time expired)

Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would associate myself strongly with the member for Throsby’s motion regarding the Baha’i faith in Iran. In doing so, I speak today on behalf of the Baha’i spiritual assemblies of Belmont, Canning, Victoria Park and South Perth in my electorate of Swan. I met with a delegation from the Baha’i spiritual assemblies in my electorate office a fortnight ago and I would sincerely thank Dianne Massoudi, Lai Loh, Houman Milani and Oscar Domingo for raising their concerns directly with me.

The United Nations statement of 20 March concerning the treatment of Baha’i followers in Iran is a disturbing document. Given some of the odious comments emanating recently from the Iranian leadership, it certainly enforces the view that Iran is continuing its slide into the practices of a totalitarian state. Freedom of religion and freedom to practise spiritual beliefs—indeed, freedom not to subscribe to a religion—remain some of the most inalienable rights of society and the individual. As we have heard, there are around 300,000 members of the Baha’i faith in Iran; however, they are not recognised as a religious minority and do not have the right to practise their religion. As the International Federation of Human Rights noted in 2003:

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, approximately 300,000 Baha’is in Iran are considered ‘unprotected infidels ... non-persons’ with ‘no legal rights or protection’.

They have no right to receive pensions, be employed in the civil service, inscribe a name on the tombs of their dead, inherit, or gather for religious worship. Their holy sites and cemeteries have been destroyed. Many Baha’is have had their belongings confiscated. Employers are pressured to dismiss their Baha’i employees.

It was troubling to read last week that, as recently as 19 May, 54 Baha’is were arrested by Iranian officials in the city of Shiraz. Most of the arrested Baha’is were young teachers who were educating underprivileged children in a school, as part of a UNICEF community service activity. At the time of their arrest, they had a letter of permission to teach from the Islamic Council of Shiraz. These arrests come against the backdrop, as I said, of increasing concern and evidence that the Iranian government is escalating its harassment and victimisation of Baha’i followers.

The UN statement in March released news of a secret October 2005 letter from the Iranian military high command ordering police and revolutionary units to ‘identify’ and ‘monitor’ members of the Baha’i community. The letter states that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, had ordered this monitoring to take place. It is with some gall that the Iranian Embassy here in Canberra delivered a letter to members last week which included a copy of the rather bizarre correspondence from Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad to US President George Bush. The letter states:

We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point—that is the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems ...

It continues:

Whether we like it or not, the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty and justice and the will of God will prevail over all things.

The hypocrisy of this letter is quite staggering. The Iranian President dares to harangue the United States on religion, while Iranian authorities preside over the religious persecution of the Baha’is. The Iranian President also lectures:

History tells us that repressive and cruel governments do not survive.

No, Mr President, they do not, but unfortunately they can survive long enough to commit or condone atrocious acts of victimisation, murder and genocide. I call again on the government to raise the concerns of the Baha’i assemblies in my electorate with representatives of the Iranian government.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Graham Edwards (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary (Defence and Veterans' Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was recently visited by members of the Baha’i community who came to my office to express concern over the persecution of members of their faith in Iran. Indeed, they expressed serious concerns for the safety of family members and loved ones living in Iran who are members of the Baha’i faith. I choose not to disclose their names. However, they sought my advice as to what action could be taken at a federal level to seek Australian government intervention in the persecution of members of the faith in Iran and to see if the federal government could use its influence to assist those being persecuted. I compliment Jennie George, the member for Throsby, for bring this motion forward today, and I am extremely pleased with the bipartisan support it has attracted.

I know that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has already tried to use his influence to put a strong case to the Iranian authorities to stop the persecution. I would simply encourage him, the government and the United Nations to persist in their representations to try to ensure that the Iranians live up to their human rights responsibilities. I also suggested to the Baha’i people who came to visit me that they should approach the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and seek an opportunity for their spokespeople to visit the House and to put directly to the Human Rights Subcommittee their concerns and to put on the record the issues they wish to raise.

What are some of the things that the Baha’i people believe in? There are two or three things that I would like to quickly mention. They say this:

Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart.

They also say this:

... religious, racial, national, and political prejudices, all are subversive of the foundation of human society, all lead to bloodshed, all heap ruin upon mankind. So long as these remain, the dread of war will continue.

The last one I want to quote is this:

All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization ... To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth.

In previous years when there has been this persecution of people of the Baha’i faith in Iran, the people of the world, the United Nations and governments like Australia’s have banded together and strongly pressured the Iranian authorities to leave the Baha’i people alone. This has worked to some varying degree in the past. It is of extreme concern that we now see the Iranian authorities escalating their persecution of the Baha’i people.

I know other members have referred to recent articles, including one that was on the Baha’i World News Service as recently as 24 May, that report that Iranian officials have arrested 54 Baha’is in the city of Shiraz. I downloaded that from the internet and on the first page of that news coverage was a beautiful photograph of three Baha’i youth who were arrested in Shiraz on 19 May. I understand that a number of the people who were arrested have been released. Unfortunately, these three young women are not among them. I offer my thoughts and hopes to them and to other people who are being persecuted by this authoritarian regime. I would simply hope that the beliefs and principles of the Baha’i, which call for mercy, compassion and loving kindness, might be visited upon those people who were recently arrested.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are 300,000 to 350,000 followers of the Baha’i faith in Iran, and they face systematic discrimination from the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Members of the Baha’i faith are denied admission to colleges and universities, and they have been dismissed midstream from university. In 1998 college classes were raided and equipment was confiscated. Baha’i holy sites have been destroyed in Iran. Over 200 members of the Baha’i faith have been killed since the early 1980s and over 1,000 have been imprisoned. There have recently appeared in Kayhan, the official Tehran newspaper, defamatory and inflammatory articles about the Baha’i faith. What is particularly disturbing is that this was done before, in previous government campaigns of persecution in 1955 and 1979. Respected Middle East scholar and commentator Bernard Lewis has demonstrated that the persecution of religious minorities was never a part of classical Islam—that in fact Christian communities and other religious minorities existed peacefully within the original caliphate of Islam in the seventh and eight centuries and so on.

Like the previous speaker, I was able to meet with members of the local Baha’i community in my electorate last month. They alerted me to the recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. That report of 20 March outlines that a confidential letter was sent on 29 October 2005 by the Chairman of the Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Iran to government agencies asking them to identify persons of the Baha’i faith and to monitor their activities. To take some excerpts from the statement issued by the special rapporteur, she said that she has:

... long been concerned by the systematic discrimination against members of the Baha’i community.

And that:

... the situation with regard to religious minorities is, in fact, deteriorating.

She calls on the government of Iran to refrain from categorising individuals according to their religion and to ensure that members of all religious minorities are free to hold and practise their religious beliefs. This recent report of the UN special rapporteur highlights some serious concerns that the registering and monitoring of members of the Baha’i faith could potentially be presaging some government campaign of persecution.

The Australian government has long been concerned about the human rights situation in Iran. On 2 November last year I was able to give a statement on human rights situations on behalf of Australia to the third committee of the United Nations. Along with concern about the human rights situation in Burma, North Korea and Zimbabwe, the statement said:

Australia remains concerned by the human rights situation in Iran, including ongoing suppression of freedom of expression, discrimination against women and minority groups (including the Baha’i community, Christians, Jews, and Kurds) and deficiencies in the administration of justice ... We urge Iran to engage further with the United Nations and the international community on human rights issues.

This was part of a United Nations General Assembly resolution on human rights. Since then, the Australian government has raised this issue with the Iranian Ambassador to Australia and our embassy in Tehran has made representations directly to the Iranian government.

President Ahmadinejad’s 2005 statement calling for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’, Iran’s pursuit of uranium enrichment at Natanz and its persecution of religious minorities, including the Baha’i, are all deeply troubling and of great concern. Australia needs to continue to condemn all of these actions. We need to increase the international pressure on Iran to be a responsible international citizen. I commend the member for Throsby for moving this motion and having it debated in a bipartisan way. Motions like this are very important for raising international awareness of Iranian actions and, hopefully, curbing Iran’s human rights violations.

Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.