Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move this motion concerning the deep and ongoing concern that the Baha’i community in Ipswich and the Somerset region in the federal electorate of Blair have concerning the ongoing human rights violations in Iran, particularly the use of the death penalty and the use of stoning as a method of execution; the violations of the rights of women; repeated violations of due process of law; the use of violence, intimidation and arbitrary arrest to suppress peaceful opposition activity and the impact this has on the ability of Iranian people to exercise their freedom of expression, association and assembly, civil liberties which we in Australia take for granted; the reported arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of opposition protestors; discrimination that has been reported, and which is allegedly rife, against minorities, including the Baha’i, Sufi, Baluch, and Kurdish communities in the country; and the trial of what are known as the Baha’i seven.

This motion calls upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure that the rights of all individuals are fully protected, without discrimination, and that it fulfils its obligations to its own citizens as set out in the Iranian Constitution, and to abide by its international human rights obligations, including the rights to freedom of religion or belief as set out in article 18 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, and also the rights of people to believe what they want and to exercise those beliefs and practice them peacefully in accordance with human rights and dignity.

This motion deals with ensuring that all trials, including the case of the seven Baha’i leaders, are fair and transparent and conducted in accordance with Iran’s international obligations. This is a position that the Australian parliament has taken previously. On 15 February 2010 the United Nations Human Rights Council held a universal periodic review on Iran, with governments and human rights groups from around the world describing in detail the degree to which Iran has failed to live up to its international obligations with respect to civil and political rights but also with respect to those rights concerning people’s beliefs and religion. The Australian government, in its recommendations to the UN, made it very clear that Australia wanted to ensure that the trial of the seven Baha’i leaders is fair and transparent. On 25 May 2009 the Australian parliament called on Iran to release without delay the seven Baha’i leaders imprisoned in Tehran.

The Baha’i faith is a peaceful faith that was founded over 150 years ago. It says the purpose of life is to know and love God. It is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world with more than five million followers in over 100,000 localities across the world. The unity of all people is a powerful force in the Baha’i faith. It believes in an integrated and peaceful world community. It emphasises the respect and diversity of people and the idea that, by meditation and prayer, a person can get close to God and get close to knowing himself or herself. It believes in one human race which has custodianship of the planet that God has given to us. I am a Christian by religious persuasion, tradition and faith but I respect the faith and practices of the Baha’i community in my electorate and elsewhere.

President Obama recently visited our northern neighbour Indonesia. In a very moving speech at the University of Indonesia he spoke of his childhood memories of growing up in Indonesia, of feeling welcome there and of the religious and cultural tolerance and understanding that he experienced there. He spoke of his recent visit to a mosque which he remembered being built when he was child—a mosque which symbolised independence and was designed by a Christian architect for the Muslim community of Indonesia. A couple of years ago when I had the privilege of being on a parliamentary delegation to Jakarta I discovered that on Christmas Day the mosque allowed parishioners of the Catholic Church to park their cars in the car park of the mosque. President Obama made the point that Indonesia was a very productive and cooperative country with respect to religion and beliefs and the widespread practices of many people. ‘Unity in diversity’ is, of course, the Indonesian motto.

Sadly, that practice of our northern neighbour Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, is not adhered to in Iran. I speak of the plight of the followers of the Baha’i faith living in Iran, who are really suffering from persecution, and the seven Baha’i leaders: Fariba Kamalabadi, a married developmental psychologist and mother of three; Jamaloddin Khanjani, a married businessman with four children and six grandchildren; Afif Naemimi, a married businessman with two grown sons; Saeid Rezaie, a married agriculture engineer with three children, two of whom were arrested while working on a project to help the underprivileged; Mahvash Sabet, a married teacher and school principal with two grown children; Behrouz Tavakkoli, a married social worker and businessman with two children; and Vahid Tizfahm, a married optometrist with one child. On 8 August 2010 the Baha’i community in Australia received reports that these Baha’i leaders in Iran had received sentences of 20 years. On 15 September this year the lawyers of the seven Baha’i leaders were verbally informed that their sentences had been reduced to 10 years. This follows decades of intense harassment by the Iranian regime—careers destroyed, businesses confiscated and lives made more difficult on many levels.

These people had attempted to exercise productive lives and carry out their beliefs peacefully. They were arrested in 2008 and held in detention in the notorious Evin prison. They were subjected to intense interrogation. One was held in solitary confinement for five months and another for months. They were denied access to legal representation for over a year and then were given only one hour to consult. The charges are draconian, egregious and outrageous. There were allegations that they had engaged in espionage for the benefit of foreigners, spread anti-government propaganda, collaborated with Israel and spread corruption on earth. There were a whole host of ridiculous charges against these people. The Iranian regime has continually obstructed access to legal representation for the Baha’i Seven and moved them to locations away from support and families. Their lawyers have themselves experienced harassment to the point where one of them has been forced to remain outside of Iran for an extended period.

I congratulate the Gillard Labor government for expressing its concern for this grave injustice. I add my strongest condemnation of the Iranian regime for the detention and sentencing of the Baha’i Seven in this really draconian and repressive way. I congratulate the local Baha’i community in Ipswich, particularly Jessica Jackson, who has met me on several occasions to advocate for the Baha’i Seven, and Rahmat Mehdizadeh, who has also met me regarding this matter on numerous occasions. I congratulate them on their strong advocacy on behalf of the very small community of about 60 members in Ipswich.

We all live in a free country here in Australia. We speak about democratic institutions, civil liberties and human rights, but there are 50 Baha’i in prison in various locations in Iran. All are in jail for their religion. Some have been held for more than 13 months in so-called temporary detention. Around 250 Baha’i still have open cases at various stages of the Iranian judicial process. Additionally, there is discrimination against other minority groups, such as the Kurdish community and the Sufi community inside Iran. This continues and there are too numerous cases to outline. We have called upon the Republic of Iran to ensure that the rights of all individuals are fully protected without discrimination; fulfil its obligations to its citizens under the constitution—which makes reference to civil liberties and freedom of religion; abide by its international obligations, including the rights of freedom of religion or belief as set out in article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and ensure that all trials, including the trials of the Baha’i Seven, are fair and transparent.

President Obama recently said:

We can choose to be defined by our differences, and give in to a future of suspicion and mistrust. Or we can choose to do the hard work of forging common ground, and commit ourselves to the steady pursuit of progress.

I commend the motion to the House.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the opposition, it gives me great pleasure to lend both my personal and our collective support to this motion by the member for Blair in relation to human rights abuses and the condemnation of human rights abuses in Iran. It is a strength of the Australian parliament that there is generally a unanimous view in relation to the protection of human rights around the world. We must not be immune from self-examination—I believe that is absolutely the case—but, as we look around the world, nor should we be afraid of drawing to light breaches of the UN charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Those are three foundation documents which define rights and which, to my mind, represent a common human conception rather than a paradigm imposed by one country at one stage of development, as has been argued from time to time.

Let me start from the principle of belief in the notion of universal human rights. There may be marginal differences, but the fundamental elements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are common, consistent and abiding. They are, first and foremost: the right to life, the right to freedom, the right to association, the right to freedom of belief, the right to freedom of worship and, perhaps above all else, the right to elect a government which will be democratically elected and democratically put in place as the paramount guarantor of all other rights. Where there is no such government, then it is incumbent upon the members of the international community to do all that they can to protect, highlight and seek justice in cases where there is no internal democratic mechanism or where the elements of that democratic structure are broken.

I wanted to set down that structure and theory, because I believe it is critical as to our justification for pointing out human rights abuses in other countries. There is in my view a sense of common humanity and a truth to the notion that there are universal human rights. It is inconceivable to me that simply because somebody comes from another country or culture they have waived their right to freedom of religion, to freedom of expression, to freedom of association and, above all else, to protection of their lives against arbitrary loss. These are fundamental issues.

I want to put this secondly into the context of my own experience. Along the way my teaching and part of my work was in the international human rights sphere, and there are two experiences which stand out for me above all else. I lead all of this as a path to discussing the issue of human rights in Iran and the specific motion. I worked for the Centre for Human Rights in Geneva, in particular I was an intern with the UN special representative for human rights abuses in the former Yugoslavia in 1993. That role as an intern lead me to compile reports of atrocities coming out of the former Yugoslavia.

This was at a time when there was some light being shed on the issue, but much was still hidden. We did not know of the full horrors of Srebrenica. We did not know of all of the atrocities that were occurring in Bosnia. Part of my job was to seek and compile information while based in Geneva, which was coming from different field agencies be they from arms of the United Nations, the work of the media which was incredibly important in the former Yugoslavia or from different rights groups and non-government organisations. The stories were compelling, and I remember to this day the stories of families being locked away in houses and the houses being incinerated from the outside.

Similarly, I spent time travelling with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Rwanda in the period not long after the atrocities there and branching out from Kigali and visiting Goma across the border into Zaire. As many people did, I also discovered stories which were compelling and profound and they carry with me the beliefs which are fundamental and which help form the policy that Australia took under the leadership of Alexander Downer to support the creation of an international war crimes tribunal. I believe it was fundamental.

This brings me to the challenge in Iran today, which must be seen in those consequences. Iran has made some progress in some areas, but let it be absolutely clear: Iran is not a democracy. The recent elections were largely fraudulent. They were not carried out in a free and fair manner, and they were not acceptable either to the international community or, more importantly, to the people of Iran who demonstrated on the streets their concern, their commitment and their grievance. Beyond that, there are powerful individual cases which flow naturally from the fact that the bulwarks of individual protection are not in place.

Firstly, I want to raise the case of Sakineh Ashtiani, who, on the latest advice I have from Amnesty International, is 43 and a mother of two from the north-west of Iran. She spent a number of years in prison always with the expectation that her life was to be cut short on the basis of a case which is clearly of very dubious origin—firstly, a charge of murder, which was subsequently reduced and which remains highly contentious.

There is also an extremely highly contended case of alleged adultery. This case is problematic on at least three grounds. Firstly, although states choose capital punishment, I will remain resolutely opposed throughout my working life and I have no doubt until my dying day to capital punishment wherever and under whatever circumstances, no matter how heinous the crime. I may have no sympathy for the individual but I cannot countenance or support that punishment. Secondly, we have here the notion of a fair trial, and the judicial reasoning for the conviction was not on the basis of evidence adduced but on the basis that the judge believed that there was ‘knowledge of the judge adduced from assessing the character and the demeanour of the individual’, not on the basis of any known evidence before the court. It is in effect a blanket judicial discretion to introduce arbitrary capital punishment. So in my view not only is there a flaw with capital punishment, and that remains the case whether it is in the United States, Indonesia, China or wherever else it may be, but in this case there is no protection against arbitrary decisions of a system which clearly has the most limited of judicial protections that one would wish to see. Thirdly, the form of punishment here includes the potential for stoning. Of all of the different forms of capital punishment, stoning must surely be in the modern age the most unacceptable, the most egregious, because of the pain, because of the agony, because of the inhumanity and because it incites the lowest and most base of human emotions within the community.

I believe that this case is unjust of and in itself but it is an exemplar of a system which allows women to be treated as chattels, of a system which has destroyed the rule of law in many cases, of a system which introduces an arbitrary notion and of a system which, above all else, flows from the lack of democratic structure. It is not to be justified on the basis of a religious notion. Every country, every society has the capacity for religious differences and cultural differences but no society can use those differences to take away the basics of individual liberty, of an individual right to a fair trial, of an individual right to be protected against arbitrary imprisonment and, above all else, the effective extrajudicial killing which will result from the manifest injustice in this case.

Sakineh Ashtiani’s case is an exemplar of a system which is broken, a system which must be changed, and along with other countries we will continue to work to see a genuine universal system of human rights.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion advanced by the member for Blair. The persecution of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran has been the subject of international attention and condemnation for several decades. Unfortunately over those decades little progress has been made, and many members of this House have noted, I believe correctly, that the human rights situation in Iran seems to be worsening.

I have a quite strong and reasonably large Iranian community in my electorate of Parramatta. I have every community in Parramatta, including the Iranian one, and I have come to know my Iranian community as some of the most gentle, well-educated and I use the word civilised people you can imagine. In fact, even when I am doorknocking, before a person tells me their background is Iran there is something about these people, the way they have been educated, the way they have been raised, that just sets them as Iranian. It is quite remarkable. I say to them quite often that it is beyond belief that a country that can produce the people that I know as Iranians can also produce the kind of regime which has brutalised them for so long. I know that they share that view and they wish some day to be able to return to the Iran that they remember. I absolutely share that wish with them.

Among my Iranians I have a very strong Baha’i community, who well and truly keep me informed about what is happening in Iran and have asked me specifically to speak on this issue on their behalf. They have visited me in the last month to raise their concerns for the seven Baha’i leaders: Mrs Fariba Karmalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naeimi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli and Mr Vahid Tizfahm, all of whom are detained in Tehran. They have spent more than two years in temporary detention. The seven former leaders of the community were known as ‘friends of Iran’ and were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on 9 August.

The Baha’i faith was founded more than 150 years ago in Iran, so it has been around for 1½ centuries there. The Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, so it is relatively new. Members of the Baha’i community had been living peacefully in Iran prior to the formation of the Islamic Republic, but since then the Baha’i community have been harassed and persecuted. Many Baha’i are now living in other parts of the world, including in Australia. I have been very fortunate to know them. The strongest Baha’i community groups of Parramatta, Holroyd and Blacktown, in and around my electorate, have been calling for the fair and humane treatment of the Baha’i in Iran since their arrival in Australia.

Six of the seven Baha’i leaders have been in custody since May 2008, when they were arrested in a raid of police forces on their homes. The seventh one, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, was arrested in March 2008 in Mashhad. It should be mentioned that the Raja’i prison in Mashhad has frequently been criticised by human rights advocates for its unsanitary environment, lack of medical services, crowded prison cells and unfair treatment of inmates by guards. Before this, but after the recent execution of the five political prisoners in Iran, some political prisoners and journalists were transferred from Evin prison to Raja’i prison in Karaj.

When I talk about human rights violations, there is no real way to describe the kinds of things I am talking about. I have received descriptions from some of my Iranian community of the conditions of family members after spending time in these places. No language that we use in this parliament will ever be able to convey the horror that some of these people experience at the hands of this regime.

The first trial of the seven prisoners was held on 12 January this year, and it was there that they first heard the charges that were being levelled against them. The charges included propaganda activities against the Islamic order, espionage, the establishment of an illegal administration, sending documents outside the country, cooperation with Israel, acting against the security of the country and the corruption of the earth. All seven of the prisoners have strenuously denied the charges.

The Baha’i leaders arrested nearly two years ago had their second court appearance in August. It was closed to family members. At that trial they were found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in jail. I call on the Iranian government to abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to act in a fair and transparent humane way towards the seven Baha’i leaders. (Time expired)

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Despite coming from different sides of politics, I have no hesitation in supporting the motion by the member for Blair. Iran has become something of an international pariah because of the confrontational attitude of President Ahmadinejad. The inflammatory rhetoric from Iran’s leadership with regard to nuclear development is particularly damaging to the stability of the Middle East. The international impact of Iran’s belligerence is yet to be completely realised, but for many individuals in Iran the effects of the president’s domestic policies are all too real.

The violations of human rights in Iran are deeply concerning. The Iranian government refuses to recognise international human rights standards and continues to ignore calls from around the world to engage with the international community about human rights. Of particular concern is Iran’s continued use of the death penalty—in particular, the use of stoning. I am deeply concerned about Iran’s state sanctioned abuse of women and the refusal to implement the basic principles of natural justice. Iran also continues to imprison and persecute those who expose and publicise human rights abuses.

My primary purpose in speaking to this motion today is to give voice to a small group of my constituents who are deeply concerned about the imprisonment of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran. The Baha’i community in Coffs Harbour has been active in publicising the plight of these leaders, and I want to ensure that my constituents have their concerns heard in this place.

The Baha’i leaders were charged with a range of offences, including spreading anti-government propaganda, collaboration with Israel and spreading corruption on earth. Information from within Iran indicates that the seven were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, which has been reduced to 10 years following international outcry. The accused were tried without appropriate access to legal representation, and the lawyers who did attempt to provide assistance have themselves suffered persecution and harassment. The imprisonment of these religious leaders is in direct defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms the right to freedom of religion. The opposition continues to call on the Iranian government to end its persecution of people of the Baha’i faith and to respect the right of all Iranian citizens to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor 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.