On the recordMarch 1, 2011
today I rise to introduce a bipartisan resolution with my colleague Senator Durbin condemning the government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of the Baha'i minority. Founded in Iran in 1844, the Baha'i faith now has more than 5 million adherents in 236 countries and territories. The Baha'is comprise the largest religious minority in Iran. The Baha'is preach tolerance, diversity and equality. Yet since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Baha'is have faced brutal and unrelenting persecution in Iran. According to the U.S. State Department, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed since 1979. The Baha'is are regularly denied employment, access to higher education, and face multiple forms of discrimination and harassment. In August 2010, the Iranian government sentenced seven leaders of Iran's Baha'i community to 20-year prison terms on charges of 'spying for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, propaganda against the regime and spreading corruption on earth.' Their lawyer has been denied all access to the Baha'i prisoners and their files. Last month, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced a Baha'i human rights activist, Navid Khanjani, to a 12-year prison term on charges that included 'propaganda against the regime by publishing news, reports, and interviews with foreign TV and radio.' The United States and the international community need to act now.
