|
Iran Working Group examines the situation of ethnic and religious minorities
Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, March 13 representatives of Iran’s ethnic and religious groups testified at a meeting of the Iran Working Group, a Congressional body co-chaired by Congressman Mark Kirk and Congressman Robert Andrews. The Leadership Council for Human Rights assisted in organizing the hearing, which included testimony from Fakhteh Zamani, Director of the Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners; Sharif Behruz, U.S. Representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan; Kit Bigelow, Director of External Affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S.; Dr. Ali Al-Taie, Professor at Shaw University and author of The Arabs of Khuzestan and Iran; Dr. M. Hosseinbor, Iranian Baluchi and author of Iran and Its Nationalities: The Case of Baloch Nationalism; and Nina Shea, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
LCHR President Kathryn Cameron Porter served as moderator. Porter stressed the importance of seeking solidarity among Iran’s diverse marginalized groups in order to promote human rights for all persecuted peoples.
Rep. Kirk, who convened the working group meeting, said the treatment of Iran’s minorities was a bi-partisan issue of concern. He spoke about the importance of Iran in the future of the United States’ foreign policy, and warned about the danger of failing to understand the country’s complexities and making cultural mistakes.
Nina Shea gave a comprehensive summary of the International Religious Freedom Report on Iran, describing “systematic, ongoing persecution based primarily or entirely upon religion.” Iran’s constitution recognizes Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, as well as non-Shi’a Muslims, as members of official minority religions, but there are severe limitations upon the rights of these groups. According to the International Religious Freedom Report, religious minorities “face substantial societal discrimination, and government actions continued to support elements of society who create a threatening atmosphere.”
Groups that are not recognized face even greater problems, as illustrated by the testimony of Kit Bigelow. More than 200 Baha’is have been killed in Iran since 1978 and countless more have been imprisoned, attacked and harassed, she said. The elimination of the Baha’is is explicit government policy, meaning that they face arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and defamation from the government sponsored media on a daily basis.
“During the past few years, the situation of the Iranian Baha’is has deteriorated significantly," Bigelow said. A new draft penal code is currently being considered which specifically requires the death penalty as a punishment for apostasy, and it is thought that this is a direct threat against the Baha’i community which is regularly condemned for apostasy by the authorities.
Discrimination goes beyond religion. Iran is home to many distinct ethnic groups with their own identities and languages. Persians, the dominant ethnic group in Iran, in fact constitute just 45 percent of the population, said Dr. Hosseinbor. The remaining 55 percent of the population, made up of Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, Azeris, Turkmen and Turks, tend to be spread around the outside of the state, often splitting their population between two or three countries.
Sharif Behruz said that the poorest areas of Iran are those populated by ethnic minorities. Lack of investment has resulted in a comparatively low quality of life.
One of the biggest grievances of Iran’s ethnic minorities, expressed by all the representatives of minority groups present at the meeting, is the restriction on cultural rights, particularly the use of minority languages. Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis and other minorities are not permitted to use their mother tongue in schools, and there are significant barriers to the publishing of books. This is just one part of a larger policy of “forced assimilation” which, according to Fakhteh Zamani, has been put in place by the rulers of Iran since the 1920s.
The state-sponsored media also runs defamation campaigns, she said, including openly insulting Azeris, depicting them as intellectually challenged characters, and generally perpetuating the misconception that they are “backward”- a stereotype held by many due to the fact that they are not fluent in Farsi, the official national language.
Under the Islamic Republic, said Sharif Behruz, people are systematically repressed, and minorities are viewed as second class citizens: “unlawful detentions, torture, harassment, executions and disappearances have become a daily routine in the Kurdish areas,” he said.
Behruz said that in order to move forward and develop Iran must become “democratic and decentralized.” This would “recover its devastated economy, create political stability inside and assist in bringing about stability, security in the region, and most importantly, as an effective member of the international community can strengthen world peace.”
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee emphasized the importance of continuing to speak up for these minority groups. “Every government can be judged by its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities,” she said, “and Iran would get a failing grade.”
|
