The Bahá'í communities in Northern Ireland were united in their actions in defence of their brothers and sisters in Iran, following the recent request from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom.
Our national body contacted Spiritual Assemblies and groups to put them in the picture about recent developments which were causing concern. These had been set out by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir. They related to intensified information-gathering by the Iranian authorities about individual Bahá'ís and their activities, and her fears 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 Bahá'í faith, in violation of international standards. She called on the Government of Iran to refrain from categorizing individuals according to their religion and to ensure that members of all religious minorities are free to hold and practise their religious beliefs, “without discrimination or fear".
An Early Day Motion has been introduced into the House of Commons with cross-party support and Members of Parliament were invited to sign this to show their concern for the situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran. All eighteen of Northern Ireland’s MPs were contacted, with newer members being visited by delegations from their constituency and briefed about the situation. At the time of writing this 125 MPs have signed the Motion—a very good figure for an EDM—eight of them from Northern Ireland.
Communities were also asked to submit press releases to their local newspapers about what has been going on and, again, the Northern Ireland response was very good. So far we have had press cuttings from nine areas, some of them sending in items from more than one paper. More are expected.
What has been done is very important for the protection of the Faith and of our fellows in Iran. They are made easier by the fact that communities in Northern Ireland have been active in local press and external affairs work over the years—a level of activity that needs to be sustained and increased in case we are once again called upon by the National Spiritual Assembly to take action.
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