Mr. Brendan McNamara:

I thank the Chairman and other members of the committee for inviting us here today. I will read the presentation and if there are questions afterwards my colleagues and I will be delighted to contribute to the discussion.

We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to address the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and for its members' genuine concern for the fate of the Baha'i community in Iran. The expressions of support and assistance that have been forthcoming from our Government and Members of the Oireachtas, as well as from this esteemed committee and its members, are a great source of encouragement and pride for us as Irish Baha'is.

We are gravely concerned about the situation faced by Baha'is in Iran and, indeed, for the many ordinary Iranians who are suffering discrimination or imprisonment on account of their religion or beliefs. We would like to make the following observations which we hope will be of interest and assistance to the committee.

As members of the committee will be aware, on 24 August 2013, Mr. Ataollah Rezvani, a 54-year old father of two, was murdered in his home town of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. I would like to tell you a little about Mr. Rezvani before proceeding. He was born and grew up in Iran. Shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979, he began his studies for a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Tehran. However, during his second semester he was expelled because he was a Baha'i. It was a struggle for Mr. Rezvani to make a career without qualifications. Nevertheless, he managed to become an expert in water purification. In 1985, he moved to Bandar Abbas to install water treatment systems for the cities of Bandar Abbas and Minab.

Mr. Rezvani settled into a happy life with his family and was one of the city's small group of Baha'is who attended to the needs and problems of the community after the dissolution of the city's Baha'i administration in the 1980s. He was respected and well-liked by colleagues, friends and neighbours, Baha'i and non-Baha'i, and had a reputation for kindness, integrity and service to his community.

The Iranian authorities, who have exerted every effort to block the progress of Baha'is since 1979, reacted to Mr. Rezvani's success and popularity by issuing continuous threats against him. Over the years, Mr. Rezvani and members of his family were harassed by agents of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence who tried to force them to leave the city. In addition, these were also years of hateful propaganda against Baha'is from the pulpit of local clerics in Bandar Abbas. In recent times, due to pressure from the Ministry, Mr. Rezvani lost his job. In parallel with this turn of events he also began to receive anonymous, menacing phone calls from persons unknown.

On Saturday, 24 August, Ataollah Rezvani left his house in the evening but did not return home. On the morning of Sunday, 25 August, exactly one month ago today, his car was found by a lorry driver in an isolated location on the outskirts of the city. He had been shot in the back of the head. All reports about this incident point to the fact that Ataollah Rezvani's abduction and murder was religiously motivated. In spite of this, and in spite of the ongoing requests of his family and friends, there has been no official inquiry into his murder.

All states have a duty under international law to investigate, prosecute and punish criminal behaviour. In a context where there has been a history of discrimination, and particularly if the state authorities have had a role in this, such responsibilities are all the more pertinent. Unfortunately, rather than investigate the crimes against their Baha'i citizens, the Iranian establishment has spearheaded the persecution and constantly sought to incite the masses against Baha'is.

Speaking in Geneva last March, Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, described this as "one of the broadest and most obvious cases of state-sponsored religious persecution in the world". As he put it, Iranian Baha'is experience persecution "from the cradle to the grave, and beyond".

Baha'is are not the only Iranians deprived of their rights. There are many people from all walks of life in prison for their beliefs. Though President Rouhani's election last June brought a promise of change, the evidence suggests otherwise. For example, human rights organisations like Church in Chains are very concerned for a number of Iranian Christians now in prison, in particular four persons who are serving long prison sentences. In July and August, they have reported that more than 20 Christians were arrested and detained.

We understand from its Dublin Iran group,that Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the well-being of four Sunni Muslim men from Iran's Kurdish minority, who are in imminent danger of being executed, perhaps within days. In addition to this, Sufi activists continue to be imprisoned. In late July, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, released a series of fatwas or religious rulings, one of which stated that Baha'is were "deviant and misguided" and should be shunned. Shortly after these fatwas were published, Mr. Rezvani was murdered.

Last week, 11 prisoners of conscience were released from prison in Iran and in the last few days - as the Chairman mentioned - there have been announcements of further releases. This is, indeed, good news and the Baha'i community warmly welcomes this turn of events. One of those released was the Sakharov prize-winning human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh. Interestingly, shortly before her release, Ms Sotoudeh wrote a letter to President Rouhani about the murder of Ataollah Rezvani. The text of her letter describes accurately both the current situation vis-à-vis Mr. Rezvani's murder and the current danger for the 300,000 Baha'is living in Iran.

With your permission, Chairman, I would like to quote part of Ms Sotoudeh's letter:

Esteemed President, Mr. Rouhani,
The kidnapping and murder of a Baha'i fellow citizen during your tenure is reminiscent of previous murders of dissidents. We expect you to root out these types of barbaric behaviours before they spiral out of control. Many of us were familiar with the late Ataollah Rezvani and his esteemed relatives. His sister was my fellow inmate in prison and I had the honour of acting as the lawyer for some of his relatives. They are a family who had no desire other than service to the community; yet many members of that family have endured lengthy imprisonment or are still in prison.

I hereby request you to put an end to the suppression of Baha'is and to condemn the statements that are used as permission for such violent actions against them. I also request you to take necessary measures to vindicate the rights of the religious minorities and our Baha'i citizens in accordance with article 14 of the Islamic Republic's constitution, which binds the government and Muslims to treat non-Muslims humanely ... No peace loving Iranian would wish to cause discord or provoke public anger. However, through legal means and change of the political discourse, the recognition of the rights of religious minorities is what the public demand.

(signed) Nasrin Sotoudeh

The Iranian constitution, and the international covenants to which Iran is a signatory, provide for the just and transparent treatment of every citizen. All that is required is for Iran to observe its own laws and fulfil undertakings already freely made. Implementation of existing laws would mean a hate crime, like the religiously motivated murder of Ataollah Rezvani, would be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.

We understand that there are many delicate diplomatic situations currently in train in the international political sphere. However, as Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi points out, the international community must be careful not to allow Iran to sidestep human rights obligations in favour of making progress on other diplomatic fronts. Iran must not be encouraged to interpret the possibility of agreement on some issues with the international community as permission to continue long-standing domestic abuses.

It is not only in the interest of the citizens of Iran, it is in the interests of everyone, everywhere, including Ireland, to encourage Iran to afford its own citizens all the rights to which they are entitled. As Dwight Bashir, deputy director of policy and research at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom noted recently:

Governments that limit the freedoms of their own people have shown no historical inclination to act peacefully toward other people. On the other hand, democracies that respect the rights of their people rarely go to war with each other.

Iran must be continually reminded that the international community is watching and that, ultimately, those who perpetrate abuses against Iranian citizens will be held accountable.

The persecution of Baha'is is one of the issues repeatedly denounced internationally when the UN, intergovernmental bodies and civil society comment on Iranian violations of international human rights standards. For over 20 years, the UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions referring to violations against minorities in Iran including the Baha'is. Since 2005, eight UN special procedures have reported on the abuses detailed above and they have also been presented in the reports on human rights in Iran by the UN Secretary General for the past four years. These expert reports have emphasised that as religion and belief have the same status in the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, Iran must allow Baha'is to manifest their beliefs individually and in community with others, in public and in private.

How Iran's largest religious minority community is faring is arguably the best gauge of Iran's treatment of all its citizens. It should be noted the Iranian Baha'is love their country deeply, despite the suffering they have endured. They are heartened by growing support among the general population in defence of their rights and look forward to playing their part in the progress of that wonderful country.

We believe that the new Iranian President should be judged on his deeds rather than his words. We ask the committee to join with us in calling on the Iranian President, Mr. Rouhani, to ensure freedom of religion and belief is respected and protected in Iran and that all the citizens of that country are treated with justice. Since 2005, at least nine Baha'is have been murdered or died under suspicious circumstances. We are not aware of a single instance of someone being prosecuted for these crimes, much less being convicted or imprisoned. A full investigation into the murder of Mr. Ataollah Rezvani is, we believe, a requirement if we are to hope that talk of change is a prelude to actual improvement in the human rights situation in Iran.