Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 383: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the circumstances of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42327/08]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 384: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are approximately 30 detainees who have been labelled "Guantanamo's refugees" (details supplied); if he has had contact with the US authorities or with lawyers for the detainees regarding their relocation to safe countries; if he would be willing to offer them refuge here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42329/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 383 and 384 together.

These questions have also been addressed to my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is the lead Department on the issue of resettling citizens of third countries into Ireland and the Minister is, I understand, providing a comprehensive response to the Deputy's questions.

Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 385: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will review the situation of the Bahai's in Iran; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42351/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The situation of members of the minority Baha'i faith in Iran has long been a matter of serious concern to the Government and to members of the Oireachtas, and has been discussed here on many occasions. There is in Iran no tolerance of the Baha'i faith, which is regarded as a heretical or apostate offshoot of Islam. In recent years, as conservative forces have again asserted control in Iran, there has been a progressive increase in harassment of individual Baha'is, and worrying indications that these are part of a concerted effort by the Iranian authorities to destroy the Baha'i faith and community as a whole. Baha'i property has been confiscated and organisations suppressed, and burial places closed. Individual Baha'is have been excluded from certain jobs, and in particular from participation in higher education. Media linked closely to the Government have systematically misrepresented the Baha'i faith and attempted to promote hatred against its members.

Earlier this year a group of seven Baha'is, who have been active in providing informal leadership or coordination for their community, were arrested and detained in Tehran. Their continued detention is a source of particular concern. In 1980, in the early days of the Islamic Republic, their predecessors in the formal Baha'i leadership, the National Spiritual Assembly, were arrested and never seen again. The successor leadership were arrested in 1981 and executed. There is therefore naturally concern about the fate of the recent detainees, and I call in particular on the Iranian authorities to release them and other Baha'is detained because of their faith.

I am deeply concerned about the ongoing oppression of the Baha'i community in Iran and made my concerns known to Iranian Foreign Minister, Mr Mottaki when I met him in New York in September as well as to the Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Safari, when he visited Dublin in June. I will continue to do so. Our position is very clear: Iran must act to uphold fully the right to adopt and practise a religion of choice and must end the persecution of the Baha'i community. My Department continues to keep in close touch with the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is in Ireland in monitoring this situation.

The EU has also been active in drawing international attention to the oppression of Baha'is in Iran. In 2008 alone, the Union made a public Declaration in February on the deteriorating situation of Iranian Baha'is, and in September made a further declaration on the situation of Baha'is and other religious minorities. Ireland has been active in keeping this issue to the fore among the many human rights problems in Iran of concern to the EU. Ireland and our EU partners have also co-sponsored a Resolution on human rights in Iran, including this issue, at the current session of the UN General Assembly in New York.