Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 6:33AM | in Governance Against Iran's national interest
On the heels of Roxana Saberi's release from Evin Prison and on the one-year anniversary of the imprisonment of the seven Baha'i leaders, Dr Moojan Momen reminds us on the importance of international pressure in demanding justice for the innocent.
Iran's perception of its national interest is influenced by how its actions affect its international relations. Will our media and governments stand up to remind Iran where its real interests lie? Says Dr Momen:
George Wesley over at Baha'i Views notes on Tuesday that there were 3775 news articles about Roxana Saberi (she is now out of prison) and only 7 about the Baha'i leaders (they are, sadly, still detained).
It's time for the media to step up.
Iran's perception of its national interest is influenced by how its actions affect its international relations. Will our media and governments stand up to remind Iran where its real interests lie? Says Dr Momen:
The allegations against the Baha'is are as nonsensical as they are unjust. The accusations play to the fears of certain areas of the Iranian population about enemies - internal and external - conspiring to undermine the country.
Iran remains a state with a great sense of its own historic legacy and with a clear goal of attaining a mantle of regional leadership - of both moral, as well as political, dimensions.
For the seven Baha'is being held in the grim confines of their Evin cells, their best hope for release might lie in a public protest as widespread as the one that led to the freeing of Roxana Saberi.
Such an outcry may help Iran's leaders to reflect that imprisoning and persecuting the innocent is not in their national interest.
George Wesley over at Baha'i Views notes on Tuesday that there were 3775 news articles about Roxana Saberi (she is now out of prison) and only 7 about the Baha'i leaders (they are, sadly, still detained).
It's time for the media to step up.
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 6:33AM | in Governance 
Reader Comments (5)
[...] Against Iran’s national interest [...]
Thanks Geoff for posting this on your blog. It is really shocking that the international community gives this story such short shrift.
Appreciate the comment, Al. I just checked out the Pasadena Baha'i community blog (http://pasadenabahai.com/) you're maintaining and it looks great!
The reason why the international community isn't taking up the Baha'is' cause is simply because they are Iranian citizens, not Americans, Brits, Canadians etc. There are so many human rights violations in the world these days, and 99.99% of them go unreported.
That said, I would be flabbergasted if the Iranian government was stupid enough to execute these poor people - that surely WOULD make the headlines, and surely they don't want this kind of publicity. They'll probably just get long jail sentences.
Wretched situation.
Well, the primary issue here is justice. Any way you look at it, the Baha'i leaders are imprisoned because of systemic prejudice rooted in religious extremism. They have done absolutely nothing wrong and the entire case is a farce.
I think the attitude of 'so many human rights violations, so little time' is adopted far too often by the mainstream media. The case of the Baha'is deserves attention because it is a clear and well-documented example of state-sponsored persecution of a religious minority. Iran has adopted a genocidal posture towards the Baha'is and they need to be repeatedly called out before the intentions of so many hardline clerics are carried out more fully.