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Iran's Forgotten Prisoners of Conscience

(Wall Street Journal Europe) Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett - The Baha'is are Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, numbering more than 300,000. As of February 2014, at least 135 Baha'is remained jailed for their beliefs. Hundreds more have cases pending. It is well-known that Baha'is seek peace, not political power, and pose no conceivable security threat. Yet Iran's theocracy persecutes them, revealing a deep aversion to those whose only "crime" is embracing beliefs other than the regime's. Since 1979, the government has since killed more than 200 Baha'i leaders and removed more than 10,000 from government and university positions. Baha'is are barred from attending colleges and universities, from starting their own schools, and from establishing houses of worship. Authorities won't recognize their marriages, their relatives can't inherit their property, and Iran's media demonize Baha'is. Mr. George serves as chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and is a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University. Ms. Lantos Swett serves as USCIRF vice chair.
2014-05-20 00:00:00
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