Persecution

Allan Rock and Lloyd Axworthy.
Toronto, Ontario, 5 January 2012 (CBNS) — Two pre-eminent Canadians, Lloyd Axworthy, President of the University of Winnipeg and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Allan Rock, President of the University of Ottawa and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations and federal cabinet minister, have published an eloquent appeal on behalf of the Baha'is of Iran.

Under the title "Canadians Can Help Stop the Persecution of Iran's Baha'is", they write of how "deeply troubled" they are that Baha'is are denied access to university, and express concern that "the brutal regime in Tehran has turned a deaf ear" to the calls to end "systematic persecution of Baha'is".

Senator Mobina Jaffer. "We must continue to stand up and directly face the threat presented by Iran to its own people," Senator Jaffer told the Canadian Senate on 1 December.
Ottawa, Ontario, 5 December 2011 (BWNS)— At the Canadian Senate enquiry into the persecution of Iranian Baha'is, Canada's first Muslim senator has strongly criticized Iran for its prosecution and imprisonment of Baha'i educators.

Lieutenant-General The Honourable Roméo A. Dallaire, O.C., C.M.M., G.O.C, M.S.C., C.D., (Retired), Senator Ottawa, Ontario, 30 November 2011 (CBNS)— Senator Romeo Dallaire addressed Canada’s Senate on Tuesday 29 November 2011 in one of the most challenging and detailed public indictments of Iran’s treatment of Baha’is.

The seven Baha'i educators sentenced to prison are (top row, left to right): Mahmoud Badavam, Ramin Zibaie, Riaz Sobhani, Farhad Sedghi; (bottom row, left to right) Noushin Khadem, Kamran Mortezaie, and Vahid Mahmoudi.
New York, 18 October 2011 (Taken from files of BWNS) — A Baha'i educator with a degree from a Canadian university received a four-year prison sentence in Iran while two other Baha'i educators with Canadian university degrees are being held in prison without charge, according to reports received by the Baha'i International Community.

Forty-three distinguished philosophers and theologians have signed an open letter calling upon Iran to cease its persecution of young Bahá’ís seeking access to higher education. Among them are such prominent figures as: (top row, left to right) Cornel West (Princeton, U.S.A.), Graham Ward (Oxford, U.K.), Charles Taylor (McGill, Canada), Leonardo Boff (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); (bottom row, left to right) Ebrahim Moosa (Duke, U.S.A.), Hilary Putnam (Harvard, U.S.A.), Stanley Hauerwas (Duke, U.S.A.) and Tahir Mahmood (former member, Law Commission, India)..Toronto, 11 October 2011 (CBNS) — Two prominent Canadian philosophers have joined more than 40 of their colleagues around the world in condemning Iran’s attacks on the Baha’i community’s efforts to provide education for Baha’i students who are systematically denied access to higher education.