Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly, thank you very much for the question, particularly because it's caused me to reflect. Here, I'm going to go back to the list of statistics of prisoners that we have. I have been surprised by the number of women prisoners of all ages who are Bahá'í. When I think about

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so very much. This is very helpful and we wish you luck with your work.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a very difficult question to answer. I'm not sure that I know what Canada can do to make that happen. Canada is doing so much at the multilateral level not only to tell Iran of its concern but also to get other countries on board and pay attention to it. I think there are

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Marston. It's a pleasure to see you again. I'm sorry that it's necessary to be here to do this. It's very difficult to get an accurate count of how many Bahá’ís there are in Iran, because clearly we don't have an administrative structure there. Just keeping track

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Sweet. It's very difficult to respond to that question without first saying that the persecution any people face is intolerable. What is happening to the Bahá’í is symptomatic of what is happening to many groups of Iranian people. Probably what disting

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so very much, Mr. Reid, for the opportunity to address the Subcommittee on International Human Rights. Thank you to you and all the members for providing us with this opportunity. The Iranian government violates the rights of many of its citizens, be they women, academ

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, absolutely, I think it would be a wonderful thing to have a take note debate in the House. We understand that when those happen, when members of Parliament speak in the House, it's noted in Iran and it does have an impact. It not only cautions the Iranian government, but it

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Dr. Akhavan.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think dialogue is always a good thing. To consult together with other people to resolve differences is very important. If we look, however, to Iran's record when it has been engaged in dialogue—I am thinking in particular of its dialogue with Europeans some five or six years

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I yield to Payam. Dr. Akhavan.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If my measure were what's happening to the people in the Bahá'í community in Iran, I would have to say that their situation continues to deteriorate. But I don't know if that necessarily translates into the sanctions not working, because we don't know what the situation would be

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  No, she's out of the country. She's not in Iran, and one of her colleagues, Mr. Soltani, who was also part of that practice, is in prison.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The parliaments of the predictable partners, the U.S. and the U.K., are taking action, and their governments are continuing their action. Every year, in advance of the discussion of the resolution at the United Nations, Canada, through its missions, makes representations to gover

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I referred in my testimony to the Bahá'í Institute For Higher Education, which was established to provide university education to Bahá'í youth routinely denied access to Iranian universities. Much of that education has been put on the Internet. Much of it is through online course

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Chair and distinguished members, thank you for the invitation to comment on developments in the religious persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran since our testimony on the subject on February 26, 2009. As anticipated in your report, “Ahmadinejad's Iran”, and as documented by the