Mr. Speaker, today, six of the seven members of the Baha'i faith leadership group will be entering their eighth year of incarceration in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mrs. Kamalabadi, Mr. Khanjani, Mr. Naemi, Mr. Rezaie, Mr. Tavakkoli, and Mr. Tizfahm joined Mrs. Mahvash Sabet in prison in early May 2008. Their only crime in Iran is their membership in the Baha'i faith and their efforts to serve the spiritual and social needs of their fellow believers. This seven-member group, known as Yaran, which means friends, was formed to minister to the needs of their community at the national level. The Yaran's 20-year prison term represents the longest imposed on any current prisoner of conscience in Iran, and for some, given their advanced age, amounts to a life sentence. These seven Baha'i leaders are yet another example of the travesty of justice in Iran, and their imprisonment is a glaring abuse of human rights.
I call upon President Rouhani and the Iranian regime to respect human rights and freedom of religion, exercise clemency, suspend their sentences and immediately release the seven Baha'i leaders.