Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely. If we mention the Baha'i, for example, the Baha'i rise in Iran as a minority religion, I think it's based on.... Mr. Kowsar mentioned the Iranian history and Iranian elected politics, but I do agree with him. However, I'm also going to speak against the structure

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee   originally from Shiraz, so I know a lot about what happened after the revolution to many Baha'is. Before the Islamic revolution, there were different groups, anti-Baha'i groups, in Iran. Now many of the members of those anti-Baha'i groups are members of the regime. One of the groups

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee   any newspaper, never. They have nothing—no newspaper, no magazine, no media, and even in Teheran they are not allowed to have their own mosque. Also, imagine a woman from Kurdistan who is LGBT, a Sunni lesbian who converts to Baha'i in Iran, and who has a Ph.D. in medicine

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, for decades the Baha'i community has been the most persecuted peoples in Iran, but in the past few weeks the ruling Mullahs have orchestrated an increasingly hostile and systematic attack on the Baha'i Iranians. The situation is surely grim for the Baha'i. The eyes

Business of Supply   Vietnamese boat people, the 1999 airlift of 7,000 Kosovo refugees, the 1980s resettlement of 2,800 Baha'i refugees from Iran, and the 1956-57 37,000 Hungarian refugees who fled persecution by a communist regime controlled by the Soviet Union. To his eternal credit, it was the former

International Religious Freedom Day  . Their villages have been destroyed, men have been tortured and killed, and women and girls have been sold into sexual slavery, all for little more than their faith. There are also lesser known cases of those who suffer for their beliefs, such as the Baha'is in Iran, Falun Dafa in China

Foreign Affairs   abuser. Missing were critics of Iran's human rights abuses, such as that country's religious minorities: Baha'is, Baluch, and Iranian Kurds. My question is for the foreign affairs minister. Is this what the Prime Minister means by Canada is back, rewards of embassies for despots

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the government is open and has met with individuals with a range of views and beliefs, including members of the Baha'i community. We are committed to step-by-step re-engagement with Iran. Engagement does not mean agreement, but it does give a platform to raise

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee   but under his regime the life of Yazidis, Assyrians, Christians, Sabians, and Baha'is was much better than today, which now they call a democratic Iraq. Under Saddam no religious people could give a fatwa or permission to kill Yazidis or Christians. If the west thinks they are going

Business of Supply   we hear from our government? Nothing. Another issue, of course, is the persecution of the Baha'i in Iran. It is a good example of a place where the current government is silent one more time. The government has decided it wants to normalize relationships with the regime in Iran

Foreign Affairs committee   of the other countries that I mentioned, such as Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia or Leopoldo López in Venezuela or the Baha'i in Iran, that they are not alone, that we stand in solidarity with them, that we will not relent in our pursuit of justice for them, and that we will undertake our

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee   was involved then with Andrei Sakharov and Natan Sharansky in the former Soviet Union, and Nelson Mandela in South Africa—or presently in such places as Saudi Arabia, with my involvement now with Raif Badawi, or the Baha'i in Iran or Wang Bingzhang in China or Leopoldo López in Venezuela

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the invitation to testify before the distinguished members of this subcommittee. As many of you already know, the Bahá'í faith originated in Persia, modern-day Iran. The Bahá'í community is the country's largest non-Muslim religious minority. Baha'is

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee   has in supporting the Iranian people and pressuring Khamenei's regime. We also heard from Corrine Box of the Baha'i Community of Canada, who described the institutionalized and socially accepted discrimination and persecution faced by the Baha'i in Iran, including economic

Iran  , such as the Baha'i, is particularly appalling. Iran's jails are full of political prisoners. Those who dare to speak out against the government continue to be punished unjustly, often without charges or trial. I ask all my colleagues to join me in telling the victims of the Iranian regime