Iran  Mr. Speaker, I have some difficulty speaking on behalf of the government as to what our government is doing. Although I know that in our committee government members have worked with us and when we had our witnesses we developed together the report on Iran that had 30

Iran   movement, but I do not think his comments were any less poignant in regard to the Baha'i community. Therefore, I want to introduce the seven leaders who have been incarcerated in Iran since 2008. The first is Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, arrested May 14, 2008, in her home in Tehran

Iran  . It is a discussion of what I have referred to as the eight stages of genocide. What struck me in the course of this discussion and the previous member's discussion about the treatment of the Baha'is is that some of the eight stages of genocide seem to be elements of the treatment of the Baha'is

Iran   were already incarcerated before that for periods of time, even in solitary confinement. The treatment of the Baha'i people and all minorities in Iran is just absolutely appalling and shows much of the evidence of what my colleague mentioned about the stages toward genocide

Iran   against ethnic minorities, such as the Baha'i community. What could the Canadian government do to give Iranian activists an opportunity to study the Canadian federal system? Several countries in Africa have already studied our system. Representatives came to Canada and met

Iran  Mr. Chair, I want to thank the member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country for his very well thought out presentation and intervention tonight on this, the fourth anniversary of the wrongful imprisonment of several Baha'i leaders in Iran. This week we are seeing

Iran  Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for Selkirk—Interlake for his work and his initiative in standing up for human rights in Iran. He mentioned a couple of things that I would like to respond to. First, he mentioned that it is the fourth anniversary of the imprisonment of Baha'i

Iran   moments. I would like to ask my colleague across the way about a new initiative of the Canadian government, the office of religious freedom. What we find around the world is that much persecution is driven by religious prejudice. In Iran, of course, the Baha'i are suffering

Iran   matter at hand in a professional and non-partisan way that really reflects the actual concerns of Iranian Canadians, Baha'i Canadians and others about the terrible human rights abuses that are occurring in Iran.

Iran   the Iranian people. Given that the phenomena of execution, of torture, of suspension leading to strangulation, of political imprisonment of Baha'i leadership and many other categories of citizens facing this terrible form of persecution is so widespread in Iran, would he not agree

Iran   are testimony to the importance if not urgency of this debate. We meet, as I said earlier, on the fifth anniversary of the imprisonment of the Baha'i leadership, a case study of Iranian injustice in the criminalization of innocence and the targeting of Iran's largest religious minority

Iran   sentence. Our government is also deeply concerned about the lack of religious freedom in Iran. Other speakers have addressed this concern tonight, particularly in the persecution of the Baha'i minority in Iran. There is also severe persecution of other religious minorities, including

Iran   in such claims if they could see evidence of peaceful intentions. Instead of sentencing Iranian Christians, Baha'is and others to death for their faith, Iran should demonstrate religious tolerance. Instead of threatening Israel with destruction, Iran should stop funding Hezbollah. Instead

Human Rights  Mr. Speaker, this week marks the fourth anniversary of the imprisonment of the Baha'i leadership, where the 20 year sentence is a virtual death sentence, reminding us of the systemic and systematic persecution and prosecution of the Baha'is, itself a case study in Iranian

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee   Brotherhood, but we'll see for certain going forward. One of the other concerns I have is that Christians and Jews are mentioned in the constitution, but there's also a significant population of Baha'is. Of course, we've had the Baha'i community before us a number of times. They are very