Wed
15
Jul
2009
Gordon Brown meets with Bahá’í delegation
From left: Kishan Manocha, Lembit Öpik, Bahar Tahzib, Barney LeithThe Prime Minister Gordon Brown has underlined the UK government's concern over the seven Bahá'í leaders being detained in Iran. Mr Brown's remarks were made at a meeting which took place this afternoon at the Prime Minister's office in the Houses of Parliament, attended by Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire - who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá'ís group - and a delegation of three Bahá'ís, including two members of the national governing council of the Bahá'í Faith in the UK.
It was the first ever meeting between a UK Prime Minister and representatives of the Bahá’í community, which was established in Britain in 1898.
The prisoners – five men and two women – were arrested in spring 2008. Prior to their arrest they were members of an informal committee looking after the affairs of Iran’s 300,000 strong Bahá’í community, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. Charges against the seven have been reported in government-controlled mass media as “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities” and “propaganda against the Islamic republic”. A further accusation of “spreading corruption on earth” has also been cited.
For more than a year, the seven have been detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison without charge or access to their legal counsel, the Nobel laureate Dr Shirin Ebadi. Expectations that a trial would take place earlier this week were not realised. Some 30 other Bahá’ís are currently in prison in Iran.
The Bahá’í delegation was led by Dr Kishan Manocha, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom. Also present were the Honourable Barney Leith, Director of Diplomatic Relations for the UK Bahá’í community, and Mrs Bahar Tahzib.
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