Advani appeals to Iran for justice for imprisoned Bahai leaders

Stressing that a country's civilisation can be best judged from seeing how it treats its minorities, veteran BJP leader L K Advani today appealed to Iran to join the United Nations and provide justice to seven imprisoned leaders of Bahai community.

''I appeal to Iran to join the UN and the rest of the international community to treat the Bahais with respect and provide justice to the imprisoned seven leaders of the community,'' the BJP Parliamentary Party Chairman said in a statement issued by National Spritual Assembly of the Bahais of India.

Citing the example of Parsi community in India, Mr Advani said, ''They came to India centuries ago facing persecution from Islamic fundamentalists and today they live in India as a prominent minority community and are very successful.'' Besides, other eminent people, including former UN special Rapporteur on Housing Rights Miloon Kothari, former dean of School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru Univerity Amitabh Kundu and senior coloumnist George Verghese, also raised concern against the handling of the case of seven Bahai leaders who are currently facing 10-year imprisonment without the due process of law, the statement said.

According to the National Spritual Assembly of the Bahais of India, the persecution of the community has increased since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran.

''This present wave of systematic attacks on the Bahai leadership came in 2008 when the seven former leaders were arrested without charges and kept in temporary detention for nine months,'' the statement added.