An important lesson to be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic

Jul 25, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

An important lesson to be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic is that authoritarian regimes that disregard the human rights of citizens will take advantage of any crisis, even a global health crisis.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a case in point. Iranian authorities are using this period to intensify persecutions against the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the country– the Baha’is. Amid the pandemic we have seen a wave of anti-Baha’i propaganda and arbitrary arrest. Last month, at least 77 arrests were made across the country of people whose only “crime” is their belief. The sentences that follow are absurdly harsh and send them to prisons where the COVID-19 virus is rapidly spreading.
Indigenous to Iran, the Bahá’i faith is a world religion which recently celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of its prophet-founder, Bahá’u’lláh. The central tenant of His teaching is the essential unity of humankind. Baha’is in Ireland are gravely concerned by the state-sponsored dehumanization and campaign of persecution faced by fellow believers in the cradle of the faith. We are also proud of the fact that more than several countries around the world MP and Prime Ministers and leading medics have signed a statement calling on the Iranian government to cease arrest and imprisonment of their Baha’i citizens.
As matters stand today, the safety of an entire Iranian Baha’i community relies completely on the vigilance of the international community.

Yours sincerely,
Rooplall Dudhnath

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