§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representation he has made to Iran concerning(a) the six Baha' is who are under sentence of death, (b) the persecution of members of the Baha'i faith and (c) the recent execution of Mr. Ruhu'llah Rawhani. [62065]
§ Mr. FatchettWe have on many occasions raised with the Iranians our desire for an improvement in their human rights record, not least with regard to the plight of the Baha'i community. An EU Troika of Heads of Mission in Tehran (UK, Austrian Presidency, and Germany) called on the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on 229W 4 October to press the Iranian Government on the cases of Mr. Dhabihi-Moqaddam and Mr. Najafbadi, two Iranian Baha'is who had death sentences confirmed at the end of September. They were informed that both men had been convicted for acting against national security, but that the sentences were subject to review by the Supreme Court. Even if the Supreme Court upheld the sentences, that would not necessarily be final. Representatives of a number of other countries have also made similar representations to the Iranians.
We are aware of further arrests of Baha'is in Iran, and continue to look into these. We are determined to impress upon the Iranians the seriousness with which their behaviour is viewed by all EU countries. The plight of the Baha'is formed a prominent part of the EU-sponsored UN human rights resolution on Iran, adopted on 18 November.
230WWe were very disturbed by the execution of Mr. Rawhani in July. The FCO Regional Director for the Middle East, summoned the Iranian Chargé on 28 July to protest. I myself saw Barney Leith, Secretary-General for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is in the UK on 5 August to express the Government's condolences about the execution of Mr. Rawhani and to discuss what more we could do to maintain international pressure on the Iranian Government to end the discrimination against the Baha'i community. Later that same day I tackled the Iranian Chargé on Mr. Rawhani's execution. I also warned him that we would be strong in our condemnation if there were further executions. The EU also reacted, including by a formal demarche to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran on 5 August. Some EU partners followed our example by summoning local Iranian diplomatic representatives to protest.