Canadians call for end to persecution...

[arthra]

The two Canadian university presidents who are calling for an end to Iran's persecution of Baha'i educators and students. Allan Rock, left, is president of the University of Ottawa; Lloyd Axworthy, right, is president of the University of Winnipeg. UN photos by Mark Garten and Evan Schneider.

Canadian university presidents speak out for Baha'i educators

9 January 2012
Toronto — Two pre-eminent university presidents are urging all of their fellow Canadians to join them in calling for an end to Iran's persecution of Baha'i educators and students.
The appeal comes from Canada's former minister of foreign affairs and president of the University of Winnipeg, Lloyd Axworthy, and Allan Rock – who is president of the University of Ottawa and former Canadian ambassador to the UN.
In an article in the Canadian edition of The Huffington Post, they speak of how "deeply troubled" they are that Baha'is are denied access to higher education in Iran, and express concern that "the brutal regime in Tehran has turned a deaf ear" to calls to end the systematic persecution.
Read the article here.
"As Presidents of Canadian universities," they write, "we attach enormous value to access by young people to the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in tomorrow's world. We regard education as the key to a better future for all peoples, and believe passionately that each person has the right to an education."
Their article particularly draws attention to the attack launched by Iranian authorities on an informal community initiative – known as the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) – which was set up to provide education for young Baha'is barred from university.
Among those arrested in May last year for their association with BIHE was Nooshin Khadem – an MBA graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa. She is now serving a four-year jail term. A married couple currently awaiting trial, Kamran Rahimian and Faran Hessami, completed their graduate studies in psychology counseling at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education.
"They were charged with teaching without valid accreditation," the article states. "The Iranian authorities confiscated their U of O degrees and then alleged that they had never earned them."
Presidents Axworthy and Rock are encouraging "all Canadians to add their voice in calling on the Iranian government unconditionally to drop all charges against educators, to halt all further aggression towards the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education and to allow the Baha'i access to education. The Baha'i of Iran must know that in resisting the cruel oppression of those who persecute them, they do not stand alone."
The article concludes with the two presidents stating that they are "proud to join" with a "growing group of academics, university administrators and notable advocates for peace including Desmond Tutu, Romeo Dallaire and Jose Ramos-Horta" who are "condemning the Iranian regime's denial of the right to education."

 

[arthra]

“Everyone has the right to education.”


~ Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The 16 Baha'is initially detained after Iranian authorities raided some 39 homes associated with staff and faculty of the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education, in May 2011.








Since 1979, the government of Iran has systematically sought to deprive young members of the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority – the 300,000-strong Baha’i community – from higher education. Thousands of other students have also been barred from universities for being active in student unions, campus publications, or social and political issues including women’s rights, academic freedom, human rights and the rights of prisoners.
Authorities have also sought to close down Baha’i efforts to establish their own educational initiatives, including the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. Such acts on the part of the Iranian government are, without doubt, part of a coordinated effort to eradicate the Baha’i community as a viable group within Iranian society.

This special section includes articles and background information concerning Iran’s campaign to deny higher education to Baha’is and in particular, its recent efforts to shut down the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. Baha’I World News Service articles are listed below. A digest of recent developments is available under Current Summary.