Imprisonment of the 7 Baha'i Leaders in Iran - Day 75

It's been 2months and a half since the arrest of the national leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran. In the meantime the media and the politicians have been focusing mostly if not all of their attention on the nuclear issue with very rare and occasional mentions of the human rights situation in Iran. For example today BBC reported on Iran executes 29 in jail hangings.

Unfortunately, Iran is only 2nd to China in its number of executions (see Amnesty International report). In this report Iran with a population of 70.5million is reported as having executed at least 317 people in 2007 compared to China's 470 executions (total population of 1.320billion, ie 20x that of Iran).

The systematic persecution of the peaceful Baha'i community in Iran by the Islamic Republic must be seen by the world community as a litmus test for Iran's compliance with international laws and treaties. How can a country that is systematically persecuting its own law abiding citizens (ie the Baha'is) be trusted to be fair and open in its relations with foreign nationals and countries?

Iran can do well to show it's determination to implement justice not by more executions of criminals and those it sees as its opponents but by providing a just environment in which at least it's law abiding citizens can live in peace, and have access to education, employment and freedom of belief (freedoms all denied to the Baha'is in Iran). Release of the 7 national leaders of the Baha'is of Iran can be the first step.