Menschenrechtsanwältin hält im Europaparlament das Schicksal auch der iranischen Bahá'í in Erinnerung

Mahnaz Parakand vor Abgeordneten und Mitarbeitern des Europäischen Parlaments am 28. Juni 2011 in Brüssel.

Gast der Iran-Delegation des Europäischen Parlaments in Brüssel war am 28. Juni die iranische Anwältin Mahnaz Parakand, die in ihrer Eigenschaft als Mitglied des Defenders for Human Rights Centre von Dr. Shirin Ebadi die federführende Anwältin im Prozess gegen die sieben Mitglieder der iranischen Bahá’í-Führung war. Die zwei Frauen und fünf Männer wurden im August 2010 zu einer je zwanzigjährigen Haftstrafe verurteilt, die sie derzeit unter erschwerten Bedingungen absitzen. Frau Parakand war auch Anwältin im Fall von Nasrin Sotoudeh. Die Menschenrechtsanwältin wurde im Januar 2011 zu einer elfjährigen Haftstrafe verurteilt. Frau Parakand, die sich derzeit in Norwegen aufhält, sprach über die Menschenrechtslage im Iran und ging dabei der Frage nach, wie das Europäische Parlament die Menschenrechtsaktivisten im Iran unterstützen kann. Sie wurde von der deutschen Europaabgeordneten Barbara Lochbihler eingeladen; sie ist Vorsitzende der Iran-Delegation. Der Bahá’í World News Service berichtete über die Veranstaltung wie folgt (Auszüge):

The meeting, held yesterday at a conference room within the European Parliament, was Ms. Parakand’s first public appearance since fleeing her homeland after learning she was about to be arrested for her support of the seven Baha’i leaders and other cases, including that of Nasrin Sotoudeh – herself a lawyer, sentenced to 11 years in prison for representing human rights activists. …
Expressing gratitude that she could “talk freely and without any restrictions, and without feeling unsafe and being afraid of being imprisoned and tortured,” Ms. Parakand said she felt honoured to be “the voice of the martyrs who were executed merely for their beliefs,” and “to speak loudly on behalf of those who spent a number of years in prison and were tortured merely for voicing their opinion…” …
Alluding to the Iranian authorities’ recent attack on the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education – a community initiative offering higher education to young Baha’is barred from university – Ms. Parakand said she represented “the people who are deprived of having any kind of institutions for the education of their children, who are barred from entering schools and public universities.
“If there are such institutions, they are closed and their managers are arrested and imprisoned,” she said.
“I want to talk about those children who are not free to express their beliefs, otherwise they would be dismissed from school; talk about those who do not have the freedom of choosing their own friends and whose friendship with individuals who are not Baha’is is considered to be teaching the Baha’i Faith, leading to their being imprisoned and tortured.” …
Ms. Parakand concluded by urging governments and organizations to demand that Iran modify its internal discriminatory laws against intellectual and religious minorities, and coerce those countries that violate human rights to follow precisely the content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
She also appealed to the European Union to send a representative to Iran to investigate the situation of the seven Baha’i leaders, “to improve their unlawful current circumstances and to take necessary measures for their immediate release.”

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