The Institute on Religion and Public Policy condemns arson attacks

The IRPP has put out the following statement:

Institute condemns Iranian arsonist targeting of Baha’is

In the early hours of the morning of July 18, the house of the Shaaker family in Kerman was set on fire, only weeks after their car had been torched and in the wake of a series of threatening phone calls. Officials investigating the fire ignored and dismissed obvious signs of suspicious activity, such as a muffled explosion, simply saying that it was the result of an electrical problem.

At least a dozen cases of arson that target Baha’is have been reported in Iran in the last 15 months. Furthermore, over two months ago, seven members of Iran’s national Bahá’í coordinating group were arrested. Although they have still not been charged, they remain in Evin Prison in Tehran, without access to an attorney or to their families.

Photographs of this attack, as well as details on other recent arson cases targeting Iranian Bahá’ís, are available on the Bahá’í World News website at: http://news.bahai.org/story/645.



About Institute on Religion and Public Policy

Nominated for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Peace, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy is an international, inter-religious non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring freedom of religion as the foundation for security, stability, and democracy.

The Institute works globally with government policymakers, religious leaders, business executives, academics, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and others in order to develop, protect, and promote fundamental rights - especially the right of religious freedom - and contributes to the intellectual and moral foundation of the fundamental right of religious freedom. The Institute encourages and assists in the effective and cooperative advancement of religious freedom.