A frail Lady takes on Supreme leader Khamenei!! Where are we…?
Asma Jilani Jahangir, born 1952, Lahore, is a Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions. The name of Asma Jehangir, human rights activist, commands respect, admiration and affection in the Indian sub-continent comprising India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. According to her, the new wave of Baha'i persecution in Iran is a gross infringement of UN Declaration of Human rights. The Special Rapporteur made public a confidential and official letter sent on 29 October 2005 by the chairman of the command headquarters of Iran's armed forces to several Iranian government agencies stating that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has instructed the command headquarters to identify and monitor, in a highly confidential manner, members of the Baha'i faith in Iran.
She has expressed the fear that information gained through such monitoring would be used as a basis for the "increased persecution of and discrimination against members of the Bahai faith, in violation of international standards." She is a very frail lady ready to take on the power of the entire cabal of the Iranian theocracy. If she can throw the gauntlet to Khamenei, I ask why Shirin Ebadi can’t speak up for the rights of the persecuted Bahai community. Why the Iranian intellectuals turn their face the other way? Is Pakistan not far more difficult a place to survive if one invites the wrath of the mullahs? Why can’t Iranica intellectuals speak up against this planned downsizing of a very vibrant Iranian Bahai community? They could join the civilised world by condemning this actuarial scientific method of marginalisation. Many intellectuals worldwide have done so exactly.
As Iranian intellectuals enjoy the ‘Rip van winkle’ slumber today, Professor Kevin Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Essex, Professor Guy S Goodwin, Gill Senior Research Fellow All Souls College, University Of Oxford, Professor Francoise Hampson OBE, Professor of Law, University of Essex, Professor Matthew Kramer, Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy, University of Cambridge, Professor Javaid Rehman, Professor of International Law Brunel University, Professor Malcolm Shaw QC, Sir Robert Jennings, Professor of International Law, University of Leicester, Professor Patrick Thornberry CMG, Professor of International Law Keele University, have all joined hands and issued a direct appeal to the conscience of the world; they have said that “concern with Iran's nuclear status is overshadowing its human rights situation. As persons committed to the dignity of all human beings and the protection and guaranteeing of human rights, we are greatly concerned at the news announced on 20 March by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ms Asma Jehangir.
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