Saturday, November 8, 2014

UK judges demolish Iranian Bahai couple claims against Iran

UK judges demolish Iranian Bahai couple claims against Iran: Say they carried out religious teaching activities against the wishes of Government

The hearing was for granting asylum of an Iranian Bahai couple by UK state Department. The case was heard at Bradford   on 27 April 2006 Before SENIOR IMMIGRATION JUDGE Mr. LANE , Mr.ROBERTS and Mr. MACDONALD

The Iranian Bahai couple was the appellant and the secretary of State Home department (UK) was the respondent.

The case is an eyeopener against Bahai propaganda on alleged atrocities in Iran. The learnt judge have demolished all appeals of the Bahai couple against the government of Iran. The comments of the learned judges would be guidance to other judiciaries, in times to come, for realizing the truth.

The Case
The appellant, a citizen of Iran born on 29 August 1953, entered the United Kingdom on 23 April 2005 using a twelve-month visitor’s multi-visa, which was valid from 14 February 2005 to 14 February 2006. He was accompanied by his wife. On 10 October 2005, the appellant claimed asylum. On 16 November 2005 the respondent decided (i) to vary the appellant's leave to enter the United Kingdom, so as to terminate that leave, and (ii) that the appellant should be removed to Iran by way of directions. The appellant appealed against that decision on the grounds that his removal from the United Kingdom in consequence of it would breach the United Kingdom’s obligations under the Refugee Convention and would be unlawful under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 as being incompatible with the appellant's rights under the ECHR.

The Tribunal's assessment

A. Iranian Bahai Claim 
Baha’is in Iran face substantial discrimination, which extends beyond the purely religious field to such matters as education, work, ownership of property and access to justice.

Tribunal's assessment
The evidence does not, however, show that the nature and prevalence of this discrimination is of such intensity and generality as to amount to persecution for the purposes of the Refugee Convention. It is significant that none of the outside observers who have had cause to consider the situation of Baha’is has formed the conclusion that a person is at real risk of persecution in Iran merely by reason of being a Baha’i. That includes Baha’is who practise their faith. Whilst the use of such language by the couple is understandable, it does not compel a conclusion on the part of this Tribunal that any Iranian Baha’i, practising or not, who makes his or her way to the United Kingdom, should without more investigation be accorded international protection.


B. Iranian Bahai Claim
The appellant Doctor by profession claims to fear persecution in Iran on account of their being Bahais.. The appellant was arrested in 1983 on charges relating to his activities as a Baha’i, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court. He was released in 1989, having served some five years eight months of his sentence.

In 1998 the appellant was arrested in connection with his activities as a lecturer at the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education. The appellant was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court. After fourteen months and fourteen days, the appellant was released by the Court of Appeal, which the appellant ascribed in part, to international pressure on Iran to improve the treatment of Baha’is.

In July 2004 the appellant was arrested at home whilst hosting a devotional meeting involving a form of Baha’i teaching developed by an organisation known as the Ruhy Institute. Ruhy teaching enables non-Baha’i people to become familiar with the Baha’i faith. One of those present at the devotional meeting was a Muslim who had informally converted to the Baha’i faith. The appellant's wife was also arrested and accused of converting Muslims to that faith. The appellant was released on bail after two nights in detention.

Tribunal's assessment
Putting that matter aside, both the appellant and his wife were able to study and become doctors and, albeit with difficulty, practice their profession in a variety of places in Iran. The confiscation of their home was, we find, most likely to have been an aspect of the authorities’ adverse attention towards the appellant as a result for what they perceived to be his teaching and community activities. The appellants were able to travel abroad and return without significant difficulties. We say so, bearing in mind what the appellant and his wife described as an unpleasant incident at the airport when they returned to Iran in 2001.


C. Iranian Bahai Claim
Bahais are being harassed in Iran, in particular, under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected in June 2005 and who, it is clear from the evidence, pursued a more conservative and uncompromising set of policies than those of his predecessor.

Tribunal's assessment
The fact is, nevertheless, that according to the latest reports, relatively few Baha’is are being arrested and imprisoned, considering the overall size (300-350,000) of the Baha’i community in Iran. As we have already noted, even Human Rights Watch, in its 2006 report, goes no further than to opine that Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities ‘are subject to discrimination and, in some cases, persecution’. The express reference to the Baha’is, which follows this quotation, refers to the community continuing ‘to be denied permission to worship or engage in communal affairs in a public manner’. That Baha’is are able to pursue their religious observances in domestic settings is clear. It is many years since they were last permitted in general to worship in public halls and the like. The evidence before us does not show such a flagrant denial of a Baha’i’s freedom of religion as to amount to an effective denial for that right


D.
Iranian Bahai Claim
Baha’is are on occasion deprived of their rights to property,

Tribunal's assessment  
1-The evidence before us does not show that any Baha’i, regardless of his or her circumstances, is at real risk of being deprived of his or her home or business. The evidence before us as to the Iranian state’s attitude towards the recognition of Baha’i marriages is, we have to say, somewhat unclear. On the appellant's own account, and that of his wife, official attitudes appear to fluctuate. Overall, the Tribunal does not find that the evidence discloses such a state of affairs as, when combined with the other matters to which we have referred, can properly lead to the conclusion that a Baha’i is entitled to protection under the Refugee Convention or the ECHR should he or she make such a claim to the authorities in this country.

2- As a consequence of these findings, the Tribunal has considered whether the evidence shows that a particular description or category of Baha’i in Iran is currently at real risk of persecution or other serious ill-treatment or whether the undoubted persecution that certain Baha’is suffer, such as those imprisoned for their faith, is merely random or otherwise so unpredictable as to prevent any particular Baha’i being identified in advance as being at real risk. At the hearing, Mr. De Mello, Mr Leith and Mr Wheatley (all Bahais) sought to emphasize the importance of the information contained at paragraph 25 of Mr. Leith’s statement - There are believed to be 300,000-350,000 Baha'is in Iran. We clearly do not expect the Iranian authorities to prosecute all of them.


E. Iranian Bahai Claim 
While interrogating one of the Baha'is arrested 2005, an intelligence agent stated: ‘We have learned how to confront (the Baha'is). We no longer pursue ordinary (Baha'is); we will paralyze your inner core.’ The comment seems to define the current strategy of the Iranian authorities in their latest attempt to undermine the long-term viability of the Baha’i community. The new policy is characterized by identifying and targeting a group of Baha'is who play an ad hoc but vital role in providing communal activity and leadership for the wider community’.

Tribunal's assessment
1. Taking the appellant's account at face value for the moment, he told us that he ceased to work on behalf of the Institute, at their suggestion, after he had been released from his second sentence of imprisonment. His evidence was, however, to the effect that he had nevertheless pursued the promotion of the Baha’i faith by means of the teaching system produced by the Ruhy Institute.

2. The Tribunal has adopted a cautious approach to what is said to have been the comments of the Iranian intelligence agent, as set out in paragraph 25 of Mr. Leith’s report. Although he possesses undoubted considerable knowledge of the position of Baha’is in Iran, Mr. Leith is not (and no doubt would not claim to be) an impartial observer. His job is to foster the interests of his co-religionists in Iran. Furthermore, the comments of the intelligence agent are unsourced. Both Mr. Leith and Mr. Wheatley told us that they were received as part of the ongoing system of contacts and information-gathering operated by the external affairs office of the National Spiritual Assembly for the Baha’is in the United Kingdom.(Unquote - this could imply high level of espionage that faith members indulge)

3. The Tribunal has no reason to doubt that Mr. Leith has, at paragraph 25 of his report, accurately described what he has been told was said to a Baha’i by someone operating within the intelligence community within Iran. The real question is whether the comments are reasonably likely to represent present Iranian government policy or, given the complex nature of the Iranian state security apparatus, the policy of some form of organization that is sponsored or at least condoned by those in power and which is able to act against those Baha’is which are regarded as ‘inner core’.

4. For these reasons the Tribunal is able to place some weight on the comment recorded in paragraph 25 of Mr. Leith’s statement. The fact remains, however, that as matters stand it is only a single comment, from an unnamed individual, whose alleged words have, it seems, not been passed directly to Mr. Leith by the person to whom they were spoken. It would accordingly be going too far to use the statement as the basis of a conclusion that all Baha’is, who comprise, or are regarded by the Iranian state security apparatus as comprising, an “inner core” are as such at current real risk of persecution. On the other hand, we do not consider that the totality of the evidence in this appeal does no more than show that some Baha’is are randomly persecuted and the appellant is a person who happens to have been so persecuted. The appellant has been an active teacher and has suffered previous sentences of imprisonment for what were plainly religious reasons. That is essentially accepted by the respondent. The credibility of the appellant’s claim to be in current well-founded fear was challenged by the respondent at the hearing on the basis that the alleged telephone conversation and other evidence of renewed adverse interest in the appellant by the authorities since he last left Iran were not believable. Whilst not accepting that there is evidence of a concerted policy to take out the inner core of the Baha’i community in Iran, we nevertheless find that, having regard to the current political situation, the background evidence and the evidence of Messrs Leith and Wheatley, shorn of its more rhetorical aspects, provide support for the appellant in assessing the credibility of that part of his claim which was challenged by Mrs. Petterson.


The Tribunal's conclusions may be summarized as follows:-
(a) an Iranian Baha’i is not, as such, at real risk of persecution in Iran;

(b) such a person will, however, be able to demonstrate a well-founded fear if, on the particular facts of the case, he or she is reasonably likely to be targeted by the Iranian authorities (or their agents) for religious reasons. Evidence of past persecution will be of particular relevance in this regard. It is doubtful if a person who has not previously come to the serious adverse attention of the authorities, by reason of his or her teaching or particular organizational or other activities on behalf of the Baja’s community in Iran, will be able, even in the current climate, to show that he or she will be at real risk on return.
 
Date: 24 April 2006


UK Census 2011 exposes the false claims of Bahá’ís

There are only 5021 Bahá’ís in UK against claimed to be more then 34,000. Adherents of the Baha’i Faith increased to 5,021 from 4,645 in the 2001 census. that is an annual 0.78% growth per year. Put more simply, between 37-38 new Baha’is have been added per year since 2001. I’m not sure that you can call that ‘growth’ it is slightly higher than the general population growth of 0.70% per year. Which means nobody has accepted the Bahai Faith in the last ten years except the children of Bahai parents.

One hundred years ago, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, arrived in the United Kingdom for the first of his two visits. He was 66 years old. He wasted no time in taking His Father Bahá’u’lláh’s message of peace and religious renewal to western societies. His visits were crucial in the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in the UK. In London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave public lectures at City Temple, St John the Divine in Smith Square, and elsewhere. At City Temple, he said that, “The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion.” At St John, the translation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s remarks was read by the Archdeacon of Westminster, Albert Wilberforce.

There are many stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s activities in Britain. His acts of charity at homeless shelters and for the poor; His audiences for hundreds of well-wishers and questioners; His constant emphasis on political reconciliation in the pre-war period; His call for racial harmony and an end to prejudice; all of these episodes set for Bahá’ís an enduring example of a life dedicated to the service of humanity.

In response to such services of Abdul Baha, The British Government honored Abdul Baha with a Knighthood, which he accepted as a gesture of honoring formally by a just king.

Abdul Baha wrote a letter of gratitude “O God, the tabernacle of justice has truly been erected on this holy land, and we thank and praise Thee. O God, may Emperor George V, Ruler of Britain, be assisted in his divine achievements, and May his shadow over this realm be everlasting.”

Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits were seen by Bahá’ís as a blessing, as inspiring today as they were a century ago. In celebration of His visits, Bahá’ís in the UK are rededicating themselves to the service of others.

Despite such a glorious background of the Bahá’í Faith in the UK and a massive investment of resources over the years in form of planning of Bahá’í administration for implementation of  MASS TEACHINGS and RUHI BOOK curriculum, the Bahá’í and the Bahá’í Faith has failed to gain acceptance in the British Society.

The programme of Moral classes for children and spiritualizing the Jr. Youth and thereby attracting the parents of these children and youths has failed miserably. The official census of UK of 2011 states that there are only 5021 Bahais. The figure is not subject to inaccuracies as can be expected in some other countries, as publishing false census is a punishable offence strictly enforced in the country. Why is then, that Bahais of  UK keep claiming since 2004 that there are 34,000 Bahais in UK? Is it not deceiving people and going against the laws of the country? Bahais keep on struggling to  advertise their success forgotten the very principles truth and justice.

The figures clearly speak that despite the impetus provided by the Abdul Baha, Bahais have not been able to sustain it. Rather they have regressed. Rastafarianism another religious cult, whose founder died in 1974, is better accepted in British society as they have more followers then Bahais .They have  7,906 adherents, more than the Baha'i Faith.

Bahais claim of highly exaggerated Bahai population for every country. Thanks to various Government agencies and Internet their lies are getting exposed.

Bahai for 13 years resigns. Here's why...

George Fleming
Belfast N Ireland

Dear National Spiritual Assembly members

After reading your letter 18/10/02 where you stated:

"The NSA therefore instructs you, with immediate effect, to cease and desist from particpating in SCI, TRB, and ARB e-discussion lists and in any other unmoderated discussions conducted over email"

Along with SCI there are some 42,760 more unmoderated groups on the internet which are not Baha'i related unmoderated newsgroups.

I therefore believe this instruction is totally against my freedom and human rights, and therefore have been left with no alternattive other than to resign from the Baha'i Faith.

I hereby declare that on 21/10/02 George Fleming Belfast N Ireland has resigned his membership from the Baha'i Faith.

Membership Number ******

Signed George Fleming, Bahai Faith membership card enclosed.

Read original letter from George Fleming
Read NSA response

Response of NSA to George Fleming

3. Letter from NSA of the Baha'is of the United Kingdom
27 Rutland gate, London SW7 1PD

October 18,2002

Mr George Fleming

Dear Baha'i friend,

The National Spirtual assembly appreciates your desire to defend the good name of our beloved Faith and the sincerity with which you seek to do so. However, your recent imvolvement in certain email discussion groups may have inadvertently helped the cause of those very individuals from whom you are seeking to protect the Faith, and this has become a source of some concern to the National Assembly.

The National Spiritual Assembly therefore instructs you, with immediate effect, to cease and desist from participating in the SCI, TRB and ARB e-discussion lists and in any other unmoderated discussions conducted over email. Further, you are requested to cease direct communication with Pat Kohli and Susan Maneck and the national Spiritual Assembly of the United States. However should you have a grievance which you would like to bring to the attention of the latter body you are kindly asked to refer such a matter to the attention of the National Assembly of the United Kingdom.

The National Assembly further asks you to refrain from discussing any of the issues raised in this letter with anyone other than Councellor Shahriavi, the national Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom, or Auxiliary Board members Denis Coyle and Ann O'Sullivan.

The National Spiritual Assembly trusts that you will abide by what is now being asked of you. Should you fail to do so, the national Assembly will have no choice but to take further action.

With loving Baha'i greetings.

National Spiritual Assembly
Kishan Manocha, Assistant Secretary

Read George Fleming's Letter

Bahai for 13 years says there is no Freedom of Speech

George Fleming, a Bahai for 13 years testifies that there is "no freedom of speech" in Baha'i institutions

George Fleming, who was a Baha'i for 13 years, posted the following message on the talk.religion.bahai discussion group, showing how Baha'i religious institutions attempted to take away his right to free speech and his subsequent decision to resign his membership in the Baha'i Faith organization:

Subject: UK NSA letter and resignation letter from George Fleming
From: George Fleming
Date: Nov 5 2002, 3:29 a.m.

Now that I am not a member of the Baha'i Faith I promised I would forward the UK NSA letter I received and my resignation reply letter. Please find enclosed both letters for TRB readers perusal.

Please note that by rejecting the authority of the UK NSA I have therefore rejected the overall authority of the Baha'i Administrative Order headed by the Universal House of Justice Haifa Israel.

By my actions the Baha'i institutions believe I have refused to obey the Word of God, and in turn reject obediance to the Covenant, the Will and testament of Abdu'l Baha and all five stations (The Bab, Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l Baha, the Guardian and finally the Universal House of Justice).

I therefore can no longer call myself a Baha'i. However I do not think my own personal religious feelings can switch from belief in Baha'u'llah to disbelief because I have sent in a resignation letter. I think such concepts are more complicated than just turning on and off a water tap. I also never sent my resignation letter to avoid sanctions or because I was drunk, mad or whacko which is the belief of Professor Susan Maneck.

I believe the letter sent to me by Dr Kishan Manocha (a lawyer himself and Assistant Secretary of the UK NSA) is crossing European human rights laws introduced to Northern Ireland in 1998 with spirtual laws of the Baha'i Faith. This is not the first time I have come across crossed boundaries of Baha'i jurisprudence with civil law, common law and now European human rights law, in my 13 years as a Baha'i.

George Fleming

Open Letter to NSA, United Kingdom - Part II

Open letter to Mr. Patrick O’Mara ,Secretary National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom

To,
Mr. Patrick O’Mara
Secretary
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom
27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD
Tel: 020-7584-2566 Fax: 020-7584 9402

Subject: State of Bahá’ís Faith – Serious Introspection (II)

Dear Patrick,

This is second of my communication in a series in which I would like British Bahá’ís that matter to introspect. In the previous letter I had highlighted the growing influence of Persians and how the Bahá’í Faith in UK is left more as gossiping club than a progressing Faith. In this letter I wish to bring to attention the impersonal approach of Assemblies and Institutes in Britain and here again how the Persian shadow looms large.

When Naomi Long MP, the Member of Parliament for Belfast East, spoke of “shocking treatment of the Baha’i community in Iran”, I failed to understand that why these elected Member of Parliament have closed their eyes and ears to the treatment given to the Bahá’ís by the Bahá’í Administrative bodies in their own backyard. The Bahá’ís  of UK have experienced abandonment, shunning, excommunication, fear and everything one can imagine at the hands of certain individuals serving on assemblies and Institutes, which we are supposed to believe are Infallible. Baseless court cases are imposed on them to make them surrender to the Will of the Bahá’í Institutions.

The influence of Persian Bahá’ís is increasing day by day and the local Bahá’ís are supposed to fall in line with these super elites of our community who claim to be superior just because the Bahá’í Faith emerged from their homeland and it is left to their whims and wishes to impose on anyone they wish, Administrative sanctions or outright declare them as covenant breakers. The UK Bahá’ís community is terrorized to remain subdued.

Patrick, the UK Bahá’í community is sitting on a volcano and it is a matter of time when it erupts engulfing just not the UK Bahá’ís but neighboring countries also.

Patrick I have, through my service here at the National Assembly, witnessed cases of flagrant immorality and harm here in our community, intentionally and unintentionally at the hands of Bahá’ís and Bahá’í Administration. I have been at the receiving end of persecutions and threats. It gives me immense pain when I realize these injustices are being meted out to me and my family in the full view of Universal House of Justice. Some of the members of the UK National Assembly were and are in constant contact with the members of Universal House of Justice and it is with their full knowledge that one after another court cases are being slammed. My family is constantly being spied upon and their movements are constantly being watched by the ABMS, Counselors and professional/private detective agencies. It seems that spying in Bahá’í Faith has become a law rather than exception.

Where are the empathy, loving assistance and guidance of the institutions and community in accordance with the counsels of the Pen of the Most High before such punishments are meted out? Where is their love and guidance and aid when a family is left on their own, ostracized by the community? 

 It is for the local and national institutions to cater for spiritual and emotional well-being of the community and to shower upon them love and encouragement.  It is for the institutions to be transparent, in their decision-making procedures and to clearly share their reasons for their decisions and to give an opportunity to clarify their stand and remedy their mistakes (if so) and errors. I had the greatest desire for unity and have spent countless days in silence in prayers in the hope that doors will open. 

Patrick, our institutes are so drenched in hate that all other realities get a back seat. Patrick, the day is not far when the fate will be full of hypocrites (read Persians) and others will be side-lined. Patrick, has the time not come to call a spade, a spade? For the sake of our future generations, it is important that we stand-up today and make our opinion count.

Read Part I

Open Letter to NSA, United Kingdom - Part I

Open letter to Mr. Patrick O’Mara ,Secretary National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom

PART-I
To,
Mr. Patrick O’Mara
Secretary
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom
27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD
Tel: 020-7584-2566 Fax: 020-7584 9402

Subject : State of Bahai Faith – Serious Introspection

Dear Patrick,

Introspection is such a priceless activity that it is sufficient to wake one up from a slumber of complacency. And the Bahai Faith today is in that slumber. Through this letter I would like to unravel hard realities, so that we understand that much as we would like to think grand about ourselves, the facts are different. Also, it would emerge how we get indulged in worthless activities based on vested instigations, leaving aside priorities.

Lets visit History of Bahai Faith in the UK, to set the ground for introspection.

One hundred years ago, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, arrived in the United Kingdom for the first of his two visits. He was 66 years old. He wasted no time in taking His Father Bahá’u’lláh’s message of peace and religious renewal to western societies. His visits were crucial in the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in the UK. In London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave public lectures at City Temple, St John the Divine in Smith Square, and elsewhere. At City Temple, he said that, “The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion.” At St John, the translation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s remarks was read by the Archdeacon of Westminster, Albert Wilberforce.

There are many stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s activities in Britain. His acts of charity at homeless shelters and for the poor; His audiences for hundreds of well-wishers and questioners; His constant emphasis on political reconciliation in the pre-war period; His call for racial harmony and an end to prejudice; all of these episodes set for Bahá’ís an enduring example of a life dedicated to the service of humanity.

In response to such services of Abdul Baha, The British Government honored Abdul Baha with a Knighthood, which he accepted as a gesture of honoring formally by a just king.

Abdul Baha wrote a letter of gratitude “O God, the tabernacle of justice has truly been erected on this holy land, and we thank and praise Thee. O God, may Emperor George V, Ruler of Britain, be assisted in his divine achievements, and May his shadow over this realm be everlasting.”

Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits were seen by Bahá’ís as a blessing, as inspiring today as they were a century ago. In celebration of His visits, Bahá’ís in the UK are rededicating themselves to the service of others.