As Western powers prepare to ease economic sanctions against Iran in support of a new nuclear non-proliferation treaty, human rights activists said in November that leverage for winning freedom for prisoners of faith may about to be lost.
A human rights advocate and researcher said his colleagues in different human rights groups were concerned when they found out that there was no talk of human rights during negotiations with Iran, specifically about the release of prisoners of faith. In the quest to obtain some sort of agreement this month with the Iranians, they said, the pursuit of basic rights for Christians and other religious minorities was set aside.
Human rights have to be on table
‘When negotiations [with the Iranians] take place, human rights have to be on the agenda’, said the advocate, whose name cannot be released because of his work in the region. ‘Otherwise, if you give all these concessions over to Iran, they have no motivation or reason to do anything about human rights’.
Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a legal group advocating on behalf of imprisoned US/Iranian pastor Saeed Abedini, said not assuring his release at the non-proliferation accords was a ‘missed opportunity’.
‘They didn’t use the opportunity and leverage they had right in front of them’, she said.
Abedini, a convert from Islam, is arguably the best known among Christians imprisoned for their faith in Iran. In July 2012, Abedini went to Iran to continue setting up an orphanage in the city of Rashat when the Islamic Revolutionary Guards detained him, placed him under house arrest at his parents’ home and forbade him to leave the country. Two months later, the Revolutionary Guards returned, arrested Abedini and eventually transferred him to Evin Prison in Tehran.
Accused of taking part in the house-church movement, he was found guilty of ‘undermining national security’ and sentenced to eight years in prison. He lost an appeal of the sentence in August.
Another convert from Islam, Vahid Hakkani, is in critical condition due to improper medical care in prison. Hakkani is serving a three-year, eight-month prison sentence after being found guilty of attending a house church, spreading Christianity, having contact with foreign ministries, propaganda against the regime and disrupting national security, according to MEC.
