[TRANSCRIPT OF ORIGINAL NEWS ARTICLE IN ENGLISH]
[Personal information has been redacted.]
[The excerpt below is from the section of the article that pertains to the Baha’i Faith]
5 February 2021
An Open Letter to the Chief Justice
of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi,
We are a group of Canadians in the legal profession – including former Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General, retired Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, retired judges, legal academics and practicing lawyers – who are deeply concerned about new and intense violations of the basic human rights of the Bahá'í religious minority of Iran.
Members of the Bahá'í Faith have been persecuted in Iran since the Faith’s establishment over 170 years ago. Under the current Iranian government, Bahá'ís have experienced home raids, attacks on properties, confiscation of possessions, dismissals from employment, denial of access to higher education, imprisonment, and execution. Bahá'ís have sought legal remedies, but to little avail.
Recently, one of the oldest Bahá'í communities in Iran has come under intense attack.
The Bahá'í community in the village of Ivel (pron. ee-VELL) has existed since the founding of the Bahá'í Faith in the mid-1800s. At one time this was a thriving and peaceful multi-generational community largely made up of farmers and small business owners. Over decades, however, this community has faced severe persecution. Since the 1940s, many of Ivel’s Bahá'ís have been forced from their homes, imprisoned, harassed, and their property torched and demolished.
The year 2020 brought an alarming new chapter in this saga, when two Iranian courts issued judgments that declared ownership of lands by 27 Bahá'ís in the village to be illegitimate on the basis of their religious belief. In a novel interpretation of Article 49 of the Iranian Constitution which permits confiscation of illegitimately obtained property, on August 1, 2020 Judge Hasan Babaie of a constitutional court in Tehran pronounced that ownership of property by adherents of the “perverse sect of Bahá'ísm” was illegal. This decision was affirmed in an appeal court judgment of Judge Mohammad Sadegh Savadkouhi on October 23, 2020, after a legal process that denied the Bahá'ís and their lawyers any opportunity to see the relevant files, to prepare a statement of defence, or to produce any documents or arguments.
On its face, Article 49 of the constitution allows the government to confiscate “illegitimate” properties that were obtained through “usury, usurpation, bribery, embezzlement, theft, gamble, misuse of Islamic government endowments, misuse of government contracts and transactions, uncultivated lands and others belonging to the public, houses of ill repute, and other illegitimate sources.” The 2020 rulings now establish a dangerous constitutional precedent of judicially sanctioned confiscation that nullifies legitimate property interests based only on the owners’ religious affiliation, thus departing not only from international human rights standards but also from the text and intent of the Iranian constitution itself.
History is filled with examples of unjust and oppressive governments arbitrarily deciding that the race, gender, religion, or beliefs of an individual determines whether or not they can own land and participate in the public and economic life of society. The Iranian authorities, like some other governments around the world today, are continuing this heinous practice that violates the most basic international human rights norms. Religious and political discrimination against law-abiding citizens of Iran, and its Bahá'í community in particular, not only results in Iran remaining condemned and isolated in the international community, but also can provide solid grounds for prosecution of Iran’s authorities before international criminal courts and other international institutions. Conversely, swift restoration of the rights of the Bahá'ís of Ivel can serve as a precedent to correct abuses suffered by other Iranian Bahá'ís, and indeed all those who have experienced persecution and confiscation merely because of their beliefs.
We know the Bahá'í Faith to stand for values of peace, justice, and unity – values which have been under sustained attack by the Iranian authorities for decades. Violations of the human rights of Iran’s Bahá'ís have already been decried by the Canadian government, the United Nations and numerous human rights organizations. Today, as members of the Canadian legal profession who believe in the rule of law, we too stand with the Bahá'ís of Iran and call upon you, as the head of the Iranian judiciary, to address this new abuse inflicted upon the Bahá'ís of Ivel.
The Right Honourable / Le très honorable Brian Mulroney
18th Prime Minister of Canada
Companion of the Order of Canada
Senior Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Irwin Cotler
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada
Professor Emeritus, McGill University Faculty of Law
Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Allan Rock
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada
President Emeritus, University of Ottawa
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Queen’s Counsel
Jody Wilson-Raybould Puglaas
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada
Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Granville
Ian Binnie
Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (retired)
Companion of the Order of Canada
Queen’s Counsel
Frank Iacobucci
Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (retired)
Companion of the Order of Canada
Louis LeBel
Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (retired)
Companion of the Order of Canada
Marshall Rothstein
Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (retired)
Companion of the Order of Canada
Queen’s Counsel
Harry S. LaForme
Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario (retired)
John I. Laskin
Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario (retired)
Marion Allen
Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia (retired)
Marilynn C. Borowicz
Judge, Provincial Court of British Columbia (retired)
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond
Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia
Director, Indian Residential School History & Dialogue Centre
British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth (2006-16)
Judge, Provincial Court of Saskatchewan (retired)
Melanie Adrian
Associate Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University
Payam Akhavan
Senior Fellow, Massey College
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Benjamin L. Berger
Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
York Research Chair in Pluralism and Public Law
Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada
Faisal Bhabha
Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
John Borrows
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law
Order of Canada
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Lisa Dufraimont
Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Mohammad Fadel
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Former Canada Research Chair for the Law and Economics of Islamic Law (2006-16)
Robert Leckey
Samuel Gale Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Larissa Katz
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Canada Research Chair in Private Law Theory
Ravi Malhotra
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Louise Mandell
Former Chancellor, Vancouver Island University
Partner Emeritus, Mandell Pinder LLP
Queen’s Counsel
Errol P. Mendes
Professor, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law
Order of Ontario, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Law Society Medal
Editor-in-Chief, National Journal of Constitutional Law
President, International Commission of Jurists, Canadian Section
Bradford W. Morse
Professor of Law, Thompson Rivers University
Former Dean of Law, Thompson Rivers University (Canada)
Former Dean of Law, Te Piringa - Faculty of Law, University of Waikato (New Zealand)
Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa (Canada)
Nicole O'Byrne
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick
John Packer
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre
Hossein Raeesi
Adjunct Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University
Darryl Robinson
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University
Craig M. Scott
Professor and Director, Graduate Program, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Mark Walters
Professor and Dean of Law, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University
Jeremy Webber
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Former Dean of Law at University of Victoria (Canada)
Former Dean of Law at University of Sydney (Australia)
Rolando E. Aguilera
Legal Counsel, Indigenous Justice Division, Ministry of the Attorney General, Ontario
Noora Akhavan
Barrister and Solicitor
Aref Amanat
Founder, Amanat Law Corporation
Frank S. Borowicz
Queen’s Counsel
Nash Johnston LLP
Governor, Vancouver Board of Trade
Gary Caroline
Principal, Caroline Law Corporation
President, Ofelas Group
Mark G. Carter
Mark G. Carter Law Corporation
Renata Colwell
Associate, Mandell Pinder LLP
Roshan Danesh
Queen’s Counsel
Ramin Erfanifar
Erfanifar Law Corporation
Nika Farahani
Barrister and Solicitor
Michael Feder
Queen's Counsel
Partner, McCarthy Tetrault LLP
Erin E. Fitzpatrick
Barrister and Solicitor
Brenda Gaertner
Partner, Mandell Pinder LLP
Raymond Gemmill
Partner, Gemmill, Johnston, Jeffries PC
Lawrence Greenspon
Founder, Greenspon Granger Hill Lawyers\ Member, CIJA Legal Task Force
Donald B. Johnston
Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP
Honorary Consul of Belgium in Ontario
Howard J. Kaufman
Counsel, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Richard Marceau
General Counsel & Vice-President for External Affairs, Centre for Israel & Jewish Affairs
Brock Martland
Queen’s Counsel
Partner, Martland & Saulnier
Julie Mouris
Associate, Conway Baxter Wilson LLP
Clarine Ostrove
Partner Emeritus, Mandell Pinder LLP
David Paterson
Paterson Law Office
Leslie Hall Pinder
Founder, Mandell Pinder LLP
Geoff Pollock
(Bencher, Law Society of Ontario)
Geoff Pollock & Associates Professional Corporation
Natalia Rodriguez
Partner, Conway Baxter Wilson LLP
Laylee Rohani
Partner, Cook Roberts LLP
Stuart Rush
Queen’s Counsel
Erica Stahl
Associate, Mandell Pinder LLP
Tim Thielmann
Founding Partner, Sage Legal LLP
Dana Urban
Queen’s Counsel
International Criminal Law Consultant
Douglas S. White III Kwulasultun
Queen’s Counsel
Chair of BC First Nations Justice Council
International Supporters
Payam Beheshti
Partner, Simmons & Simmons Middle East LLP
G.V. Rao
Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
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