The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is has written to the governments of Iran and Turkey, seeking information on the whereabouts and safety of twenty members of the Baha'i faith and one Muslim teenager, who were deported by Turkish border police on Aug. 7 after they had requested political asylum.
The twenty-one deportees had arrived in Ankara on Aug. 6 and reported to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who informed them that Turkish law required that they first file their asylum request at their point of entry into Turkey. According, the asylum seekers boarded a bus to return to the Turkish border town of Agri. They were last seen on the morning of Aug. 7 heading toward the Iranian town of Maku escorted by Turkish border police.
The Baha'i community has been repeatedly subjected to harassment by the authorities of the Islamic Republic, who have illegally outlawed the faith and declared its followers "infidels." Since the 1979 revolution, 201 Baha'is have been assassinated and 15 others reported missing and presumed dead, according to a report dated Feb. 9, 1996 by the UN Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance, Mr. Abdelfattah Amor
Accordingly, the Foundation fears that the twenty Baha'i asylum seekers, and the Muslim teenager who accompanied them, may have been jailed upon their forced return to Iran. Under current laws of the Islamic Republic, the Baha'is could face the death penalty because of their faith.
The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private, non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland. Contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director (exec@iran.org). FDI materials, including the FDI Newswire, are available free-of-charge via the Internet at http://www.iran.org/.