New Delhi, August 31, 2010 – Deeply distressed by the sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, for the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, on patently false and unjustifiable charges, 31 prominent Indians have issued an open letter appealing to the Iranian government to release the seven immediately and to ensure a fair and open appeal process in accordance to international standards of jurisprudence.
Signatories include prominent leaders from religious communities as well as leaders in various fields of endeavour: judiciary, civil society organisations and academia. Justice Krishna Iyer, Mr. Fali Nariman, Mr. Soli Sorabjee, religious leaders – Archbishop Vincent Concesso, and Swami Agnivesh, as well as champions of human rights groups such as Miloon Kothari, Maja Daruwala, Suhas Chakma, and other civil society organizations, Rajesh Tandon, Ashok Khosla, George Verghese, Ajay Mehta, and the academia such as Prof. R. B. Singh, Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Prof. Tahir Mahmood, have jointly expressed, “ India and Iran have had historic ties of language, poetry, architecture, music and religion. In the name of these ancient ties that bind our two nations, we call on the Government of Iran to act according to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it has ratified. These provisions mandate the upholding of the principles of justice and freedom principles cherished by all great religions of the world and all nat… >>>
