Washington D.C.- Today at the senate building there was a special Round table meeting on the topic of Religious Freedom in Iran, with the US State Department’s Special Representative on Iran, Brian Hook, members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and guest speakers to discuss the gross and continual human rights violations of the religious minorities in Iran.
At this meeting, which was attended by the US representative of IOPHR, Mr Hamid Gharagozloo, there were discussions on the widespread human rights violations committed by the Iranian regime against its own citizen’s. At the meeting detail reports regarding the situations of religious minorities in Iran were also presented, especially those that highlighted the Iranian regime’s persistent suppression and oppression of all religious minorities such as Baha’is, Christians and Gonabadi Sufis.
The meeting opened with Mr Hook making a formal statement on the mistreatment of Gonabadi Sufis by the Iranian regime, in particular the house arrest of their spiritual leader Dr Noor Ali Tabandeh was discussed. In his opening remarks Mr Hook also mentioned the unjust execution of Mohammad Salas in June on fabricated charges, and also the hundreds of Gonabadi Sufis who remain imprisoned under severe conditions.
In this meeting the representative of IOPHR, Mr Hamid Gharagozloo, presented a detail report to those present, on the conditions of religious minorities such as Gonabadi Sufis and their repression by the Iranian regime. In his statement Mr Gharagozloo, mentioned the mistreatment of Sufi women who are imprisoned in Iran, purely because of their faith. He went on to outline the beatings and torture of the Sufi women by the Iranian authorities.
