Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2014, with Katrina Lantos Swett.

As Iran approaches the anniversary of Hasan Rouhani’s presidential victory, the Islamic Republic’s human-rights record, particularly its treatment of religious minorities, remains abysmal. This is especially true for the Baha’is, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority.

As with the cases of jailed Christian pastors, such as Saeed Abediniand Farshid Fathi, the Tehran regime shows no signs of wanting to free the so-called Baha’i seven—Baha’i leaders jailed on spurious charges, from espionage to “spreading corruption on the earth”—nor of stopping the persecution of its Baha’i population, which numbers more than 300,000.

Both houses of the U.S. Congress have spoken out for the Baha’is and other religious minorities in Iran. The Senate last December passed a resolution condemning Baha’i persecution. We urge the House to pass the companion measure speedily. Without continued attention from the U.S. and other members of the international community, the future of the Baha’is in the birthplace of their faith will be bleak, as will the fate of Iran’s other minorities…

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