Religious minorities in Iran co-exist peacefully: Rights official

Followers of religious minorities in Iran co-exist peacefully, enjoy all constitutional rights and play a substantial role along with their Muslim brothers in defending the nation, said the secretary of the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights.

According to reports, during a recent meeting with Zoroastrian leaders, Ali Bagheri Kani said believers from all faiths, including Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews, stood by their Muslim fellows during the US-backed eight year Saddam’s imposed war on Iran.

“The courage of Zoroastrian compatriots along with Muslim brothers to protect the identity of the Iranian nation and guarantee national sovereignty and protect the territorial integrity of the country is a manifestation of unity and maximum empathy of the Iranian nation against enemies, which has been and will be the secret of the victory of the Iranian nation in various fields.”

Bagheri Kani said the cornerstone of patriotism is the level of readiness of each person to sacrifice their life for the transcendent ideals of the Iranian nation.

Saddam was not alone in the war. There were several countries, including Germany, France, Britain, and the United States, which assisted him.

The official said the hostile powers were now hell-bent on harming Iran’s national unity and sowing discord among followers of various faiths and sects.

“The enemies of the Islamic Republic have targeted national unity and are trying to create division among various sections of society, but the experience of the benevolent coexistence of the followers of different religions in Iran, which is several thousand years old, has made this alliance inseparable.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Bagheri Kani said perhaps nowhere in the world could one find a country like Iran, where people were free to perform their religious rites in a mosque, a church, a synagogue or a  Zoroastrian temple in peace and security.

A leader of the Jewish community in Tehran recently said followers of Judaism live in peace in Iran, and local Muslims respect their customs.

Arash Abaie, a civil engineer and prominent Jewish educator, cantor, Torah reader and scholar, said in a recent interview that Jews living in Iran had expanded their religious observance over the past four decades.

SS