Conservatives have announced that Zhinous Sobhani is Baha'i. According to the Constitution and all laws, anyone who is born in Iran is Iranian. According to the same laws, every Iranian has the right to education, occupation, ownership, etc. Zhinous Sobhani was born after the revolution. She was born in a Baha'i family. The Islamic Republic's laws do not state that a Baha'i family is not Iranian. Many Iranians are born in a Muslim family and retain that religion. Zhinous Sobhani has certain rights based on current laws of the Islamic Republic, whose violation constitutes a violation of the Islamic Republic's laws.
On the other hand, she is a lady seeking a job and is hired as a secretary by the Center for Defenders of Human Rights. The Center does not ask applicants to disclose their religious beliefs and ideology. She plays no role in the Center's strategic development and positions.
Even if she has promoted her religion she has not committed a crime, though the autocrats and those in power may differ. One must ask, has Ms. Sobhani truly committed a crime? She was just a clerk at the Center for Defenders of Human Rights and performed clerical work there. If that is a crime, then it must clearly be announced that no Baha'is in Iran have the right to work, and that certainly is not doable. Such an act cannot be implemented by any law or government, because there cannot be second- and third- and tenth-class citizens. Even those citizens must have the right to occupation and a free life.
Why must Zhinous Sobhani be arrested for promoting her beliefs, or having an occupation at the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, which is shut down anyway?
The main reason, apparently, is to pressure Shirin Ebadi, and to intimidate the Center for Defenders of Human Rights and Mrs. Ebadi into retreating. The regime cannot arrest Mrs. Ebadi because of her international stature. Therefore, to pressure her, it arrests people like Zhinous Sobhani. The regime arrests one of its citizens to indirectly pressure another citizen. Zhinous Sobhani must be used as a pawn in a scenario to pressure Mrs. Ebadi and the Center for Defenders of Human Rights into abandoning their main goal, which is the lifting of the illegal ban on the Center.
Even if - in the unlikely event - that Zhinous Sobhani has committed a crime, her charge must be proved in a just court, with an attorney and jury present; she cannot be sent to solitary confinement and forced into admitting her charges. On the other hand, what has the Center for Defenders of Human Rights done to invite so much pressure? Are defending citizenship rights, opposing war and sanctions and defending the rights of individuals irrespective of their religious or ideological beliefs crimes?
The shutting down of the office of the Center for Defenders of Human Rights is illegal and Zhinous Sobhani is a victim of pressures on the Center. The arrest of any member or employee of the Center is a type of pressure on Mrs. Ebadi, and all human rights and freedom-seeking organizations must condemn such acts. These condemnations are consequential and strengthen the feeling of comradery and respect for citizenship rights. Our religious duty as Muslims also is to support Zhinous Sobhani.
Let us defend the rights of Zhinous Sobhani as a citizen!
