Source: Facebook Page of Sadegh Zibakalam 1
Translation by Iran Press Watch
What Ms. Faezeh Hashemi did [meeting with the Baha’i leader Fariba Kamalabadi, who was on furlough from Evin Prison] was the right thing to do from every perspective. Her act was an ethical and humanitarian act which is worthy of admiration.
A professor of political science said: “She did the most appropriate, decent, and hospitable thing possible by visiting that Baha’i woman.”
He said, referring to Ms. Kamalabadi: “Truly, what is the crime of such individuals who are in prison for eight and sometimes more years? Are these individuals spies who sold national secrets to foreign governments? From the religious perspective, Imam Sadiq, Peace Be Upon him (PBUH) 2, held discussions and debates with several thousand atheists, infidels, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, would he not have gone to visit them if one of these people was sick?”
Sadegh Zibakalam added: “Ms. Faezeh Hashemi visited an individual who was her cellmate in prison for 8 months; she has done the most basic act of decency that a human being can show to another human being. In my opinion, if she had not visited her cellmate solely because their thoughts and beliefs are contrary to each other, then it would have been appropriate to criticize Ms. Hashemi. He said: “It is not yet clear exactly why the Baha’is in Iran do not have the right to education, or the right to work, and must be in prisons? Is this merely because their views are different from ours? Are such actions in line with religious laws? Did the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) order the imprisonment of those who did not become Muslim? Did the religious scholars and sources of emulation issue a decree to throw whoever does not think like us in jail?”
At the end Sadegh Zibakalam stated: “I am not viewing the Baha’i issue from the human rights point of view or that of Western law, or non-Islamic law, but my question to officials in the Islamic Republic of Iran is this: According to our own Constitution, and with regard to our own religious and Sharia Law, and according to what renowned Shi’i scholars in the past and present have stated, is it allowed to throw individuals in jail, or deprive them of education, or to not allow them to work in their own country, and impose other pressure and restrictions on them for the crime or accusation of having thoughts or beliefs contrary to our religious beliefs, as we do to Baha’is?
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1. Sadegh Zibakalam is an Iranian professor of political science at University of Tehran, a writer and a political analyst. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadegh_Zibakalam
2. Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (702-765), the sixth Imam, or descendent of Muhammad, held by Shi’i Muslims to be a center of true Islam and authorized interpreter of the Qur’an. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja%27far_al-Sadiq
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