Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written question – answered at on 4 July 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of the ability of each religious community in Iran to (a) exercise its faith, (b) to observe its (i) holidays and (ii) weekly day of rest and (c) to administer its internal affairs; and if he will make a statement.
We continue be concerned by the state sponsored persecution of a number of religious minorities in Iran. Although several religions are “protected” in the Iranian constitution, in practice they are still monitored closely and frequently put under pressure because of the way they observe their faith. We are further concerned by the persecution of non-“protected” religions, including the Baha'is, and frequently call on the Iranian authorities to cease all persecution of minorities in Iran.
According to the website of the Iranian Ministry of Labour, religious minorities may not replace Fridays with their weekly day of rest and non-Islamic holidays are not legally counted as state holidays.
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