	The B'nai Brith Canada Institute for International Affairs has a mandate to protest the abuse of human rights throughout the world and advocate on behalf of worldwide Jewish communities in distress. The Institute has a special focus on pro-Israel advocacy and education.
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There is no greater mitzvah than Redemption of Captives
Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Matanot Ani’im, Chapter 8, Article 10

Iran Update 32

January 18, 2002

Toronto, January 18, 2002 — While efforts continue to monitor the wellbeing of the Iranian Jewish captives and to press for a presidential pardon, the events of September 11 have overshadowed any hopes for significant progress. The release this week of Faramaz Kashi, after completing his entire three-year sentence, seems to suggest that, apart from the concession of including pre-trial detention in the total sentence, the detainees may be forced to serve their entire term. In stark contrast, reformist MP Hossein Loghmanian was also released this week at the personal intervention of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after serving just three weeks of his 10-month sentence. Naturally, the Jewish prisoners have no popular support and the human rights community worldwide seems to have lost interest.

Since Iranian law allows for parole when one third of the sentence has been completed, all of the Jewish prisoners now meet the criteria for early parole but, given the intensification of anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish sentiment following the outbreak of the Intifada, any such concessions would be highly unlikely. Following the affair of the Karine A weapons ship, more recent concerns of a strategic alliance brewing between the Palestinian Authority and Iran have increased disquiet not merely about the captives, but about the future of entire Jewish community.

Faramaz Kashi’s “crime”, cited this week in the Iranian media as “membership in an outlawed group as preparation to cooperate with the Zionists” is broad enough to ensure that no contacts whatsoever with Israel can ever again be contemplated. The charges brought against the other captives all contain similar code words. Legislation passed in 1996 outlawed any type of “transfer of information”, whether social, economic or political, with either Israel or the US, and the example that has been made of the captives demonstrates that the authorities intend to brand any family contact whatsoever as such a “transfer of information”. Since many Jews have close relatives who have emigrated, this is more than just a hardship. The isolation of the community is now complete.

While Tehran has always emphasized that the case of the captives has nothing to do with antisemitism since that does not exist in Iran, a contentious issue has arisen in relations with the UK that not only exposes rampant Iranian antisemitism, but could also prove highly embarrassing to the British Government. Following media exposure of the fact that Iran is refusing to accept the appointment of David Reddaway as the new British Ambassador to Tehran, the hardline daily Kayhan reported that Reddaway was rejected by Iran because he was Jewish by origin, had links with the UK intelligence services and his Iranian wife was related to the head of the outlawed communist Tudeh party. Another conservative paper, Jomhuri Islami, claimed Reddaway was not acceptable because he “is a Jew who is an MI6 agent”.

The influential Financial Times reported initially that the British Foreign Office would not back down on the Reddaway case. The authorities refused to comment on his religious origins, and emphasized that British diplomatic appointees are chosen on “merit” and not on the basis of “ethnic or religious background”. However, more recent information suggests there are some in Britain’s political and diplomatic elite who want an alternative candidate to be put forward in order to avoid compromising fledgling relations with Iran.

The BBC monitoring service picked up a warning to Britain by Mohammad Javad Ardeshir Larijani, Chancellor of the Academy for Core Sciences: “[The] British government should send an ambassador to Tehran whose standing and performance suit the Islamic Republic of Iran… [it] should take full note of the views of the Islamic Republic.” (Aftab-e Yazd, 13 January, 2002). Whether he has “Jewish origins” or not, Reddaway is a seasoned diplomat who has served twice before in Tehran, though not in such a senior position. In a country where Jews are not allowed to hold any rank higher than colonel in the army, cannot be appointed to the post of deputy minister or above, and cannot stand for parliament except for their one nominal Jewish MP, it must indeed be galling to have to accept someone with possible “Jewish origins” in such a senior diplomatic post. It remains to be seen, however, whether the British Government will stand by its principles on this issue. Many analysts would see capitulation to Iran as further indication that antisemitsm among the British elite is not confined to the dinner party circuit alone.

Index of Press Releases & Updates - 13 Iranian Jewish Captives

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