Saipan is home to some Bahá’í members for more than 50 years now. Most of them are in the health industry.
“Freedom of conscience and the freedom to practice one’s religion are bedrock principles enshrined in the constitutions of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” said Senate President Pete P. Reyes on Senate Resolution 16-16, which he sponsored.
Reyes, R-Saipan, said Iranian intelligence took six Bahá’í members in an undisclosed location in May.
He said the incident is similar to episodes in the 1980s when more than 200 Bahá’í members were killed or executed in the Islamic nation.
The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced H. Res. 1008 condemning the attacks, saying the arrest is a clear violation of the Iranian regime’s international commitment to respect religious freedom norms.
Founded more than 150 years ago as a religion in Iran, Bahá’í has about 300,000 members in Iran and six million more throughout 200 countries and territories.
