In Iran, an unrecognized religious minority group with an estimated 300,000 members, the Baha’is, has been systematically persecuted and subjected to arrests, torture and false imprisonment, according to Amnesty International.

A peaceful religion with no political agenda, which recognizes the common foundation of all religions, it has been a focus of systematic discrimination in the stronghold of Shiite Islam.

It has been five years since Iranian authorities have arrested seven leaders of the Baha’i community. The two women and five men were each given a 20-year prison term, the longest sentence given to any person in Iran imprisoned for their beliefs.

The plight of the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran is emblematic of the persecution suffered by the entire Baha’i community there and also of other religious minorities in Iran.

In the past 34 years, many Baha’is have been arrested on false charges of espionage for the U.S. and Israel. More than 200 have been killed, hundreds of homes have been burned or demolished, thousands have lost their jobs or pensions, places of worship and cemeteries have been desecrated and many thousands of students have been deprived of access to higher education.

In this country, the State Department and the Congress have repeatedly condemned this systematic persecution. In almost every Congress since the 1979 revolution in Iran, both the Senate and the House have passed resolutions condemning the government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.

This year, House Resolution 109 is before the House and Senate Resolution 75 is before the Senate. Our Maine representatives are both co-sponsors of the House resolution, and Sen. Susan Collins has indicated that she will cosponsor the Senate resolution. The Baha’i community is grateful for their actions in support of religious freedom and human rights.

The government of Iran must be made to know that the world is watching and judging its actions.

For those of us living in the U.S., the truth that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is self-evident, freedom of religion or belief is integral to freedom of thought. Therefore, it is shocking when a tyrannical regime deprives its own population of this basic human right.

When we see injustice inflicted upon our fellow human beings, we can and should voice our concern. We, as ordinary citizens, can do something of great importance.

The congressional resolutions help convey to the Iranian government the nation’s strong disapproval of its flagrant violation of the human rights of the Baha’is. Even five minutes in prison for the seven Baha’i leaders is an injustice. Five years is, tragically, five years too many.

Nasser Rohani is a member of the Local Assembly of the Baha’is of Auburn.