AFP,  Montreal,  August 11, 2010 — Canada called on Iran Tuesday to release on bail seven Bahai leaders sentenced to 20 years in prison on espionage and other charges, condemning the persecution of the Bahai community in Iran as “intolerable and deeply troubling.”

Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada was “deeply disturbed” by the reports that the seven were sentenced without written judgements or due process.

He urged Iran to grant them bail and ensure they are treated fairly in keeping with international standards.

“Canada further urges Iran to protect the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” he said.

“The persecution of the Bahai community in Iran is intolerable and deeply troubling,” he added.

The Bahai community says it has more than seven million adherents worldwide, including 300,000 in Iran, where the religion emerged in the 19th century.

Iran arrested seven Bahai leaders in May 2008 and this year put them on trial on charges ranging from spying for foreigners, spreading corruption on Earth, undermining Islam and of cooperating with Israel.

All those accused denied the charges.

New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement Tuesday calling on Iran to release the seven immediately “given that no evidence appears to have ever been presented against them, and they have not been given a fair and public trial.”

“For more than two years now the Iranian authorities have utterly failed to provide the slightest shred of evidence indicating any basis for detaining these seven Bahai leaders, let alone sentencing them to 20 years in prison,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the group’s Middle East division.