ssion "meet any of the allegations of the petitioners"
and are confined to a mere assertion that the judgment of the Court of
Appeal was pronounced in accordance with the laws of the land. As to the
memorandum submitted by the Mandatory Power in connection with the Baha'i
petition, and to which the minutes briefly refer, it is expressly stated
that His Britannic Majesty's Government considers the ejectment of the
Baha'is while the case was still undecided to have been an illegal action,
that the reasons adduced to justify such action were hardly admissible,
and that the final verdict of the Court of Appeal is unsustainable,
contrary to the law, and tainted by political considerations. The minutes
further declare that although any petition presented to the Commission
appealing from a decision given by a Court of Law is to be considered as
not being in order, yet as the petition submitted by the Baha'is reveals
such a state of partiality, servility and sectarianism it has been found
desirable to depart from the general rule and to regard the petition in
question as receivable by the Commission. And among the concluding
observations in the minutes of the Commission's meeting regarding the
Baha'i petition is this significant passage: "The revelations made in
connection with this petition show the present position in 'Iraq in an
unfavorable light. In a country where the conduct of the highest
authorities has led the Mandatory Power to pass such severe criticisms,
where the Supreme Court of Justice is under legitimate suspicion, and
where religious fanaticism pursues minorities and controls power, a state
of affairs prevails which is not calculated to insure the development and
well-being of the inhabitants. The petitioners have suffered a serious
denial of justice the direct responsibility for which rests on the
authorities of 'Iraq. The fact that this denial of justice could not be
prevented or immediately made good was due to the weakening of the
Mandatory Power's control in 'Iraq. The Mandatory attempted, but in vain,
to redress the injury done to the petitioners by using the means of
influence at its disposal under the regime set up by the 1922 Treaty
vis-a-vis King Feisal and the 'Iraq Government. These efforts would not
appear to correspond fully to the engagements resulting from the British
Government's declaration, which was approved by the Council on September
27, 1924, and renewed by the British Government in 1926, wh