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Sep
4
The Iranian government’s broad-based strategy to stamp out the country’s Bahá’í community has continued unabated throughout the summer months with reports of Bahá’ís being dismissed from their jobs, systematic anti-Bahá’í propaganda campaigns and arson attacks.
There are currently at least 22 Baha’is in jail in Iran who are being held because of their religion. Among them, seven leaders are still being held incommunicado in Evin Prison in Tehran. Their families have no information about formal charges against them, although it has been more than a month since a government prosecutor was quoted in the press as saying the individuals had “confessed” to operating an “illegal” organization with ties to Israel and other countries – charges categorically denied by the Baha’i International Community.
Mrs. Shirin Ebadi – the prominent Iranian human rights attorney who is a Nobel laureate – maintains that she and her colleagues at the Defenders of Human Rights Centre in Iran are prepared to defend the jailed Bahá’ís, despite criticism and false accusations leveled at her and her family because of their involvement, including charges that she or her daughter have become Bahá’ís. Mrs. Ebadi is a Muslim, and the Bahá’í International Community has confirmed that neither she nor her daughter have ever been Bahá’ís. She has stated that attorneys have been trying to get access to those in jail but such access has been denied.
Two Bahá’ís in Mashhad were killed and one seriously injured when they were run over by a car, apparently on purpose. All three had earlier received threatening telephone calls.
After authorities first suggested that the fire that destroyed the home of a Bahá’í family in Kerman had been caused by an electrical problem, the fire department of that city has now confirmed that arson was the cause. Another arson attempt occurred in Rafsanjan when a burning tire was wedged in the door of a home, blocking the exit for the Bahá’í family living there. Neighbours ran to their rescue, thus averting injury or serious damage.
The Bahá’í World News Service has also reported that a number of tactics are now being used to prevent Bahá’ís from earning a living. In one recent example, a Bahá’í working at a real estate agency in Shiraz was fired after a group of agents met and decided that dealing with Bahá’ís was against Islamic law. At the meeting, a number of baseless allegations were made against the Bahá’í and an anti-Bahá’í leaflet published by the city council and police was distributed.
In Shiraz, three different versions of an anti-Bahá’í brochure titled “Baha’ism: A Colonial Dance” were widely distributed. The brochure included common false accusations about the Bahá’í Faith. A number of Muslim neighbours of Bahá’í families in the city have received “visits” from people who attempt to distort their perception of the Bahá’í Faith and discourage them from associating with the Bahá’ís.
A Bahá’í youth who is a national judo champion was expelled from the national team before it travelled to international competitions. After appeals were lodged, it was learned that there is a general directive prohibiting Bahá’ís from competing, coaching or refereeing on national teams.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency published a special report on 13 August claiming that Bahá’ís were planning to plant a bomb at the Tehran International Exhibition a few months ago. Seyyed Kazem Mousavi, a historian on modern Iran, claimed to have uncovered and put a stop to a criminal plot that may have resulted in a great human catastrophe. The Bahá’í International Community categorically denies that Bahá’ís planned any such attack.
More cemetery desecrations have been reported, and, in addition, three Bahá’ís who participated in a burial in a Baha’i cemetery that has been in use for 15 years were arrested and convicted of “taking part in the illegal occupation and use of government property.” The three were fined and ordered to “cease their occupation of the said property” (the cemetery) and to “return it to its prior condition” (that is, exhume the interred Bahá’í).
Bahá’í students continue to be barred from university, and new evidence indicates that they are being identified as Bahá’ís early in the application process and are being blocked even from going online to check their test scores.
For more than a month, Kayhan, the government-backed national newspaper, has been publishing daily articles attacking the Bahá’í Faith. They consist of excerpts from a newly published book that purports to be the memoirs of a man who had been a Bahá’í but “recanted” his faith. The articles are filled with false and misleading material.
The same newspaper has published more than 200 articles in the last three years maligning the Bahá’ís. Iranian television has also broadcast programs attempting to create ill will against the Bahá’í Faith and the Bahá’ís.
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