Because he practiced the Bahai Faith, he knew that he would have lost many freedoms had he stayed under the new regime, which treated followers of Bahai — an ancient Iranian religion — as second-class citizens, he said.
So he came to the United States in search of an education, with which he had hoped to return to Iran one day. But as fate would have it, his quest for knowledge may have saved his life.
“The new regime promised us more freedom,” he said. “But what it actually did was take them away. If you are Bahai, you could not go to college; you could not get a good job. Many of the jobs are run by the government. … The only thing you could be is a shopkeeper.”
Two of his uncles and a pair of friends were executed by the government because of their beliefs. And at one point, while he was studying at the University of South Dakota, Nikoui learned from family members that he, too, could have been killed because of his involvement in the Bahai movement when he was younger.
“There was no way to go back,” he said. “They told me that I had been blacklisted.”
Though things have calmed in his native country during the past 28 years, Nikoui still has not returned to Iran. Most of his family also escaped persecution. They are spread all over the world.
Read the rest of the story here.
Nikoui’s story is only one out of many… decades later and Iran still hasn’t ceased its human rights abuses against its peaceful Baha’i minority.
The not-so-Islamic Iranian government should realize that Baha’is have a right to Iran just like their fellow citizens, they shouldn’t be constantly harassed, discriminated against, and chased out of the country merely because of their different religious path. On behalf of the Muslim officials in Iran we apologize for these unjust practices which don’t represent our faith in any way.
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Gerald
8 July, 2007
What an awful story. However, they aren’t exactly right in calling the Baha’i Faith an ancient Iranian Religion, that would be Zoroastrians, we are more like a Modern Iranian religion.
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bilo
8 July, 2007
It is a modern world religion whose founder, Baha’u'llah, was the son of a Persian nobleman. He was subsequently exiled to the Ottoman Empire, declared His mission while in Baghdad, and ended his exile in the prison of Akko in Palestine.
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Rick Schaut
14 July, 2007
First, I’d like to applaud your courage for setting up this blog and for shedding light upon the plight of my Baha’i brothers and sisters in various lands. Not only do you serve Baha’is with these efforts, you serve all humanity.
Having said that, I am somewhat dismayed by statements that refer to a government as “not-so-Islamic”. You are certainly entitled to have an opinion and to voice that opinion. However, I fear that, in this context, statements like that will distract from your basic message of human rights. The facts are powerful enough to speak for themselves. They require no interpretation. There are other forums where statements of a political nature are quite appropriate. Human rights don’t need to be politicized.
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Admin
15 July, 2007
Hello Rick, thanks for your comment. The idea behind the statement is that Iran commits these crimes in the name of Islam, and the rest of us Muslims are very sick of being misportrayed and misled. This is not what our religion stands for and we want to make sure that others understand that Iran doesn’t represent Islam. There is hardly anything Islamic about today’s Iran…. yet it calls itself an Islamic Republic, what for?
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Rick Schaut
15 July, 2007
Admin,
I’m afraid I didn’t make my point very well. As I said, you are absolutely entitled to your opinion about whether or not the government of Iran represents Islam. And, for that matter, it’s an opinion with which I agree.
My point, however, has to do with where, when and how such an opinion might be expressed to the greatest beneficial effect. The phrase “not-so-Islamic Iranian government,” strikes me as more of a term of ridicule than as a serious statement of opinion, and I think it detracts from the larger point.
In a Tablet, Baha’u'llah wrote: “Not everything that a man knoweth can be disclosed, nor can everything that he can disclose be regarded as timely, nor can every timely utterance be considered as suited to the capacity of those who hear it.” It’s a very wise statement, I think, about the nature of wisdom.
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Admin
16 July, 2007
Point understood and taken, thanks. We’ll refrain from doing that in the future for the sake of healthier dialogue.
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