The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights » Iran

Iran Sentences Baha’i Leaders to 20 Years in Prison

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:27:49 +0000

After prolonged detention and a show trial, the seven unofficial leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran were sentenced to 20 years in prison each, according to reports by human rights activists in Iran.

After being held for almost two years in the notorious Evin Prison without any charges brought against them or permission to meet their lawyers, the trial of the Yaran began in January 2010 and was concluded in June 2010. The trial was held in the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran and was essentially a show trial. Outside observers were not allowed into the courtroom despite it officially being a trial open to the public, but film crews of the regime were dispatched to tape the trial. The Baha’i seven, aware of the role the regime planned for them, refused to participate in some of the hearings.

The fictitious charges brought against the Baha’i leaders are espionage, initiation and expansion of illegal organizations, collecting and transmitting classified information to foreigners in the aim of disrupting national security, holding illegal meetings to plot the actions against the security of the state and spreading corruption on earth. These activities were coordinated with the “usurper regime that is occupying al-Qods” (Israel) and guided by the leadership of the Baha’is, the Universal House of Justice, which is located in Israel.

The seven Baha’is are the members of “Friends of Iran” (Yaran Iran), a national-level coordinating group for the Baha’i community in Iran. Six of the group, Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm, have been arrested in their home in Tehran on May 14, 2008. Mahvash Sabet was arrested on March 5, 2008 during a visit to Mashad. All official Baha’i governing bodies were disbanded in Iran in 1983.

Update: Initial reaction of the Baha’i international community:

“If this news proves to be accurate, it represents a deeply shocking outcome to the case of these innocent and harmless people,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“We understand that they have been informed of this sentence and that their lawyers are in the process of launching an appeal,” said Ms. Dugal.

50 Houses of Baha’is Destroyed in Northern Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:33:30 +0000

Fifty Baha’i families in the village of Eival could do nothing but watch their houses being demolished this week, RAHNA reported.

On June 22, the Baha’is of Eival learned that non-Baha’is in their village are collecting signatures to destroy, level and clear the houses of the Baha’is living in the villages. Some of the Baha’is approached the local administration office but were turned away as Iranian officials stated that the reports are unfounded. On the next day, the Baha’is again approached the local office, a police station in Telmadareh and also went governor’s office in the Mazandaran province capital in Sari. All authorities stated that the reports were false and accused the Baha’is of breaking the law by approaching them.

Eival village entered a state of quarantine for 48 hours and Baha’i families were violently barred from their homes. Following this the demolition of the Baha’i houses began. According to an eyewitness, a few men with trucks demolished and leveled around fifty houses of Baha’is in the village.

The following footage of the aftermath of the destruction was obtained by HRA-IRAN:

Yet Another Baha’i Cemetery Desecrated in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:05:04 +0000

Reporters and Human Rights Activists in Iran (RAHNA) reported today about the desecration by an unidentified group of the Baha’i cemetery in Damavand.

According to the report, an unidentified group entered the cemetery on April 24th, and using heavy machinery overturned every gravestone in the cemetery. The cemetery was completely leveled. Complaints to authorities have resulted in nothing. The cemetery was established in 2005 following the illegal confiscation of the lots of the previous two cemeteries of Damavand by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Desecration of Baha’i cemeteries has been a long-held unofficial policy of the Iranian regime. In 2009, the Baha’i cemeteries in Semnan, Najafabad and Vilashahr, Abadan and Khorramshahr and Sangsar were desecrated. The destruction of cemeteries has been used by the Iranian regime to prevent Baha’is from burying their dead in their towns, in contradiction to Baha’i teachings. The fact that the destruction operations are usually carried out using heavy machinery means that the people behind the attacks are not just random anti-Baha’i vigilantes. The fact that no charges are ever pressed against those criminals signals to them that the regime supports their abhorrent actions.

The 7 Baha’i Leaders Refused to Participate in their Show Trial in Tehran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:14:14 +0000

According to reports by the Baha’i community and human rights activists in Iran, the seven Baha’i leaders refused to participate in the third hearing of their trial on April 13.

At the beginning of the third session of the trial, which was supposed to be open, the families of the Baha’is on trial were barred from entering. Instead, cameramen, ministry of intelligence officials and interrogators were let in. After consulting with their attorneys, the seven Baha’i leaders decided not to participate in this show trial, and refused to enter the courtroom. The Baha’i leaders stated that if regime officials are allowed to participate in the hearing, making it a public session, their family members should be let in as well.

According to Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the United Nations, the Baha’i seven who made up the unofficial leadership of the Baha’is in Iran are “entering their third year of imprisonment without being allowed to at least be released on bail, or even released without it — for they are absolutely innocent.”

The previous court sessions of this show trial were also closed to the public, while cameras were let in. The seven face several charges, including espionage, initiation and expansion of illegal organizations, collecting and transmitting classified information to foreigners in the aim of disrupting national security, holding illegal meetings to plot the actions against the security of the state and spreading corruption on earth. These activities were coordinated with the “usurper regime that is occupying al-Qods” (Israel) and guided by the leadership of the Baha’is, the Universal House of Justice, which is located in Israel. The charge of spreading corruption on earth carries the death penalty.

Baha’i Rights in Iran: A Struggle Fought in Hearts

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:38:28 +0000

Below is a powerful article posted on Iranian.com that talks about the persecution of Baha’is in Iran as a strategy of the Iranian regime to pit one group against the other. The writer contends the accusation leveled against the Baha’i community in Iran in general and the trumped-up charges against the Yaran 7 in particular are opposed to the basic principles of the Baha’i Faith. A very moving comment at the end of this article is also posted here. In it, an Iranian unanimous commenter apologizes for being brain-washed by the Iranian regime into mistrusting and suspecting Baha’is. Baha’is are often accused by Iran of being spies for foreign regimes, despite the fact that the Baha’i Faith originated in Persia.

Struggle fought in hearts
Human rights in Iran

by Randolph Dobbs
08-Apr-2010

Human rights and globalization share a common vocabulary. No matter where people may live in the world they share a vital interest in the basic requirements of liberty, including the right to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion;” the right to “freedom of opinion and expression” and the “right to peaceful assembly and association.” These and 27 other specific freedoms outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were adopted by the United Nations more than 60 years ago.

Partly as a result of this declaration as well as a growing global view of social responsibility, human rights transcend national borders. Globalization is more than just economic interests—it includes a social and political interdependence that promotes human rights worldwide.

Unfortunately for the people of Iran and most especially for Iranian Baha’is, human rights are neither widely recognized by the Islamic government nor is their application evenly distributed. Yet human rights are universal exactly because they define the interests of those without power—even in authoritarian states like Iran.

No country in the world has unlimited power to do whatever it wants to its own people. The very idea of national sovereignty includes a dual responsibility: to respect the sovereignty of other countries but also to respect the rights of its own citizens. As a member of the U.N. and signatory to a number of international conventions, the Islamic Republic of Iran has to face some tough questions about the treatment of its own people and especially the 300,000 Iranian members of the Baha’i Faith.

Baha’is have been persecuted ever since their religion was founded in mid-19th century Persia (present-day Iran). The Iranian Baha’i community is often viewed as the canary-in-the-coal-mine regarding human rights abuses because as the nation’s largest non-Muslim religious minority they suffer the most discrimination—denied access to higher education, prevented from working in government jobs or receiving federal pensions to cite only a few examples.

Since obedience to government wherever Baha’is reside in the world is a matter of religious principle, the Baha’is in Iran are a convenient scapegoat for the Islamic regime which seeks to redirect public ire over its difficulties. Following the Ashura Protests last December, a group of Baha’is were arrested on January 3 under the guise that they were responsible for the anti-government turmoil. But Baha’is must also refrain from involvement in partisan politics whether local, national or international. In the spring of 2008, seven Baha’i leaders were rounded up during the night and have been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison ever since. Faced with trumped-up charges of “spying for the state of Israel” and “spreading corruption on earth” their fate may be decided at a trial in a Revolutionary Court set for April 10.

Their families and fellow Baha’is around the world have good reason to fear what may result should they be found guilty. Some 25 years ago members of Iran’s national-level Baha’i leadership were arrested in a similar manner and executed by the Iranian government.

The Islamic Republic of Iran promotes division within its own country by pitting one group against another. To make this policy effective Iran has tried to isolate its people from accurate reporting of the news. According to Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based organization that promotes freedom of the press, Iran has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world—a distinction it has earned not only by jailing foreign correspondents but also by depriving its own citizens of the freedom of thought and conscience.

Iran, in fact, controls every aspect of its domestic news even down to minor details. Last November the country’s largest circulation newspaper, the Hamshahri, was temporarily closed down after it published a photograph of a Baha’i temple in India as part of an advertisement for tourism to that country.

Any kind of criticism, foreign or domestic, only fuels the Iranian Islamic regime’s worst expectations. The government is sensitive to international embarrassment and highly reactive as is clearly shown by its response to ongoing public protests over the Iranian presidential election held last June.

The international community, including the American government, should continue to highlight Iran’s human rights abuses as such global attention makes it more difficult to continue rights violations without being noticed.

What is also needed is a sustainable policy that promotes human rights, encourages international support and does so in a way that doesn’t antagonize Iran’s historical anxiety over foreign influence or heighten concerns over the loss of traditional values—a sustainable policy, in other words, that appeals to the Iranian government’s better judgment. In essence, the abrasive relationship between Iran and the rest of the world, particularly between Iran and the West, masks a deeper truth. Iran needs the rest of the world more than the rest of the world needs Iran.

That “the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens” is an oft-quoted excerpt from the 19th century writings of the prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u'lláh. Universal human rights and international conventions may not represent global governance, but the recent earthquakes in Haiti followed by those in Chile and just last week the modest quake in Los Angeles, pose an excellent metaphor for global unity and the interconnectedness of nations—what happens in one part of the world affects people living elsewhere.

Whatever happens in the show-trial of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran, the larger issue is the fate of the Iranian people. The question is: What kind of nation does Iran aspire to become? Will it remain a repressive society unable to overcome the effects of religious bigotry? Or will it live up to the ideals not only of international human rights but also Islamic standards of justice?

Bahai’s have the greatest respect for all religions. The sacred writings of the Baha’i Faith refer to Islam as “the blessed and luminous religion of God” and Iran, itself, as having a glorious future as a “focal center of divine splendors” to match its proud history of achievement.

In the face of injustice people turn to external interventions. They march in protest, conduct economic boycotts, work to enact various laws, abandon old policies and adopt new ones. Bahai’s believe that the ultimate struggle for justice in Iran will not be waged in the streets of Tehran, will not be contested in Islamic courts but will, instead, be fought in the hearts of the Iranian people.

AUTHOR
Randolph Dobbs is the secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of Los Angeles and a member of the Regional Bahai Council of the Southwestern States.

Comment:

I was truly touched and became uncharacteristically emotional while reading this piece by Randolph Dobbs. For a long time I have been looking for an opportunity to apologize to my Bahai ex-classmates and ex-neighbours for allowing myself to be brain washed by the men of religious pretensions to treat them with suspicion and mistrust. I have been waiting for a long time, nearly 35 years, for an opportunity to let off the guilt bottled inside me on a public forum such as this. Thank you “Iranian.com”.

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to say sorry. I particularly would like to say sorry to a lone Bahai classmate of mine who was desperately seeking friendship in the school playground but was cruelly turned down because he was Bahai. Sorry, I just had no courage to leave the mainstream of religious ignorance, bigotry and prejudice. I am guilty.

Baha’i Activist Dorsa Sobhani Barred from Visitations in Evin Prison

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:27:36 +0000

Dorsa Sobhani, a Baha’i and women’s rights activist, is banned from receiving visits from her family and lawyer, the Committee for Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) disclosed this week. The visit by Dorsa’s lawyer to the judiciary in an attempt to secure visitation rights have not produced a result. The letters Dorsa’s family has sent to the judiciary and other officials of the Islamic Republic asking for a thorough investigation in her case have been ignored.

Dorsa was arrested in the early morning of March 7th in Sari, northern Iran. She was later transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. Dorsa’s arrest came after a raid on Sobhani’s home on March 2th, when six security officials entered the home in the middle of the night, searched it and confiscated belongings. On March 4th, six officials returned to Sobhani’s home, and physically and verbally attacked her father. He was then arrested, blindfolded, bound and interrogated and threatened for hours.

Dorsa is a member of the 1 Million Signature Campaign that aims to abolish the legal inequality between men an women in Iran. Dorsa was prohibited from higher education because of her faith and she is one of the founders of the Committee for the Right to Education, which campaigns to lift all bans on education in Iran. Many members of the committee were arrested recently.

Open Letter to Iranians by Baha’i Students Banned from Universities

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:06:58 +0000

An open letter by a group of Baha’i students banned from universities to Iranians

Noble people of Iran,

We do not see the need to tell you of our love for Iran and Iranians. Anyone who has contact with the Baha’is of Iran is without a doubt well aware of their devotion to their land and their dear compatriots.

However, as a poet put it,

The guards of my cage broke my silence
They broke my heart filled with patience

The time to wait and hesitate has come to an end. The pen in the hands of the oppressive rulers writes nothing but defamation, distortion of facts, and derision. Their paper is soaked in the darkness of dogma, detestation, and despotism. My dear compatriots, you should also present a pen and paper, because you love freedom, and you love kindness and passion. The power of thought and heart is stronger than a thousand weapons.

We are Iranians of the Baha’i faith. Our desires will be reached with an Iran that is proud and Iranians that are honoured. On the contrary, we are deprived of our minimal civil rights [in Iran]. Although we do not have the right to attend universities in our country, we have not ceased to defend the dignity and honour of Iranians. We have shown compassion to this land and its people with all our heart and soul. Despite all the injustices we have to bear, this land is sacred and a source of pride for us.

To pursue our right to education, we went to many government organizations like the Ministry of Advanced Education, the Evaluations Office (responsible for post-secondary examinations), and the Presidential Office. [As a response] we were either insulted or threatened.

Conscious violations of human rights in Iran is not new. Everyone, in some way or another, is faced with it. Followers of the Baha’i faith seem to have been more stripped of their human rights than others. Baha’is have not experienced justice, fairness, and equality in the past thirty years.

The violators of these rights did not stop at insults and defamation. The regime has a dark record of burning Baha’is alive; looting and confiscating property owned by Baha’is; threatening, torturing, and imprisoning Baha’is. Despite the amount of cruelty Baha’is have endured, they have never submitted to the injustices.

Despite all these, we cannot complain about these oppressors; it is clear to everyone that power and wealth blind those who depend on it. They turn exalted feelings into hatred and violence such that one does not even recognize the humanity of others, let alone respect their rights.

The Baha’i youth who were engaged in serving their fellow citizens by helping disadvantaged children of their cities were arrested and detained for daring to assist their compatriots. The individuals who take their grievances on their right to education to officials are affronted and intimidated. Currently some are detained in prison. Mercenaries who know nothing of the Baha’i people are recruited to write whatever they want against followers of this faith to weaken their status in the society. Not a single word they write is true, and yet when we try to clarify the facts and uncover the truth, we are hit by legal prosecution on the false premises that we have acted against national security and have insulted Islam.

As we mentioned before, we do not expect much more of them. We are, however, disappointed at fellow citizens who listen and believe those who say whatever they want, distort the truth, defame and slander, and even break the law. We are heartbroken at the compatriot who harasses their fellow citizen out of religious dogma, and turns the schools attended by young Baha’i children to a place where they harass, belittle, and insult these defenseless youngsters. We are saddened by those who accept without research and review whatever they hear without seeing the impacts of such statements.

Whatever you do, you remain our compatriot and our fellow human being, and we will not cease to love you. It is not hatred and resentment, but love for you which remains in our hearts. I like you my bully and oppressive fellow citizen. We love you our oppressed and bullied compatriot. Whether you are Muslim, Christian, or you hold another belief; whatever your post and status, whether you are poor or rich; whether you are fair or unjust; whether you are educated or illiterate; whether you are black or white; we cordially love you.

The New Year is an excuse to renew thoughts and emotions. Let us celebrate it, and regardless of any dogma, let’s hold hands. Let’s rise with one heart and one soul, bonded by compassion and mutual respect, to serve the sacred soil of Iran.

A group of Baha’i students deprived of education

March 18, 2010
Source: Siavosh J. | Persian2English.com

Interview With a Baha’i Education Right Activist in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:18:52 +0000

In an interview with International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Hessam Mishaghi, spokesperson for the Right to Education Committee, most of whose members are in prison right now, spoke of barriers for education for Bahais and students who are active in civil and political activities at universities. He explained in this interview that contrary to Mohammad Javad Larijani’s statements in Geneva in which he said no Bahai has been arrested or deprived from education or social rights on grounds of his Bahai faith, he and one of his friends have discovered a letter in which Ministry of Science’s Security Department and Ministry of Information have deprived them of education on the same grounds. Hessam Mishaghi also talked about the arrests of his friends and colleagues and how what Larijani said in Geneva were lies.
The Campaign’s interview with this civil and student activist who has been deprived from education follows:

Campaign: Mr. Misaghi, you are a member of the Right to Education Committee. Why did you form this Committee and what is the situation with the Committee members right now?

Hessam Misaghi: This Committee was formed as an independent organization to regain the general right to education. Most of its members were Bahai students who had been deprived of education, but the Committee was working to regain the rights of all students deprived from education on grounds such as gender discrimination, suspension and dismissal orders for critical students, as well as deprivation of education for Bahai students which has a long record.

This Committee had several meetings last May and June in different Iranian cities with the aim to disseminate information, something which was unprecedented under the oppressive conditions of Iran. The first meeting was held in Tehran. I participated in the meetings as the Spokesperson for the organization, so I delivered speeches. Navid Khanjani was the founder and Head of this independent organization. The Committee was established as an independent organization to regain the general right to education. Three Committee members were arrested within 24 hours and three other members’ homes were searched.

Who are the other Committee members who have been arrested or are being pursued?

Hessam Misaghi: Dorsa Sobhani, one of our Committee colleagues in Sari is under immense pressure. Her father was arrested by six people yesterday [March 6] and was interrogated blindfolded and handcuffed while he was beaten. Eeghan Shahidi, a Committee colleague in Kermanshah was arrested early in the morning on March 3rd. Sama Nourani, a Shiraz colleague who has been deprived from her medical engineering education at Tabriz Sahand University was arrested on March 3rd. I must add that after joining the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, our Committee’s central members established a new organization named “Society Against Educational Discrimination,” and this is how threats and arrests of members of Committee of Human Rights Reporters came to be related to arrests of our organization which is a defender of the right to education.

Were you summoned, too?

Hessam Misaghi: I was summoned on January 2nd. I didn’t show up to Ministry of Information. On March 3rd they stormed my home and the home of Sepehr Atefi, one of our colleagues in the Right to Education Committee and searched the premises. I have to add that we were an independent organization and our only objective was to defend the right to an education.

What were your group’s objectives regarding the right to education?

Hessam Misaghi: We ask for freedom of thought for university entry. The Right to Education Committee has been dissolved. All our colleagues are now active with the Society Against Educational Discrimination.

What do you think is the reason for the confrontation with this group? Is it because some of the members are Bahais? Or is it because the Ministry of Science has consistently denied the “starred student” phenomenon? Or are there other reasons?

Hessam Misaghi: The government deprives applicants and students from their education, as well as arresting people who are activists around this subject. I think the arrests of these individuals is not related solely to their being Bahais. These individuals were involved in civil activities to defend student rights. The rulers neither approve of their being Bahais, nor their civil activities. Bahais’ joining the Iranian civil society and joining other civil activists working to defend their fellow countrymen’s rights is a very significant development and I think the rulers cannot tolerate this, hence the severe crackdown on these education-deprived students. Dorsa Sobhani was also a One Million Signatures Campaign activist in Sari.

Crackdowns on the Right to Education activists is not unprecedented. Currently members of the Council to Defend the Right to Education are also in prison. Zia Nabavi, Majid Dorri, Saeed Jalalifar, Mahdieh Golroo, and Shiva Nazar Ahari are the ones in prison now.

What do you think about the recent remarks by Minister of Science in which he said those who do not share the regime’s views–more specifically those who do not have practical commitment to Islam and Velayat-e Faghih–will be dismissed from universities?

Hessam Misaghi: Such an approach is in contradiction to international human rights standards and shows the short-sightedness of a regime which does not accept any opposite views. In a country where the entire nation think the same way, no progress will be achieved. It is through criticism and challenge that new ideas are heard and progress is achieved.

What do you think these remarks could bring student political activists?

Hessam Misaghi: Such statements will only intensify the ruling oppression in the society and will increase pressure on student and civil activists. Consequently, security organizations would also confront harder, as we are witnessing, even though many students are already in prison. Now we see even those who have never been allowed to enter the universities despite their efforts for gaining admission are also arrested.

Can you provide more details about Dorsa Sobhani?

Hessam Misaghi: Dorsa is 20 years old. Her father was threatened by telling him that if Dorsa did not turn herself in on Saturday, they would arrest his wife and their younger daughter.
[Update: Dorsa arrived at her home in Sari on March 7th and was arrested by 12 security agents and eventually transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran - BR]

Dorsa’s father said that two days ago, when he left his home, six men waiting outside his home told him that he had to go with them. They then transferred him to an unknown location. He was handcuffed and blindfolded and interrogated for four hours during which he was threatened. I already told you about threats. Dorsa has to turn herself in on Saturday, otherwise her family will be arrested and her home will be confiscated.

Where was Dorsa?

Hessam Misaghi: Dorsa had taken a trip to (…) on the day the officers stormed their home at night.

Is she back now?

Hessam Mishaghi: They have told her father that she should return and turn herself in tomorrow. She will most likely be arrested.

What is her charge?

Hessam Misaghi: They didn’t say anything about charges. They just said we have a warrant and we will explain the charges after arrest. In my and Sepehr’s cases, they informed us of the same charges as for the other Committee members, meaning “contact with MKO” and “moharebeh.”

Are you a Bahai yourself?

Hessam Misaghi: Yes, I am from a Bahai family. This was used in a Ministry of Science letter as grounds for my dismissal from Isfahan’s Sanaee University in 2008, after I had finished two terms studying English Translation. I should add that most of my classmates did not know anything about my being a Bahai, it had never been discussed.

How did they find out and expel you?

Hessam Misaghi: Usually Bahai students are dismissed after a ruling arrives from Ministry of Science’s Security Department. Ministry of Information has all the statistics on Bahai families; they identify [the students] and do the expulsion.

How do they get their statistics? Do families announce that they are Bahais?

Hessam Misaghi: Yes. Bahai’s don’t conceal their belief because it is forbidden for them. If someone asks them they announce that they are Bahais.

What happens if you object? Is there any source to respond to your objection?

Hessam Misaghi: Over the past years, objections have been registered with Ministry of Science, Evaluation Organization, and The Cultural Revolution Superior Council both in written form and in person. But the authorities do not answer at all and consider themselves not at fault.

Navid Khanjani and I even had a situation when last December 17th we went to Ministry of Science. We were detained in a room inside the Ministry of Science for a whole day. We were threatened and interrogated because we had found a confidential letter which Ministry of Science authorities didn’t want to leave the Ministry and we were not giving them the letter.

What was in the letter?

Hessam Misaghi: It was a letter in which it was clearly stated that dismissal of these students was on orders from Ministry of Science’s Security Department. The letter has been scanned and I can send you the file. I was so surprised when I heard Larijani’s statements. We have heard so many lies during these years but this was really surprising. How far can a government go to deny its actions? We are a generation who has heard years of lies and when we tried to expose the lies we ended up in prison, like Navid, Eeghan, Sama, and maybe even Dorsa…

Does the Committee only pertain to education-deprived students or does it also include the starred students?

Hessam Misaghi: We had starred students in our gatherings, too. Our gatherings were a tribune for all education-deprived students from all orientations.

Therefore your organization is only six months old and you have endured so much pressure?

Hessam Misaghi: Yes, that’s right.

You have been illegally barred from continuing your education. When responding to criticism about imprisoning Iranian Bahais and denying them the right to education, Javad Larijani denied it in Geneva. On the other hand, when you ask the authorities to be responsive, you are summoned and arrested. How does this make you feel?

Hessam Misaghi: With all these problems, and even though my best friends are in jail, I am still not disappointed, because I know people of Iran hear our voices. Iranians’ voices demanding their rights have been heard by the world for a while now. We are people who have never accepted injustice and have fought for regaining our rights until our last breaths.

Dorsa Sobhani, a Baha’i Activist, Arrested Today in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:41:56 +0000

Dorsa Sobhani, a member of the 1 Million Signature Campaign, was arrested this morning in Sari, northern Iran. The 1 Million Signature Campaign aims to collect a million signatures to a petition to repeal all the discriminatory laws against women in Iran, while raising awareness about this inequality.

Ms. Sobhani is a Baha’i who was denied her right to higher education because of her faith, and she has also campaigned for those rights. Many students – Baha’is and politically active – have been banned from attending universities in the past. The “Committee for the Right to Education”, which Dorsa is a member of, campaigned to lift these bans. Since the disputed June election in Iran, many members of the committee were arrested.

This arrest comes after a raid on Sobhani’s home on March 2th, when six security officials entered the home in the middle of the night, searched it and confiscated belongings. On March 4th, six officials returned to Sobhani’s home, and physically and verbally attacked her father. He was then arrested, blindfolded, bound and interrogated and threatened for hours. The security officials told him that unless he turns in Dorsa, he, his wife and young daughter will be arrested and their home will be taken away from them.

This morning Dorsa arrived at her home where she was met by 12 security agents who proceeded to arrest her.

Human Rights Watch Issues a Statement on the Violation of Baha’i Rights in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:45:20 +0000

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement about the ongoing persecution of Baha’is in Iran, following the arrest of 13 Baha’is in Iran for alleged connection the Ashoura protests (January 27, 2009). According to the Iranian regime, the Baha’is fomented protests, stored weapons and ammunition in their homes, and sent photographs of protests abroad. These allegations surfaced after an intense media campaign by the Iranian regime that blamed Baha’is for the protests.

Below is the Human Rights Watch statement:

Iran: End Persecution of Baha’is
Dozens Detained Without Charge; Leaders Face Charges Carrying Death Penalty
February 23, 2010

(New York) – The Iranian government should immediately stop harassing and arbitrarily detaining members of the Baha’i community, Human Rights Watch said today.

The detention of 13 Baha’is on February 10 and 11 follows the arrest of 13 others in early January. The government alleges that those arrested in January helped to organize recent anti-government demonstrations but has not made public any charges against those detained in February. These arrests come during a broad government crackdown on opposition activists.

“The Iranian government seems to be using the post-election unrest as a cover for targeting the Baha’i community,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These arrests are only the latest chapter in the government’s systematic persecution of the Baha’i.”

Unlike Iran’s Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian communities, which are accorded constitutional protection, the Iranian government does not recognize the Baha’i Faith and considers its adherents to be apostates from Shi’a Islam. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Iranian government has put in effect various discriminatory policies against the Baha’is, including limiting access to education and employment.

Since October 2009, authorities have detained at least 47 Baha’is in Tehran, Mashhad, Sari, Semnan, and Yazd, according to the United Nations office of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) in Geneva. In May 2008, the government arrested seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Tehran, who have been held in detention since then. Their trial began on January 12, but has been postponed to April 10.

The Judiciary has charged the seven community leaders with a range of national-security-related offenses, including spying for the benefit of foreigners, propaganda against the system, establishing and spreading illegal organizations, undermining the image of the Islamic Republic in the international community, and spreading “corruption on earth.” Most of these charges carry the death penalty. During the more than a year and a half that the five men and two women have been held, they have been allowed only limited visits from family and lawyers.

One of those detained on February 10 was Alaeddin Khanjani. According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Iran, Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) agents entered his home in Tehran at about 2:30 a.m., searched the premises, confiscated personal belongings including a computer and religious material, and took him into custody. Khanjani is the son of Jamaloddin Khanjani, one of the seven Baha’i leaders on trial in Tehran. Ministry of Intelligence agents had also arrested Alaeddin Khanjani’s adult daughter in January. Within several hours of Alaeddin Khanjani’s arrest, agents arrested seven more Baha’is, claiming they were being detained for their involvement in recent public demonstrations. On February 11, agents arrested five Baha’is in their homes in Tehran. No charges have been filed against any of the 13.

On January 3, MOI agents also raided the homes of 13 Baha’is and detained them, releasing three of them after they indicated they would not participate in further public demonstrations. In addition to the others arrested on February 10, one of those arrested on January 3 and then released was rearrested on February 10.

In a press statement on January 12, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran general prosecutor, said that the 10 Baha’is who have been held since January 3 faced charges of “organizing the unrest on Ashura [December 27] and sending photos of the unrest abroad.” In a previous statement on January 8, he claimed that authorities had found arms and ammunition in some of their homes. Dolatabadi denied that the arrests had anything to do with their Baha’i affiliation. Security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of Iranians for their alleged involvement in the demonstrations on Ashura, a Shi’a day of mourning.

The authorities are holding those arrested on January 3 in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj and have not allowed them to contact their lawyers. According to the BIC, a few of them were allowed to contact family members after spending several weeks in prison.

The BIC also indicated that 60 Baha’is are currently in detention, with an additional 90 having been released but awaiting trial. Since 2004, 99 Baha’is have been convicted of various charges, including acting against national security, teaching against the Islamic Republic, propaganda against the regime, involvement in establishing illegal groups and organizations, and insulting the sacred institutions of Islam. These individuals are free pending appeal. Scores of others have been summoned and interrogated by security and intelligence agents without being taken into custody, according to the BIC.

The five Baha’is arrested in Tehran on February 11 are: Taraneh Ghanouni, Naghmeh Ghanouni, Shaida Yousefi, Aria Shadmehr, and Riaz Firouzmandi.

In addition to Alaeddin Khanjani, those arrested on February 10 are: Ashkan Bassari, Maria Ehsan Jafar, Bashir Ehsani, Romina Zabihiyan, Houtan Sistani, Simin Ghaffari, and Pedram Sanaei.

Those arrested on January 3 are: Mehran Rowhani, Farid Rowhani, Babak Mobasher, Leva Mobasher Khanjani, Payam Fanaian, Jinous Ghazanfari Sobhani, Artin Ghazanfari, Nikav Hoveydaei, Ebrahim Shadmehr, Zavosh Shadmehr, Negar Sabet, Mona Hoveydaei Misaghi, and Nasim Beiglari. Negar Sabet, Mona Misaghi, and Nasim Beiglari were released on January 3, but Mona Misaghi was summoned to the MOI agency’s office again on February 10 and rearrested.

The seven members of the Baha’i leadership whose trial began on January 12 are: Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm.

Background

Due to governmental restrictions on openly practicing their faith, Baha’is in Iran are unable to convene and administer a National Spiritual Assembly as in most countries where Baha’i communities exist. Instead, they have formed an informal coordinating body known as the “Friends of Iran.” The seven members facing trial consist of six leaders and the secretary of this coordinating body.

Haifa, in present-day Israel, is the final resting place of Baha’ullah – the founder of the Baha’i Faith – and the faith’s administrative headquarters since 1868, when Haifa was under Ottoman rule, Despite the fact that sites in and around Haifa were considered holy to the Baha’is well before the creation of the state of Israel, the Iranian government has repeatedly used the connection as an excuse to accuse Baha’is in Iran of spying for Israel, with which Iran has hostile relations.

During a recent review of its human rights record before the United Nations Human Rights Council, Iranian officials dismissed numerous concerns by member states regarding the government’s treatment of its Baha’i minority. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s UN delegation, stated on February 15 that “no Baha’i in Iran is prosecuted because he is a Baha’i,” and the government rejected recommendations put forth by other governments calling for “an end to discrimination and incitement to hatred vis-à-vis the Baha’i.”