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.

Related posts:

1. The 7 Baha’i Leaders Refused to Participate in their Show Trial in Tehran
2. Trial of 7 Baha’i leaders delayed yet again
3. Five More Baha’is Arrested in Iran

Related posts:

1. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating
2. Human Rights Watch Issues a Statement on the Violation of Baha’i Rights in Iran
3. Another case of arson against the Baha’is in Iran

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.

Related posts:

1. Human Rights Watch Issues a Statement on the Violation of Baha’i Rights in Iran
2. Baha’is in Iran still facing major human rights abuses
3. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating

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

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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.”

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The Baha’is: A Tiny Weird Group in Your Backyard

The Bahá’ís have been in the news out of Iran and neighboring regions.

I could go on about the governmental angle but my real focus is the experience and attitudes of people. This isn’t just about government oppressions and fanatical theologies to hold onto power. This is really about bias and oppression of a minority that becomes increasingly visible – something you heard about as children and youth and something you had a chance to see for yourselves. In Debating Muslims[1], one of the authors reviews his youthful pranks and how he grew up and did more serious things. This isn’t about government policies – this is about children and youth and what’s ok to make fun of.

Well maybe it’s about government a little bit. We still see government policies subverting their own rules to systematically denigrate and attempting to dismantle the Bahá’í community. We see allegations of Bahá’í involvement with other powers still being promulgated even as we did a century ago. And in all the world we see this mostly from Iran. In Iran we see testimony like Eliz Sanasarian who says [2] “Of all non-Muslim religious minorities the persecution of the Bahais has been the most widespread, systematic, and uninterrupted.… In contrast to other non-Muslim minorities, the Bahais have been spread throughout the country in villages, small towns, and various cities, fueling the paranoia of the prejudiced.” Just to the north in Turkmenistan we  see that though Perestroika took hold across the Soviet block, and the Bahá’í community of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan was the first to reform its institutions, had doubled its numbers from 1989 to 1991, and had successfully registered with the city government of Ashgabat but still the national government of Turkmenistan revised it’s religious registration laws such that by 1997 it forced the de-registration of the Bahá’ís along with several other religious communities and more than just being unable to form administrative institutions, own properties like temples, and publish literature, perform scholarly work and community service projects - their membership in a religion is simply unrecognized, the religion is considered banned, and homes are raided for Bahá’í literature.[3] Moving further northwest we have the situation in Uzebekistan – news reports mention how a government official thinks Bahá’ís “can drink tea – that’s not forbidden” but banishes others and a government policy apparently forced cable television operators to air what they knew was propaganda. But at least Bahá’ís are able to be registered and operate their eight local communities. And then we see in Kazakhstan, another step further north west, a somewhat hostile atmosphere demanding national and local registration but there are at least 25 communities so registered and no talk of banishment and propaganda.[4]

I think it is fair to say that when the great well known religions were young they all went through some stages before they were able to establish themselves in a civilization, a way of life among the people. The Founders of the religion were dealt with painfully and their followers were killed in number. But a student of these histories may know of different times when things were done less viciously. These events in modern day Iran do not compare with the burning of Christians to provide light as was done in early Rome.[5] The comparable period of the Bahá’í Faith is past. This isn’t the somewhat disinterested concern over weirdness in a community as in the case of Emperor Trajan [6] against the Christians. That seems more like what Stalin did – it didn’t matter what we believed, we were just different but left alone if we were unobtrusive. Perhaps this is more like “Diocletian’s preference for activist government, combined with his self-image as a restorer of past Roman glory, presaged the most pervasive persecution (of Christianity) in Roman history.”[7]

But let’s broaden the view here. Bahá’ís are interested in fairness – not regime change. We’ve lived and died under harsher abuse when we were blown from cannons and danced with lit candles carved in our skins, or when the Stalinist Soviets broke up small cities of Bahá’ís. We didn’t foment rebellion. But most Bahá’ís are not Persian or in Iran and haven’t been for a long time. One can quote statistics – that according to the Britannica Book of the Year (1992–present) the religion is the second most widespread of the world’s independent religions in terms of the number of countries represented. Or that for at least 35 years Christian evangelist sources known to favor counting Christians above other groups still noted the religion as among the fastest growing religions in the world – it certainly hasn’t been growing in Iran! But I believe statistics don’t matter much to most people. They just take up alittle air time to say but don’t impress upon people a grasp of what’s really going on. Children would still pick on children who are different. Youth would roll by in small gangs still pushing around kids who are different. But these children and youth grow up alittle more and encounter things not just in their backyard. So I urge people to examine their belief by exploring the depth and breadth of the community represented in these and other statistics. Pick a country – any country – and see if you can find the Bahá’ís there, something of their history there, the experience of the local people who’s heritage is in that spot. Some of this can be seen on Wikipedia but there are depths far beyond what can be reviewed in a dry semi-acadmic summary of what others say. There are parents, young love, and children, there is art and acts of service, there may be a change in outlook and behavior here and there. Is this the spreading of corruption or the bending of knee and grasping of hands to work together? Christians were judged weird and dedicated by ancient thinkers.[8] Perhaps we honor that heritage? Though barely established Bahá’ís helped in the 2010 Haiti earthquake just as we did in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake just as we do in India, Bolivia, Zambia, Czech….

References

1. Debating Muslims, pages 48–54, 222–250.

2. Religious minorities in Iran, page = 53, 80

3. The letters of the younger Pliny, page 295.

4. Bahá’í Faith in Turkmenistan

5. Bahá’í Faith in Kazakhstan

6. The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 15#44

7. Lane Fox, Robin. Pagans and Christians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986. ISBN 0-394-55495-7, page 595.

8. Backgrounds of early Christianity, page 601

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1. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating
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According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), the names of the people arrested are Niki Khanjani, Ashkan Besari, Maria Jafari and her son, Hooman Sisani and Romina Zobihian. Niki Khanjani is the son of Jamalodin Khanjani, one of the members of the now-dissembled Friends of Iran (Yaran Iran), the unofficial leadership group of the Baha’is in Iran. Jamalodin Khanjani was arrested along with five others members of the group in May of 2008 (another member was arrested in March 2008). Niki Khanjani’s daughter Lava Khanjani and her husband Babak Mobasher have been arrested on January 3 in Tehran on charges of instigating protests on Ashoura along with other eight Baha’is. Maria Jafari, who was arrested earlier this week is the niece of Payam Fanaeeian who was also arrested on January 3rd.

A report in the daily Javan newspaper that is associated with the Revolutionary Guard did not detail the charges against the five arrested, but claimed that Baha’is are now escaping Iran abroad and to remote border region after fomenting post-election protests.

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1. Trial of Recently Detained Baha’is to Start “this Week” in Tehran
2. Nine Baha’is Were Arrested in Tehran Today
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Part 1:

Part 2: (Note that it overlaps partially with part 1)

Part 3:

Part 4:

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1. Round-up of Updates about the Ongoing Persecution of Baha’is in Iran
2. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating
3. Round-up of updates from Iran: Persecution of Baha’is continues unabated

Monstrous spite of corrupt reactionary Muslim religious rulers against Iran’s Baha’i citizens is nothing new; it has a 150 year history, which has to this date resulted in the execution and displacement of tens of thousands of our Iranian countrymen. After the genocide and mass murder of thousands of Babis (forerunner of Baha’is) by Ghajar kings and Muslim clergies through issuing fatwas (religious rulings), the constitutional revolution (1906-1911), put an end to killings and pressures against Baha’is. When I say, “end to killings and lifting of government imposed pressures against Baha’is”, it does not mean that after the constitutional revolution malicious religious rulers stopped spreading hatred against free thinkers, and religious minorities, especially Baha’is. It is true that the constitutional revolution moved fanatic clergies from their prominent political positions to the sidelines, but they, at the pulpits, commended and praised the Pahlavi dynasty (ruling dynasty before the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979), and continued to spread detestation and arousing ignorant mob against the free thinkers and the followers of other religions, especially Baha’is. On occasions, they even embarked on the terror of intellectuals, and attacked the offices of political parties and newspapers without facing any repercussions or any obstructions in their path by the government officials (terror of free thinkers and freedom fighters such as Ahmad Kasravi, Mohammad Masoud, Hussain Fatemi and many others, attacks on political parties, newspaper offices, and Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha’is , in the presence of Pahlavi regime’s military officials by a group called Fadaiyan-e-Islam are examples of such heinous acts).

Today, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Jannati, Ayatollah Yazdi, Ayatollah Khaz-Ali, and others like them are leading the Islamic regime’s hooligans and hoodlum and government’s baton and knife goons. They encourage their puppets to commit murder, torture and rape of the freedom seeking sons and daughters of Iran. If we look at their past history, these wicked and dangerous creatures were all threshold kissers at the king’s court during Pahlavi dynasty. At that time, under the banner of Hojjatieh Society [1], they were busy harassing the free thinkers, spreading superstitions, and hatred and animosity towards the Baha’is of Iran.

With Muslim clergies gaining power after the Iranian revolution of 1979, Baha’is were the first group of citizens to be expelled from all government offices, were assaulted, tortured and executed as the result of implementation of the legislation by the newly established Islamic government. To justify their crime, the perpetrators were accusing Baha’is of membership in “misguided Baha’i sect” and spying for “International Imperialism and Zionism”. Existence of Baha’i religious center in Haifa, Israel was an excuse for the newly established Islamic government of ignorance and crime to portray Baha’is of Iran as Zionist spies in the minds of the oblivious mob. Has anybody asked these deceitful liars: “at the time of the kings and rulers of Ghajar dynasty, you ill-willed clergy, who in the name of protectors of Islam massacred thousands of innocent Babis, were they also agents of “Imperialism and Zionism”? Were Babis (the ancestors of today’s Baha’is) so harshly subjected to your malicious, monstrous attacks and murders at that time because they were spying for Israel and America? Any rational mind knows that the land (Palestine & Shamat), where Babis of Iran found refuge and built their place of worship after they were subjected to killings and savageries in the hands of Ghajar rulers and clergies, was a part of Sunni Muslim Ottoman Empire. At that time there was no country by the name of Israel in the Middle East, and Zionism was not heard of.

The hounding and harassment of Baha’is in Iran has continued without interruption over the past 31 years. Our Baha’i countrymen have not had a moment of peace during any of the damned reign of the Islamic regime. However, during Ahmadinejad’s government which has been a breeding ground for Hojjatieh Society’s mullahs such as Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, persecution of the Baha’is has doubled. From the beginning of Ahmadinejad’s government, in different parts of the country, regime’s hooligans and thugs, instigated by the fanatic religious leaders, have set Baha’i homes on fire, or have demolished them with bulldozers. The Islamic rulers have expelled Baha’i students from universities; have increased persecution and arrests to force the remaining Baha’is to migrate out of Iran so that they can accomplish the complete extermination of this group of our countrymen.

In recent months, the freedom seeking people of Iran initiated a green movement (jonbesh-e sabz), protesting the rigged presidential election of Ahmadinejad. In response, the reactionary, digressive Islamic government has escalated the wave of suppression, horror and terror, encompassing all levels of society, including religious minorities, and especially the Baha’is.

In the latest peaceful demonstrations on Ashura [2], the regime’s hooligans and hoodlums (driving cars, on motorbikes, or on foot), attacked people and left a carnage behind; and again showed the world scenes of their monstrous behavior. Citizens of the world witnessed how the innocent Iranians demonstrated peacefully with bare handed, against the Islamic regime’s monsters and tyrants, demanding freedom, independence and social justice. After the militia’s murderous acts on Ashura (December 27, 2009), Ahmadinejad’s government added the Baha’is to the list of groups that have been singled out to bear the blame for all the turmoil in the country. The government pointed the accusing fingers at Baha’is, calling them “heads of commotion” and “instigators of green movement’s protests on Ashura”!

To complete their ridiculous scenario and fanning the flame of their baseless allegations of “plotting to overthrow the regime and insulting the sanctity of revolution and Islam”, the government announced that from the homes of some Baha’is “guns and ammunition” have been retrieved! However, many citizens of Iran and the whole world know that this group of our harmless and peace loving countrymen, due to their religious belief, are against any type of aggression, and are forbidden from using violence as a means of attaining their social and religious aspirations.

The crux of the matter is, to date the pronouncements of Mir-Hossein Mousavi [3] and Mehdi Karroubi [4], have lacked any reference to a major yearning of the people of Iran, which is freedom and equality for all religious groups. This can raise questions about Mousavi and Karroubi by the proponents of the green movement. In a country with diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, treating varied groups as equals in the sight of law, is necessary and is the prerequisite to any democratic change in the society.

The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and some other reformists are insisting on its implementation, is by itself the source and promoter of religious, ethnic, gender, and all other sorts of intolerance and discrimination. The constitution is unacceptable by the nation, and has to give way to a new set of laws that emphasize equal rights for all the citizens irrespective of their religious or other affiliations. The criteria for recognizing a real reformist from a phony one is that the real reformist seeks the eradication of all sorts of discrimination, whereas the phony one is interested in continuation of the inequities latent in the constitution of Iran’s Islamic regime.

The young generation, the force behind Iran’s green movement, has to be mindful of proclamations announced these days from within and outside of Iran. They should critically and constructively evaluate and challenge the pronouncements so that the fruits of green movement, irrigated by the blood of hundreds of our youth, are not confiscated by a group of self serving opportunists.

If Ayatollah Montazeri [5] as a Marja (religious authority) of many Shia Muslims, towards the end of his life, free of fear and political considerations, won the respect of a nation by defending the civil rights of the Baha’is, today no one can claim to be a reformist and close his eyes on the many biases in the articles of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Any claim that discriminations enshrined in the constitution will be dealt with and lifted some day in the future should be looked at with suspicion.

Any stereotyping of Iranian citizens based on their belief system, gender, ethnicity or social status, the exact foundation on which the constitution of the Islamic Republic is based on and has received the seal of approval, is condemned and will be discarded in the dustbin of history in the near future. The brave and courageous citizens of Iran have tried in the recent months to convey this message to the crazy and bloodthirsty rulers of our country. However, their message has fallen to deaf ears.

[1] Hojjatieh Society — is a semi-clandestine traditionalist Shia organization founded in Iran in 1953 by Shaikh Mahmoud Halabi (a Tehrani mullah from Mashhad; 1900-1998) with permission of Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi. The organization was founded on the premise that the most immediate threat to Islam was the Bahá’í religion, which they viewed as a heresy that must be eliminated. In March to June 1955, the Ramadan period that year, a widespread systematic program was under taken cooperatively by the government and the clergy. During the period they destroyed the national Bahá’í Center in Tehran, confiscated properties and made it illegal for a time to be Bahá’í (punishable by 2 to 10 year prison term.) Founder of SAVAK, Teymur Bakhtiar, took a pick-ax to a Bahá’í building himself at the time. Halabi is said to have worked with SAVAK security agency under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, offering his full cooperation in fighting “other heathen forces, including the Communists.” By doing so he was given freedom to recruit members and raise funds, and by 1977 Hojjatieh is said to have had 12,000 members. However, since the Shah’s regime, in Halabi’s view, allowed the Baha’is too much freedom, he then supported Khomeini’s movement to overthrow the Shah. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hojjatieh]

[2] The Day of Ashura is commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar in year 61 AH (October 10, 680 AD). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura]

[3] Mir-Hossein Mousavi is an Iranian reformist politician, painter and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a candidate for the 2009 presidential election. In 2009 presidential election, Mousavi chose green as his campaign color, a color which has since become pervasive in Iran. He is the Leader of the Green Movement and announced the Green Path of Hope as its social network.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi – cite_note-1 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi]

[4] Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.
Karroubi is a critic of the Guardian Council and Iran’s Judicial System and calls himself a follower of Iran’s ex-leader Ruhollah Khomeini. By appointment of the Supreme Leader, he was a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and an adviser, posts he held until resigning from all his posts on June 19, 2005 after the first round of the 2005 presidential election.
Karroubi considers himself a pragmatic reformist. He is now the head of the Etemad-e-Melli party (National Trust or National Confidence party). He has been described as a “moderate” with a “mostly rural” base of support. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Karroubi]

[5] Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri (1922 – 19 December 2009) was a prominent Iranian Islamic theologian, democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He was once the designated successor to the revolution’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, with whom he had a falling out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri said infringed on people’s freedom and denied them their rights. He was widely known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran and a Grand Marja (religious authority) of Shi’ite Islam. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein-Ali_Montazeri]

Related posts:

1. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating
2. Baha’i Faith insulted in mandatory Islamic propagation classes
3. The story of Kourosh Nikoui

Two representatives of Parliament, Fatemeh Alia and Mohammd Ismail Kowsari both of whom are also members of the influential Commission on Foreign Policy and National Security, become the latest to scapegoat Baha’is and accuse them and others of having a role in the Ashura protests.

Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi, whose office has published numerous hateful anti-Baha’i articles in recent months, implicitly connects Baha’is to the unrest: “We have never seen a disturbance as big and complex as this in the last 30 years. The hypocrites, non-Muslim secularists, and misguided sects are very active in this disturbance.”

Sign reads: Mousavi, the Baha’i, must be executed

Following the mass opposition demonstrations on Ashura, the regime brought its supporters to the streets across the country, in rallies that usually didn’t attract many participants. In one such rally in Isfahan on December 29 this sign was visible.

Related posts:

1. Iran State Media Blames the “Baha’i Sect” for Recent Unrest
2. Nine Baha’is Were Arrested in Tehran Today
3. Serious Charges Emerge against Recently Detained Baha’is in Iran