Part 1:

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

Part 3:

Part 4:

Related posts:

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

Announcement from: the implementation committee of the revolutionary work force organization of Iran (Rah-e kargar).

The court hearing of the Yaran, who are taking care of the affairs of the Baha’i community in the absence of the dismantled National Spiritual Assembly of Iran, was convened on Tuesday January 12, 2010 at branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court. This branch had previously charged Roxanna Saberi (Iranian American Journalist) with espionage and had sentenced her to eight years of imprisonment. After being used for propaganda purposes, she was released and allowed to leave Iran. The court’s prosecutor, who is the successor of the investigator, is an agent of the Intelligence Ministry. The Yaran is: Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. They have been languishing in jail since May 2008 (Mrs. Mahvash Sabet has been incarcerated since March 2008 – translator).

The Yaran’s court hearing is underway, yet their lawyers have not been given the opportunity to access their files (or meet) with their clients. The charges against them are: “espionage for foreign countries”, “propaganda against the Islamic regime”, “association with Israel”, “assisting in the gathering of classified information and forwarding such information to foreign powers with the aim of undermining the country’s security” and “corruption on earth”. The Tabnak site (a pro Islamic Government site) has described the Yaran as “seven Baha’i terrorists who have been accused of terrorist acts including planning and carrying out the bombing of Hojjatieh Rahpouyan mosque in Shiraz and spying for the occupant regime of Israel”. Tabnak has added, “the arrested individuals have never denied their association with the occupying regime of Israel and the Baha’i headquarters is in Haifa – Israel”.

The ruling court with a previous questionable history, is using a Ministry of Intelligence agent as its prosecutor, and is not allowing the Yaran’s lawyers access to their files. This court is only being convened to broadcast a pre-determined outcome with a specific political and security agenda in mind. The accusations are organized in a way that the verdict could be execution for the Yaran. Under the present atmosphere, faced with fear of annihilation, the Islamic regime is clinging to severe suppression; the outcome of which can cost the lives of the prisoners.

Needless to say, it’s clear that the fabricated charges are the work of the intelligence and security organizations of the Islamic regime. The Baha’is only crime is their belief in a different religion. The Baha’i community of Iran, from its inception over 150 years ago, has been inflicted with the worst manner of tyranny and repression in the hands of prejudiced shia Muslims; whether at the time of the Ghajar dynasty when the Babis (forerunner of Baha’is) and the Baha’is had burning candles placed in their carved flesh while forced to walk in alleys and streets, or in the current Islamic Republic Regime, in which so many of the followers of the Baha’i Faith have been executed, that this religion can befittingly be called the “religion of martyrs”. Hatred and revulsion against Baha’is, combined with the harshest forms of suppression during different governments of the Islamic regime, has taken a more ruthless dimension now that power is in the hands of Mesbah Yazdi [1] and Hojjatieh Society’s [2] followers.

Our organization strongly condemns the suppression of the Baha’i community on groundless charges and considers it a harsh subjugation of those that think differently and believe in a different religion. The suppressive policy has not been limited to the Baha’is but has also been inflicted on Sunni Muslims. Freedom to believe in any religion or no religion is one of the basic principles of democracy.
Our organization strongly condemns the efforts of the Islamic revolutionary courts in sentencing Baha’is and other political prisoners to jail terms or execution to soothe their shameless hatred. We urge all freedom fighters, defenders of equality, human rights organizations and foundations to wholeheartedly object Islamic regime’s merciless and suppressive policy.

Down with the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Long live freedom, long live socialism.

The implementation committee of Revolutionary Workforce Organization of Iran

[1] Mesbah Yazdi is a hardline Iranian cleric and politician who is widely seen as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s spiritual advisor. He is also a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for choosing the Supreme Leader, where he heads a minority ultraconservative faction. He has been called “the most conservative” and the most “powerful” and “influential … clerical oligarch” in Iran’s leading center of religious learning, the city of Qom. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad-Taqi_Mesbah-Yazdi]

[2] 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]

Related posts:

1. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating
2. Long List of Charges against the Seven Baha’is as their Trial Commences
3. Trial of 7 Baha’i leaders delayed yet again

For the first time, the allegations against the seven were revealed, and they 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 charges of spreading corruption on earth (Mofsed fel-Arz) carries the death penalty.

In a clear indication that this is not a fair trial, but a show trial intended to intimidate and scapegoat the Baha’i community, no observers were allowed to enter the court, but film crews for the regime were able to enter the court. In addition, the lawyers for the defense were barely allowed to enter the court, after having little to no access to their clients since their arrest in May and March of 2008.

Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community to the UN stated that “In any event, all of these accounts point to a trial that is highly irregular, very similar to the show trials that have been held in Iran in recent months.”

The seven are a members of the “Friends in Iran” (Yaran Iran), the unofficial leadership group of the Baha’is in Iran. They are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All official Baha’i governing bodies were disbanded in Iran in 1983. The indictment against the seven stated again that all Baha’i activities are illegal and prohibited in Iran.

Related posts:

1. Trial of 7 Baha’i leaders delayed yet again
2. Trial of 7 leaders delayed
3. Iran’s persecution of Bahá’ís is devastating

Iraqi law recognized the non-Muslim sects in Iraq in a statement by court No. 6 in 1917. Articles 13, 16 and 17 of the statement contains the provision to register the personal status of Iraqis according to the minority group that he belong to.

Since that date, the courts began to ratify civil marriage contracts of Baha’is, which were performed under the religious law of the Baha’i Faith. This was further strengthened in the Iraqi Constitution, which in 1925 recognized freedom of religion and belief. This provided the Baha’is with the opportunity to complete the establishment of a National Spiritual Assembly and Local Spiritual Assemblies, publicly establish their headquarters in Alhaidar, and to live according to their religious principles, including social involvement and activities. In 1936 the Iraqi Ministry of Interior issued an Official Guide explicitly recognizing the Baha’is as one of the minority groups in Iraq (Arabs and Kurds, and other folks … In Iraq, Muslims, Christians, Israelis and Yazidi, Sabean and a few of the Baha’i and the Magi), and stated again that they are guaranteed liberties by the Constitution. The Baha’is continued to interact in Iraqi social life and enjoy freedom to practice their religious and social practices in harmony with the rest of the society in Iraq.

Following the Baathist coup in 1963, the new leaders have drastically limited the freedoms previously guaranteed to the Iraqi citizens. The new regime began with attempts to prevent Baha’i activity in Iraq in 1967. The suffering of Baha’is began to escalate; Baha’i became subjected to maltreatment and prisons. This culminated in the decision of the Directorate of Civil Status No. 358 24 / 7 / 1975 that stopped allowing to register Baha’is in the records of civil status.

Baha’is used to obtain a certificate of citizenship that stated “Baha’i” in the field of religion up until 1975. Then they were denied registration of marriages in the records of civil status, and denial of Baha’i identity card or a copy of registration for the record. New births were not registered, and thus Baha’is were deprived of the right to have a passports and employment, entrance to universities, and buying and selling homes and property, forcing some of them to change the field of religion to :Muslim”. This is incompatible with the simplest principles of human rights, and not in line with the constitutions in Iraq, which emphasizes the freedom of belief, stating in Article (40): “Iraqis are free to make personal commitments, according to their religions, sects, beliefs or choices, and be regulated by law.”

Despite the wide space of freedom that was brought by the change in 2003, the Baha’is of Iraq still face many hardships. With a constant and all encompassing discrimination for more than three decades, Baha’is lived in the dark, and there are many Iraqis who do not know anything about the Baha’is in Iraq, who used to make up 0.5% of the population of Baghdad. After pressure on Baha’is concentrated in certain villages, they were forced to scatter and live in isolation from their community. The Baha’s are not given any attention by the government, the Iraqi media and political parties, this is perhaps for religious reasons or ignorance about the Baha’is because of false information spread about them. Therefore, Iraqi civil society organizations are the only place that might highlight the issue, without regard to the small number of Baha’is. Baha’is had more rights in the past but as time passed and more Iraqi minorities demand their rights, this one group actually goes backwards and losses more rights.

Is it conceivable that the Iraqi society before eighty year ago was a more tolerant and civilized society than it is now? Where is the democracy and justice our Iraqi leaders promised us? Do not Baha’is deserve the rights given to big players in the political game, or will they have the same fate of other minorities in Iraq like bombings, death and neglect?

References
1-al-sabah Iraqi newspaper
2-iraqi religions encyclopedia
3-bahi in Iraq -Wikipedia