Saturday, November 28, 2009

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,663013,00.html

Abuses in Iran

Journalist Held without Charge in Notorious Tehran Prison

By Ulrike Putz and Mathieu von Rohr

Catalina Gomez

Fariba Pajooh has been held without charge since August.

Fariba Pajooh has been held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since she was arrested in August, with no access to an attorney. No charges have been filed against the Iranian journalist.
When she received the call from the intelligence service, Fariba Pajooh knew that it didn't bode well for her. We want to talk to you, they told her. It was supposedly just an informational meeting.

The men came to pick her up a few days later, on Aug. 22, the first day of Ramadan. Pajooh had spent the entire day at home with her mother, preparing the evening meal. She only left the house for a short time to buy some sweets. When she returned, she was being accompanied by three men.

The men were polite, says the mother. They spent an hour searching drawers and cupboards and checking the computer. They allowed the mother and daughter to break the fast together. Trembling with fear, the pair ate dates and drank tea. Then the men said that Pajooh had to come with them, but only for an hour. They promised the mother that they would treat her as if she were their own daughter. But they were lying.
Harsh Crackdown
Since that day in August, Pajooh, 29, a petite woman with an attractive, girlish face, has been incarcerated in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, in section 209, which is controlled by the intelligence service. She is one of more than 100 journalists and bloggers the regime ordered arrested in the wake of the widespread protests against the fraudulent elections that brought President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back into power. But few have been locked up for as long as Pajooh, whose case makes it abundantly clear just how harshly the regime is cracking down on journalists.
In prison, Pajooh is suffering from severe depression and stress-related cardiac arrhythmia. Her parents were not permitted to see her during the first month of her incarceration. Now they are allowed to visit on Mondays, although they are often turned away. Pajooh's current attorney has not been given access to her at all. It was only after Pajooh had been imprisoned for two months that the lawyer even learned of the charges being leveled against her client: initially espionage, followed by "propaganda against the regime."
Pajooh is part of the generation of Iranians who have been striving for freedom since their youth. She was arrested for the first time at 18. She became a journalist, writing for reform-oriented publications, government news agencies and newspapers -- not about politics, but about Iran's social problems.
She was detained a second time in 2008, when she sought to travel to the United States for the presidential election there. When this year's protests against the Iranian regime rocked the country, Pajooh worked around the clock. She also worked as a translator for a Colombian correspondent, which made her even more suspicious to the authorities. She knew that she was in danger, she told friends, but insisted that she only wanted a better future for Iran.
"The pen is the enemy of ignorance," she wrote in her blog, a few days before she was arrested. "My pen is the friendliest of the friendly. I have conspired with my pen."
Demoralizing Conditions
Pajooh spent the first month of her captivity in a "grave," the word Iran's prisoners use to describe the tiny underground cells at Evin Prison, which is almost a city unto itself, hidden behind high walls on a hill above Tehran. She was not kept in any of the wards controlled by the Basij militias, from which reports of torture and rape have reached the outside world. But the loneliness of solitary confinement is demoralizing. Several times a day, the prisoners are taken to interrogations, where they are beaten and subjected to body searches.
After a while, prisoners learn to distinguish among their interrogators, identifying them by their shoes, which they can see despite being blindfolded, and by how aggressive they are. The interrogators berate, threaten and beat the prisoners, and then they try to entice them with the promise of freedom if they agree to confess.
After a month, Pajooh was moved to the above-ground section of the prison, where she shared a cell with another journalist, Hengameh Shahidi. The two women staged a hunger strike at the end of October and were taken to the infirmary after five days. Shahidi was released, but Pajooh was moved to a new cell.
The cell where she is now kept together with a handful of other prisoners is only about 10 square meters (around 100 square feet), with a tiny porthole providing daylight. The temperature drops to freezing at night. Pajooh needs to take eight pills every day: three for her heart, three antidepressants and two sleeping pills.
Empty Promises
Farideh Pajooh, the mother, says that Fariba is still being interrogated daily, sometimes until 11 in the evening. As young as she is, says the mother, her daughter already has a lot of white hairs. Her mental state is very worrying, the mother says.
The mother has spent the last three months going from one government office to the next, where she has heard many empty promises. Human rights organizations have become involved, but nothing has happened. The hearing of evidence was supposedly completed days ago, but a trial date has yet to be set.
Last week, the desperate family staged an eight-hour sit-down strike at the Revolutionary Court. When they were finally allowed to speak with Tehran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, he told them that he would look into the matter. Another promise.
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

Friday, November 20, 2009

UN resolution on Iran sends powerful message on human rights

UNITED NATIONS – The approval today of a strongly worded resolution on human rights in Iran sends a powerful signal to the Iranian government that the world is gravely concerned about how Iran treats its citizens, said the Baha'i International Community.

The resolution, approved by a vote of 74 to 48 by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, expressed "deep concern at serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran." The list of violations included oppressive measures taken after the June presidential election and "increasing discrimination" against minority groups, including Baha'is.

"This year's resolution – which is among the most forcefully worded in more than 25 years of resolutions on Iran – sends a potent message to the government there, stating vigorously that the international community will not turn a blind eye to human rights violations," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"The General Assembly identifies numerous violations, including the use of torture, the repeated abuse of legal rights, the violent repression of women, and the ongoing discrimination against minorities, including Baha'is, who are Iran's largest religious minority and are persecuted solely because of their religious belief," she said.

The resolution also expresses concern over the treatment of "Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Sufis and Sunni Muslims and their defenders."

"The resolution also sharply condemns Iran's severe curbs on freedom of expression and its use of violence to silence dissent after the presidential election in June," said Ms. Dugal. "We can only hope that, given the severity of the resolution's expression, Iran will at long last heed the international community's recommendations and change its ways."

The resolution, which was put forward by Canada and cosponsored by 42 other countries, calls on Iran to better cooperate with UN human rights monitors, such as by allowing them to make visits to Iran, and asks the UN secretary general to report back next year on Iran's progress at fulfilling its human rights obligations.

Noting the turmoil that followed the presidential elections, the resolution devoted eight paragraphs to express "particular concern" about oppressive measures used by the government to suppress dissent. It noted specifically the persecution of journalists, human rights defenders, students and "others exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and association."

It also noted the "use of violence" against "Iranian citizens engaged in the peaceful exercise of freedom of association, also resulting in numerous deaths and injuries." And it criticized the holding of "mass trials and denying defendants access to adequate legal representation."

It makes extensive mention of the persecution of Baha'is, expressing concern over "attacks on Baha'is and their faith in State-sponsored media, increasing evidence of efforts by the State to identify, monitor and arbitrarily detain Baha'is, preventing members of the Baha'i Faith from attending university and from sustaining themselves economically."

The resolution also notes the continued detention of seven Baha'i leaders who were arrested in March and May 2008, stating they have faced "serious charges without adequate or timely access to legal representation."

For the Baha’i World News Service home page, go to:
http://news.bahai.org

________________________________________________

Copyright 2009 by the Baha'i World News Service. All stories and photographs produced by the Baha'i World News Service may be freely reprinted, re-emailed, re-posted to the World Wide Web and otherwise reproduced by any individual or organization as long as they are attributed to the Baha'i World News Service. For more information, go to http://news.bahai.org/terms-of-use/

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Theft at the Baha’i cemetery in Sangsar
November 4th, 2009
According to HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency], based on reports from the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, unidentified persons took one of the two large water tanks at the Baha’i cemetery in the city of Sangsar (near Semnan) in the past few days.

This type of water tank is very large and holds a considerable volume of water. Moving it without proper equipment and a crane is impossible. It is noteworthy that the road leading to this cemetery has been closed by the Municipality of Sangsar for a while now, and access has been restricted to Municipality personnel only.

[Source: http://hra-news.info/news/8275.aspx; Translated by Iran Press Watch]

Comments (3)
Court order for the arrest and imprisonment of a Baha’i woman in Semnan
November 4th, 2009
According to HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency], based on reports from the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, Mrs. Manizheh Manzavian, a Baha’i in Semnan, who was arrested and detained during the month of Khordad of the current year [May-Jun 2009] and subsequently released on bail [see http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/4091], has been sentenced to three years and six months of imprisonment by the [Islamic] Revolutionary Court of the city of Semnan, presided over by Judge Zangui.

The charges brought against Mrs. Manizheh Manzavian, as stated, include activities against [National] security by teaching the Baha’i Faith, as well as membership in an organization opposing the Islamic regime and related to the Baha’is. It is important to note that Mrs. Manizheh Manzavian was previously a member of the informal administrative committee of the Baha’is of Semnan which, in the last month of Esfand [Feb-Mar 2009], was shut down by order of the Prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, after which she had had no further activities [in the Baha’i administration].

[Source: http://hra-news.info/news/8276.aspx; Translated by Iran Press Watch]

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Kidnapping and Torture of a Baha’i in Shiraz

Posted: 03 Nov 2009 08:33 AM PST

A Baha’i has been kidnapped, persecuted, and tortured by unknown individuals in Shiraz.

According to HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency], based on reports from the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, Mr. Rouh’u’llah Rezaie, a 45-year-old Baha’i in Shiraz, was stopped, kidnapped, and moved to an unknown place as he was returning home, to his wife and child, from a gas station early in the morning on 8/8/1388 [October 27,2009]. There, he was threatened, insulted, and subjected to a simulated hanging in a show-execution. He was left naked in extreme cold, and different parts of his hands, chest, and forehead were burnt by cigarettes. Finally, he was released on a road in the suburbs of Shiraz.

It should be noted that Mr. Rezaie was imprisoned for five years in 1360 [1971], when he was 18, in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz. He has endured the most terrible conditions and all possible physical and psychological pressure due to his religious beliefs.

[Source: http://hra-news.info/news/8174.aspx; Translated by Iran Press W

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Prominent Iranians call for religious liberty

WASHINGTON, 30 September (BWNS) – A best-selling author and an Oscar-nominated actress are among those who have called for religious freedom in Iran, including an end to the persecution of Baha'is in that country.

Some 1,400 people heard Azar Nafisi, author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and Shohreh Aghdashloo, Academy Award-nominated actress for "House of Sand and Fog," speak at a public gathering this month at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium. Both Dr. Nafisi and Ms. Aghdashloo were born in Iran, and neither is a member of the Baha'i community.

Dr. Nafisi spoke passionately about the common humanity of all people and the suffering of one being the suffering of all. She particularly focused on minorities in Iran and pointed to the example of the Baha'is.

"I ask myself," she said, "how does it feel to be deprived of every single basic human right in a country you call your own, in a country where you have been born into the language and the culture, a country where your parents and your parents' parents ... have lived and contributed to, what does it mean to be deprived of the right to education, of the right to property, of even the right to life?"

She said the struggle is "not a political struggle, it is an existential one." It goes beyond the Baha'is, she said, to "every single person in Iran who dares to be different, who dares to express his or her desire for the freedom to have a choice."

"Baha'is in Iran have become the canaries in the mine," she said. "You want to know how much freedom the Iranian people enjoy today, you go to the fate of its Baha'is."

Depriving people of their individuality is a way of killing them, she said. "It is worse, in fact, that just being plainly murdered. To deny your humanity, your individuality, is to be dead."

"The show trials that have been going on in Iran – all these people coming from such different backgrounds, such different ages, such different political and religious beliefs, all of them deprived of their individuality," she said.

The defendants, she said, were forced into confessing that "whatever they believed in, whatever lifestyle they led ... was a farce and sham. That is another way of killing people."

Ms. Aghdashloo, addressing the gathering via video from Los Angeles, said everything she had "ever read or understood about the Baha'i Faith" is that is stands for the oneness of humanity and inherent nobility of all human beings.

"I stand with many others around the world in conveying our unified voice in support of the Baha'is in Iran and wish to speak out against the ongoing and deplorable actions of the Iranian government," she said.

The event in Washington, held on 12 September, was dedicated to the Baha'is who are jailed in Iran, including the seven "leaders" who have been detained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for more than a year on trumped-up charges of "espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic."

It was one of a number of gatherings held in recent months across the United States to offer prayers for the prisoners, including events in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and now Washington. ...

To read the rest of the article, see accompanying photographs, and find video links for the speeches, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/731

For the Baha’i World News Service home page, go to:
http://news.bahai.org

________________________________________________

Copyright 2009 by the Baha'i World News Service. All stories and photographs produced by the Baha'i World News Service may be freely reprinted, re-emailed, re-posted to the World Wide Web and otherwise reproduced by any individual or organization as long as they are attributed to the Baha'i World News Service. For more information, go to http://news.bahai.org/terms-of-use/

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Iran Press Watch
Documenting the Persecution of the Baha’i Commu

Baha’i Cemetery Ruined for the 18th Time
Posted: 21 Sep 2009 06:44 PM PDT
On Sunday, September 20, 2009, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters posted the following news, which appears below in translation:
From September 6 through September 10, using large trucks and bulldozers, a number of unknown individuals destroyed and excavated the Baha’i Cemetery of Najafabad and Vilashahr [near Isfahan].
The cemetery, which belongs to the Baha’is of Najafabad and Vilashahr, and which is known as Gulestan Javid [“eternal garden”], is situated about 9 miles from Najafabad. This land was given to the Baha’is of Najafabad and Vilashahr in the winter of 1995; it has been attacked 18 times since them. It has been reported that 119 graves are located in this cemetery – 95 are in the first section and 24 more are in the second section.
According to reports by eyewitnesses, when Baha’is visited the cemetery on Thursday, September 10, 2009, they were confronted with a destroyed cemetery and excavated land. The entire first section and portions of section 2 of this cemetery had been excavated, and large craters and earth-mounds were created. In some segments, the earth had been removed to the depth of over a yard, and in other segments earth had been brought in from other areas and piled up in long rows as high as 10 yards.
Moreover, parking lots located on the northern and southern parts of cemetery were also excavated up to 35 yards from the graves, and large craters and mounds were created in them.
It should be noted that tracks from bulldozers and large trucks were clearly evident throughout the cemetery and surrounding land. In addition, the remains of previously destroyed facilities that had included water tanks were taken away from the property.
It should be noted that the previous Baha’i cemetery of this region was thoroughly destroyed and eradicated in 1984.
According to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Despite the fact that Iran is a signatory of this Universal Declaration, for the past 30 years Baha’is have been deprived of the most basic rights, such as the right to individual dignity and personal security – and even their cemeteries in many different towns have been attacked and destroyed.
Below are a series of photographs showing before and after the latest destruction of the Baha’i cemetery of Najafabad and Vilashahr.
[Posted on Sunday, September 20, 2009, at: http://chrr.us/spip.php?article5776. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Sunday, September 13, 2009

4 Baha’i Prisoners Released

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 05:10 PM PDT

The online site of Khabar Navard has reported the following on Friday, September 11, 2009, which appears below in translation:

Mrs. Didar Hashemi, Mrs. Vesal Yusufi and Payam Yusufi were released from prison in Sari on Wednesday, September 9, 2009.

Mr. Anvar Moslemi was also released from Sari’s prison on Wednesday, September 9 after a 300,000 tuman [equivalent of US$300] surety was posted.

[Posted on Friday, September 11, 2009, at Khabar Navard. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Forced Closure of Baha’i Businesses

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 01:44 PM PDT

As reported previously by Iran Press Watch(IPW1, IPW2 and IPW3), on July 8, 2009, around 4 pm in the afternoon, four agents of the Information office of the Ministry of Intelligence of the city of Sari, in Province of Mazandaran, visited the optical store of Sohrab Laqa’i and detained him. The following update is provided by the online site of Human Rights Activists News Agency:

According to a report by the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, towards the end of last week, agents of the Public Properties went to the optical shop of Sohrab Laqa’i, a Baha’i prisoner, and without presenting any evidence, proceeded to close and seal that business location. Afterwards, the same agents went to the shop of Mr. Laqa’i’s wife, Mrs. Zahra Golabian, and closed that business as well.

It should be noted that Sohrab Laqa’i was arrested at the place of his work on July 8 by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence of Sari on the charge of “propaganda against the regime.” He was kept at the incarceration center of the same Ministry.

After 38 days in solitary confinement in Shahid Kachouie detention center, he was transferred to the general prison facility of Qa’emshahr. Despite continual efforts of his lawyer and family, he continues to languish in prison. It should be noted that security agents had previously threatened this prisoner of conscience with the closure of his business.

[Posted on Thursday, September 10, 2009, at hra-news and hra-iran. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

New Form of Discrimination

Posted: 11 Sep 2009 12:50 PM PDT

The following news was posted on the site of Khabar Navard and Bah19 on Tuesday, September 8 and Thursday, September 10, 2009, respectively, and appears below in translation:

In Iran, even giving private language lessons by Baha’is is now a crime.

Last year, security and municipality agents raided the home of Dariush Latifi in Kashan and after a thorough search of the residence, confiscated various booklets and tapes that help teach English language.

Afterwards, Mr. Latifi and his wife, Marjan Abu’l-Fazli, were routinely summoned and illegally interrogated. Authorities insisted that this couple could not hold private English training classes in their home, unless they had received a special Educational and Training permit. This interrogation and harassment has intensified and escalated during the past year.

However, the law indicates that no one is required to have a permit for giving private lessons. In fact, since the beginning of Islamic Revolution, when all Baha’is were discharged from governmental jobs, giving private tutorials and training is one way that Baha’is have earned a living. And now in Kashan this legal right is being violated and trampled by those responsible to uphold the law.

Posted on Khabar Navard and Bah19. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Baha’i Tried by the Revolutionary Court

Posted: 05 Sep 2009 02:04 PM PDT

On Saturday, September 5, 2009,Human Rights Activists News Agency reported the following news, which appears below in translation. For previous reference to this case on Iran Press Watch, please consult: here

A Baha’i prisoner was tried by the Revolutionary Court on security charges.

Shahram Chiniyan-Miyanduab was tried by Branch 31 of Revolutionary Court of the town of Ray, with Mr. Zendeh-Del being the presiding judge. Mr. Chiniyan is a Baha’i and arrested in January by police units in Ray, first because of personal complaints by several individuals. Later additional security charges were brought up against him and he was transferred into the custody of the Ministry of Intelligence.

In the course of his trial, the prosecutor read the following charges against him: “activities against the regime”, “membership in illegal groups”, “claim to Mihdi [the Promised One of Islam]”, and “insulting religious sanctities”. Mr. Chiniyan’s lawyer rejected these charges and said they were baseless. The court will issue its ruling during the coming week.

It should be noted that after the conclusion of the trial, the aforementioned Mr. Chiniyan was taken the quarantined section the Evin prison, where in accordance with the law, he would be kept for 3 days. This section is notoriously without a proper hygienic environment and lacks basic standards of health. Moreover, while incarcerated, prisoners must observe the Islamic law and are compelled to fast. [Iran is presently observing the fasting month of Ramadan – translator.]

[Posted on Saturday, September 5, 2009 at: http://hra-news.info/news/4733.aspx. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

An Arrest in Semnan

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 04:06 PM PDT

Editor’s Note: Iran Press Watch regrets that due to the pressure of work it failed to report on an important development in Semnan, as reported throughMihan site on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. For the sake of the completeness of our historical records, that report is now shared in translation:

In mid February 2009, Murteza Hamidi [presumably a Muslim] was arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in Semnan.

Previously, on December 15, 2008, his home was raided at the same time as the homes of 20 Baha’i families were attacked by agents of the same Ministry in a widespread operation.

The charge against Mr. Hamidi is “possession of Baha’i books and materials”, and “relationship with Baha’is”. It should be noted that his grandfather is a Baha’i, as are many other members of his family; therefore it is perfectly natural and understandable for Hamidi to have Baha’i printed materials in his possession and to have interactions with Baha’is.

Repeated efforts by his family to secure his freedom have remained futile, and Mr. Hamidi continues to languish in prison without any recourse. The other point that adds to the anxiety of this situation is that Mr. Hamidi and his family have been extensively pressured by the Ministry of Intelligence to file complaints against some Baha’i residents of Semnan for promoting the Baha’i Faith to him and his children. Through this method, the authorities hope to create a legal pretext for further harassment and persecution of the Baha’is of Semnan.

Is this effort not another step in an organized and systematic campaign to eliminate the Baha’is of Semnan? This would then be an effort which could serve as a dangerous and inhumane model for the rest of the nation to entirely eliminate the Baha’is.

[Posted on http://emails.mihanblog.com/post/125. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

First National ID Issued for Baha’is in Egypt

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 02:12 PM PDT

Editor’s Note: The following report by Safaa Abdoun was published on Daily News Egypt and because of its implications for the entire area, including Iran, it is reposted here.

Following years of legal battles and calls for state recognition, two Bahais issued their first national ID in which the religious affiliation field was left blank, instead of falsely listing Islam, Christianity or Judism as their religion.

Sixteen-year-old twins Nancy and Emad Hindy issued their ID cards after a legal battle which ended last March with Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court upholding, definitively, the right of Egyptian Bahais to obtain personal identification documents without stating their religious affiliation.

The Administrative Court in January 2008 had allowed Bahais to leave the religious affiliation field on birth certificates and identity cards blank.

The Hindys’ case was brought forward by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

“Nancy and Emad issuing ID cards which implementation of the new ID policy is a welcomed [yet] a long overdue step which we have been working on since the court ruling in March,” said chairman of EIPR, Hossam Bahgat.

Read full article here: Daily News Egypt

Read a similar story at: Baha\’i World News Service

A Baha’i Home Searched

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 01:32 PM PDT

According to Baha’i World News Service, on July 29, 2009, the home of Mr. Nader Munzavi in Delijan, in the province of Makazi, was searched and his computer and Baha’i books were confiscated. Mr. Munzavi is the sole Baha’i resident of this small town. Last year, he was summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence for interrogations.

[Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009, at BWNS. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Baha’is on Temporary Leave from Prison

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 01:15 PM PDT

On separate reports, the Persian page of Baha’i World News Service has advised that Baha’i prisoners in Shiraz and Yazd have been given temporary leave from prison:

Three Baha’i youth prisoners have been given a temporary family leave. Haleh Rouhi was given a leave from July 12 to August 8, and Raha Sabet from July 12 to August 6. Both have now returned to their incarceration.

On Sunday, August 2, Sasan Taqva had a foot surgery and it not known at this time when he will resume his detention. He has been on leave since July 27.

The above three youth were arrested on November 19, 2007, and are completing their four year prison sentence.

On another report, BWNS stated:

The family of Mr. Mehran Bandi in Yazd has been advised that the medical authorities in the prison where Mr. Bandi is incarcerated have determined that he is physically unable to endure the rest of his sentence (see, Iran Press Watch1). For this reason, from July 28, he has been given a month of temporary leave and it is not know whether he has returned to incarceration since the commencement of his leave. Mr. Bandi has been imprisoned since May 20, 2008 [Iran Press Watch has recorded the beginning of his sentence as Aug. 28, 2008; see Iran press Watch2]. He is sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment, followed with three years of exile.

[Source BWNS1 and BWNS2. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

A Baha’i Sentenced to Imprisonment

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 12:05 PM PDT

According to Human Rights Activists News Agency, the Revolutionary Court of Semnan has convicted a Baha’i resident to 18 months imprisonment.

According to the court ruling, Mrs. Susan Tebyanian[-Jabbari], a Baha’i resident of Semnan was convicted to 18 months imprisonment. In the course of her sentencing, the court noted that because of lack of appropriate facilities in Semnan (given her background), one of the prisons in Tehran would be designated for her by the court.

It should be noted her trial took place about a month ago, but the present ruling was issued and communicated on August 12.

[Source: August 18, 2009, hra-news]

The Persian page of the Baha’i World News Service provides further details:

On June 2, 2009, the trial of Mrs. Susan Tebyanian, a Baha’i of Semnan, took place. She had been arrested on April 27, 2009, and released on bail and surety on May 1. The court sentenced her to 18 months imprisonment on the following charges:

§ Formation of illegal groups and societies associated with the Baha’i community under the pretext of “moral training classes”

§ Membership in illegal groups and societies of the Baha’is, such as, “Education Committee”, and “Committee for Training and Education”

§ Propaganda against the regime and in support of the Baha’is, such as, local gatherings and associations.

[Source: BWNS. Translations by Iran Press Watch]

Iran Press Watch

Saturday, August 15, 2009

An Iranian Cleric Protests Trial of Yaran (part 1)
Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari-August 14th, 2009
Editor’s Note: Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari (b.1950) is an Iranian cleric, researcher, journalist and reformist. He has been described as “an active supporter of the revolution” who became “an outspoken and influential critic of the current Iranian version of theocracy”. He spent seven years in prison after having been convicted in the Special Court for the Clergy for a number of charges including “insulting Islamic sanctities”. As a result of his conviction, he was de-frocked. Prior to his arrest, Eshkevari was the Director of the Ali Shariati Research Centre and contributing editor of the newspaper Iran-e Farda, which was banned in April 2000. Mr. Eshkevari has written several articles in support of human and civil rights of the Iranian Baha’i community, which Iran Press Watch will bring to the attention of its readers in translation. The present article (which appears below in translation) had the title, “Hounding the Baha’is and followers of other religious groups from historical religious and Islamic Constitution perspective” in Persian.

by Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari
Recently, a statement titled “We are Ashamed” was published, addressing the Baha’i community of Iran. About 270 writers, researchers, journalists, actors and actresses, and intellectuals residing outside Iran put their signatures on this statement. Anyone, even those least familiar with the contemporary history of Iran (from the time of the Qajar dynasty to present time), knows that this undertaking has immense importance and implications. It is a turning point for numerous reasons, especially with respect to the yearning for freedom, equality, or to sum it up,” human rights”.
The bitter reality is, from its inception as a religious phenomena, in 19th century Iran, followers of the Babi [forerunner of the Baha’is] and Baha’i religions have been continuously subjected to condemnation and persecution by the Muslim society of Iran. There have been bloody confrontations by Muslims and by governmental authorities in different parts of Iran. This coercion continues in different shapes and forms to date.
Historically speaking, there is not much room for discussion and argument as to why there has been suppression and why Baha’is have been subjected to atrocities. Since the beginning of human history, there have always been confrontations between the followers of new and old religions. It could be said that even now there exist confrontations between new and old religious groups. This trend is only a historical reality, it has nothing to do with which group is right or wrong, whether the truth lies with the followers of the new religion or with the ones attached to old belief systems and rituals. The same differences have existed between the messengers of God and the followers of different religions of their time. Also, in the internal history of all the old religions (Zoroastrians, Judaism, Christianity and Islam), there have been harsh confrontations between sects within the same religion and, to a lesser degree, between devout followers who have different viewpoints. For example, consider the relentless and bloody attacks on Protestants by Catholics, and the cruelties inflicted on Catholics by Protestants from the 16th to the 18th century, and massacres by both sides all over Europe. It is said that in the St. Barthelme Paris battle, about 30,000 Protestants were slaughtered.
The issue is that the followers of the prevailing religion label heterodox thinkers who exit their religion as heretics and apostates and ultimately consider them as enemies of God, enemies of their prophet, and enemies of their legitimate devout governing bodies. They are under the impression that, as a religious obligation and to attain God and His messenger’s salvation, it is their responsibility to protect their faith. This is the logic behind the harsh confrontation of religious rulers of different eras with the apostates of their time. It should be noted that at the beginning the issue is only religious, but later on, especially when the dissenting group completely branches out and separates from the existing religion, numerous political, economical and even personal and group egotistic factors play a crucial and decisive role in prolonging the violence.
If we look at the Baha’is of Iran from a historical perspective, their mistreatment is clearly the repetition of what has happened a thousand times throughout the history of Iran, the world, and Islam. Shortly after its growth and expansion, combined with political, social, and cultural factors, the struggles and complexities between the ruling religious groups and the Baha’is increased.
From the start of the Babi movement, over 150 years ago, we have experienced a lot of social, cultural and political changes; moreover we have initiated and put behind us two big social and political revolutions. It is surprising that in this long period, with respect to human rights and civil rights, the “Baha’i issue” has not only remained unresolved, but has become even more complicated and even more grievous in recent years. The important matter is that in the long periods of human and civil rights discussions, the rights of the followers of the Baha’i faith have been completely overlooked. There has been a silence and ambiguity as if a religion by the name of Baha’i faith did not exist in Iran and a considerable number of followers of this religion did not live alongside other citizens in our homeland.
The silence on the part of Muslims is somewhat understandable, but this intentional and unintentional silence is also noticeable among non-religious groups, such as secular humanists, democrats, freedom fighters, and irreligious leftists. In all the talks and writings of the freedom fighters and justice seekers from the pre-constitutional revolution to date, there has been almost no mention of Iranian Baha’is and their civil rights. In the Constitution not only is there no mention of them, but their role in political and social change is undermined. At that time, even being a Babi (forerunners of Baha’is) was equivalent to being guilty of being an “enemy of the people”. In the Islamic revolution of 1979, and in the Islamic Constitution, the silence is even heavier.
The main reason, or one of the main reasons for this silence is that the “Baha’i issue” has been taboo; no one has dared to approach the Baha’i faith and openly discuss it. It is surprising that in the Islamic regime, non-religious and anti-religious persons have been victims of the same taboos and oppressive atmosphere.
Because of the ongoing, wide-scale boycott and censorship, few researchers have taken the liberty to study Baha’i ideologies and to familiarize the public with Baha’i beliefs, ideas, spiritual and social laws, an accurate history of their faith and of its followers. Hardly any researchers have been free from religious and political quarrels and pre-judgments, in order that they could mention who the Baha’is are, what they offer and what role they play in shaping the contemporary history of Iran. For this reason, even today, neither the general public nor researchers have accurate information about Baha’is and their convictions. Accurate and trustworthy documentation about the Baha’is is rare or nonexistent in Iran.
On the contrary – the immense volumes of anti-Baha’i writings that are available are often worthless, void of substance, non-scientific and laden with blind religious discrimination and prejudice. The same boycott and censorship imposed upon Baha’i ideas has in general harmed the free flow of information and research findings. In any case, the emergence of the Baha’i faith in Iran at the time of the Qajar Dynasty is a part of our history. Neutral, scientific research and an overall understanding of the Baha’i faith is integral to a thorough understanding of the general, religious, and social history of our land.
Now is the time to forgo this boycott and censorship. It is mainly the responsibility of broadminded people and researchers to investigate Baha’i ideologies and to end this void and poverty of accurate information. It is the ethical and the humanitarian duty of open-minded free thinkers, democrats, freedom fighters and human rights activists, to defend and endeavor to restore the lost rights of the Baha’is. Similarly, it is their responsibility to uphold the rights of all other Iranian residents, irrespective of their religion, convictions, political and social views. The foundation of democracy and liberty is based on the equality of human beings, meaning that the innate and natural human rights of any Iranian living in any geographical part of the country is equal to the right of any other Iranian. Based on this logic no one is considered more Iranian than any other. On the surface, we have accepted this reasoning since the time of the Constitutional Revolution, but in reality, we are living in an era before the Constitutional Revolution.
It seems that in our culture, our main quandary is due to religious beliefs. There is a lot of room for argument and discussion in this area which I can’t get into at this time. I only make a suggestion to the theologians and the learned, to ponder and issue laws based on the duty to act rationally and to follow the guidelines within the framework of the general Islamic laws and wholesome religious principals. I request a response to my question: “Assume the first generation of the Baha’is were considered heretics: why, and based on what rationale, should the next generations until the day of resurrection be called heretics?” Is the religious ruling for the Baha’is any different from the ruling for Muslims converting to Christianity or Judaism? I believe it does not make any difference whether one is converting to a religion recognized by Islamic rulers (Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians) or not. When someone strays from Islam, he is exiting Islam, whether the conversion is to any religion or to no religion.
Today we are living in a world whose foundation of social interaction is based upon the equality of human beings. No citizen may be deprived of his civil rights because of his beliefs, convictions, race, religion or any other differentiating factor. At one time Sheikh Fazlollah Noori[1] said, “in Islam the foundation is based on discrimination and not on equality”. Are our theologians upholding the same belief after the passage of a century? If that is the case, what is the meaning of the claim “Islam values human beings”, and is a “just religion”?

[1] Sheikh Fazlollah Noori was a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric in Iran during the late 19th and early 20th century who fought against the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and was executed for treason as a result. Today he is considered a martyr in the fight against democracy by Islamic conservatives in Iran.
[Posted on July 9, 2009, at Roozonline. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

BWNS: Due process ignored as trial date is set for Iranian Baha'i prisoners

GENEVA, 12 August (BWNS) - In yet another example of the denial to Baha'is in Iran of their rights to justice, including due process, judicial officials have reportedly set next Tuesday as the trial date for seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders - despite the fact that the lead lawyers registered with the court to represent them are either in prison or outside the country.

Further, efforts to have the accused released on bail have not succeeded. The investigation against them was concluded months ago but they remain incarcerated, without access to their legal counsel and with only the barest minimum contact with their families - contact that did not begin until some five months' after their arrest, when they were finally taken out of solitary confinement.

Authorities recently sent to Abdolfattah Soltani, a key member of the legal team representing the seven Baha'is who is himself currently imprisoned in Evin prison, a notice saying that 18 August has been set as the trial date for the seven Baha'is. Dated 15 July, the writ of notification for the seven gives 9 a.m., 18 August, as the date for the trial, in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. That is the same court that tried Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi.

The writ of notification giving 18 August as the trial date was specifically addressed to Mr. Soltani, a well-known human rights lawyer and a principal of the Tehran-based Defenders of Human Rights Center, which was founded by Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and has since last year undertaken to defend the seven Baha'is.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Ebadi, the senior member of the legal team, remains outside the country.

"The judiciary's decision to schedule the trial under these circumstances is an effrontery and yet another tactic aimed at depriving the seven Baha'i leaders of competent legal counsel," said Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i International Community's representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

"The Iranian authorities know full well who is serving as legal counsel for the Baha'is. Indeed, authorities have several times tried to pressure the seven to change lawyers.

"It is the height of absurdity to issue a trial notice to a lawyer who has himself been unjustly imprisoned," she said.

"The willingness of Iran's judiciary to flout the most fundamental internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence were brought to light in the widespread publicity attending the trial of Roxana Saberi.

"More recently, the attention of the world has been focused on the show trial of scores of individuals arrested in post-election turmoil in Iran, also without due process and which has included 'confessions' that were clearly coerced through torture," said Ms. Ala'i.

The Baha'i International Community has called for the human rights of all the people of Iran to be respected and upheld. "Today, then, we raise the call on behalf of our innocent co-religionists, whose only 'crime' is their religious belief, and who face the most severe punishments if they are found guilty of the trumped-up charges against them.

"Instead of going on trial, they should be immediately released on bail, and, at the very least, be given adequate time for their attorneys to prepare a defense," said Ms. Ala'i.

Ms. Ala'i also said that the 18 August trial date could not be taken as firm, noting that the families of the seven had been told in June they were to be tried on 11 July, only to have that date come and go.

"Given the past history of this case, the utter lack of concern for procedure on the part of authorities, and the current situation in Iran, it is simply not possible to know when the proceedings will actually begin," she said.

The seven Baha'i prisoners are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad. They have since been held without formal charges or access to their lawyers at Evin prison in Tehran.

Official Iranian news accounts have said the seven are to be accused of "espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic," charges that are rejected completely and categorically.

The ongoing imprisonment of the seven and pending trial is particularly alarming because of their leadership position as the former members of a national-level coordinating group known as the "Friends in Iran." Some 25 years ago, other Baha'i leaders were executed after being rounded up in a manner similar to the way in which these seven were arrested last year.

To read the article online, with a photograph, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/725

For the Baha'i World News Service home page, go to:
http://news.bahai.org

________________________________________________

Copyright 2009 by the Baha'i World News Service. All stories and photographs produced by the Baha'i World News Service may be freely reprinted, re-emailed, re-posted to the World Wide Web and otherwise reproduced by any individual or organization as long as they are attributed to the Baha'i World News Service. For more information, go to http://news.bahai.org/terms-of-use

Monday, August 10, 2009

Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 1)
July 28th, 2009
Editor’s Note: The Baha’i community of Iran has had a long and sorrowful history of persecution, some of which has already been recounted in English language sources. To provide further scholarly access to this history, particularly episodes not already documented in English, Iran Press Watch will continue to serve as a vehicle for bringing this historical research to the attention of its readers – in addition to its role of providing news and commentary on the present-day trials and tribulations afflicting the Baha’i community of Iran. In this regard, we are pleased to publish portions of a paper by one of our editors, titled: “Abdu’l-Baha’s Proclamation on the Persecution of Baha’is in 1903”, Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 14, 2007, pp. 53-67.
Abstract
This is a provisional translation of an account by ‘Abdu’l-Baha of the persecutions of the Baha’is of Iran that erupted in 1903. There were outbursts in Rasht and Isfahan followed by a pogrom in Yazd which resulted in over 100 deaths. This account by ‘Abdu’l-Baha was originally translated and published in the United States as though the author were Haji Mirza Haydar ‘Ali Isfahani. The present retranslation is based on the original text.
Introduction
By 1903, the Baha’i community of Iran had experienced nearly a half century of relative peace. The last widespread persecution of its members had occurred in 1852-53, in the bloodbath that followed the unsuccessful attempt on Nasiru’d-Din Shah’s life by a few disgruntled Babis. During this period the community had changed its character from a militant messianic Babi community, to a peace-loving, ethically-bound, progressive-minded Baha’i community that had grown considerably in numerical strength and geographic spread. Throughout this interval though the Baha’is periodically continued to be harassed, and on occasions a few of them killed by their opponents often as excuse for political ambitions, no large scale persecution was witnessed. This changed drastically in the summer of 1903 when a pogrom was unleashed against the community, resulting in the murder of nearly two hundred defenceless Baha’is. This occurrence outraged ‘Abdu’l-Baha who wrote at length about the details and it is a rendering of this treatise that is the subject of this paper.
As the Qajar dynasty was drawing the last breath of its despotic rule, the situation for Baha’is also drastically worsened. In 1886, Mirza ‘Ali-Asghar Khan (c.1859-1907), titled the Aminu’s-Sultan, became Nasiru’d-Din Shah’s trusted prime minister and for the next 12 years (with a short break in 1897-8) ruled the central administration with tyrannical hands. During his tenure, Iran’s foreign debts grew considerably, a national revolt was raised against his disastrous tobacco concession and considerable unrest was formed against his rejection of any suggestion for social and political reform. By 1903, political opposition against the prime minister’s reactionary rule had gathered significant strength.
At first, the northern provinces, particularly the city of Rasht, rose against non-indigenous institutions such as schools. The Baha’is, as always, were used as a diversion. On 3 May 1903 a minor incident over a photograph between two Baha’i goldsmiths in Rasht, Mashhadi Taqi and Mashhadi Rida, escalated into widespread disturbance and only the prudent intervention of the governor prevented bloodshed and calmed the troubled waters.
In late May, as result of the instigation of the notorious Shaykh Muhammad Taqi, known as Aqa Najafi, over 200 Baha’is of Isfahan were forced to take refuge in the Russian Consulate while the mob pillaged their homes. Two Azali brothers were killed on trumped up charges. Through the intervention of the British and Russian Consulates, the situation subsided.
In Yazd the situation was considerably different. Aqa Najafi had written letters to all major cities encouraging them to follow his lead in harassing the Baha’is. The newly appointed prayer leader of Yazd, Sayyid Muhammad Ibrahim, arrived on 12 June and was anxious to prove his orthodoxy and to consolidate his authority. Therefore, before even arriving at the city, he circulated rumours about a general massacre of the Baha’is. The day after his arrival witnessed the first attacks against several Baha’i shopkeepers. The first murder of a Baha’i took place on 15 June when Haji Mirza Halabi-Saz was brutally killed. After that, for a week, the city was calm but soon the Baha’i-killing spread to the nearby villages and cities.[1] During the next month, wave upon wave of mob attacks left hundreds of Baha’is homeless, nearly 200 of them dead, and many more injured.
When this attempted genocide reached its peak in the midsummer of that year, ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote a proclamatory treatise outlining events leading to this pogrom, the motives and actions of the principal persecutors, and the intense sufferings of the Baha’i community. Like all his communications on such subjects, ‘Abdu’l-Baha was full of praise for the patience, forbearance and the conduct of the Baha’is, young and old.
In retrospect, it appears that ‘Abdu’l-Baha intended this treatise to be published in the West, galvanizing the support of prominent Baha’is, Baha’i communities of the United States and Europe in general, and the public at large. Towards this end, he instructed one of his secretaries, Dr Younis Khan Afroukhtih, to translate this treatise, which presumably was done in collaboration with some of the English-speaking Baha’is visiting ‘Akka at the time. This work was further assisted by an English-speaking pilgrim of Jewish descent from Hamadan, Dr Arastoo Hakim, and was completed on 19 September 1903.
The translated treatise was then sent to the United States to be published under the title Bahai Martyrdoms in Persia in the Year 1903 AD. It was received in Chicago on 29 October 1903 and its publication took place through the work of the Baha’i Publishing Society in 1904. However, for reasons not clear to the present translator, it was published as a document prepared by Haji Mirza Haydar ‘Ali, a prominent Baha’i residing in Haifa at that time. The following notation was included:
“In compliance to the holy command of Abdul-Baha, the following account of the recent martyrdoms in Persia, up to the present time, is herein written and submitted for the perusal of the beloved of God.”
(Signed) Hadji Mirza Heider Ali.
In preparation for its publication, the Baha’i Publishing Society minimally edited the English for a smoother reading and revised a quotation from the New Testament to bring it in line with copies of the Bible available to the general public.
In the spring of 2004, the present translator coordinated a typing effort to enable the 1904 publication to be posted on the Internet for the use of researchers in Babi-Baha’i history. In April 2005, Dr Khazeh Fananapazir brought to my attention that this document was indeed a published treatise by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Makatib ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 3, pages 122-47.
This important discovery facilitated a retranslation of the treatise, which appears below. In the course of the present effort, it was further discovered that the original translation differed considerably from ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s treatise: sections were moved around, large segments from the original text were missing in the published translation, various additions were made in the translation that were not in the original text, and a number of other deficiencies were noted. Therefore, I thought it necessary to undertake a fresh translation as part of my project to collect and assemble a number of documents relating to 1903 Baha’i persecution. And while undoubtedly my translation also suffers from important shortcomings, it is more aligned with the original text and hopefully offers a basis for more befitting renderings in the future.[2]
[1] For instance, in the nearby town of Manshad, 25 Baha’is were killed most brutally over a period of ten days. See Ahang Rabbani and Naghmeh Astain, ‘The Martyrs of Manshad,’ World Order, 28/1 (Fall 1996), 21-36.
[2] In process of this retranslation, I benefited from several valuable suggestions of Dr Fananapazir and Phillip Tussing. All imperfections in this translation however, are to be ascribed to me alone.
- Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 2)
- Abdu’l-Baha-July 28th, 2009
- Abdu’l-Baha’s Treatise
  A synopsis of the sorrowful events of the [Baha’i] martyrs in Yazd and Isfahan
  He is God!
  In this enlightened age, which is the century of the Almighty God, by the effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the lights of civilization are diffused over all horizons, and human attainments and divine virtues, just as dawn swells in the morning, are so spread in the East and the West that ferocity and bloodshed among mankind are abandoned; nay, rather, in civilized countries they are entirely forgotten. Religious contentions are completely eradicated and the prejudices of the dark ages are abolished. Among diverse groups and tribes no conflicts, discords or hostilities have remained save national conflicts and political ambitions. All peoples and nations, reposing in the cradle of security and safety, are well protected against the cruelty of tyrants.
  In Iran, when the Divine Call was raised, the radiant morn appeared and the Sun of Truth arose, many people were delivered from the lowest depths of ignorance, attained the highest human perfections, became the centre of heavenly virtues, spirit incarnate and righteousness embodied – appearing in the world of humanity with spiritual qualities and holy attributes.
  However, the adherents of the old religions still held fast to their former teachings and traditions, and day by day became more ignorant until they degenerated into ferocious wolves and rabid dogs, even outdoing the ravenous man-eating beasts. Thus, they began to oppose those holy souls, each day instigating persecution, every hour causing new oppressions, each moment kindling the fires of destruction, burning the sanctified ones in the flames of hatred and malice, setting their heads upon spears, torturing their children, plundering houses and property, looting wealth and possessions, and banishing women and children from their native land. The honourable were debased, the revered were despised, and the virtuous were taken captive.
  Among such outrages are numbered the recent events of Yazd and Isfahan, which caused the hearts to burn and quake, and the people of equity to shed tears of blood and beat their breasts. Although the Baha’is are brave and courageous, and in the field of combat each able to battle a large number of opponents, and when war ensues they manifest such valour as would quickly break the ranks of their foes,[3] and it has been proven that in bravery they have no equal or like, yet, by the divine and firm decree of God, they are commanded to maintain universal peace and entrusted with absolute meekness. When tyrants extend to them the hand of cruelty, attacking them like blood-thirsty wolves, the Divine friends must submit like lambs before them, without offering the least resistance, accepting the wounds of daggers and swords as babes accept the honey and milk [from their mother’s breasts], kissing the hand of the killer while receiving a stab to the heart; and, while yielding their lives in the path of God, begging His forgiveness for the oppressors and asking for remission of their sins.
  This approach and behaviour, however, has caused those ferocious animals and malicious snakes and scorpions to increase their repression day by day, staining their hands with the blood of their victims, taking the path of tyranny and never showing any mercy. In such wise these recent events of cruelty and violence have added to the manifold events of the past, and indeed eclipsed those afflictions and sufferings of former times.
  In summary, this is what occurred. In these days, the ‘ulama of the Shi’ite sect, that is, the old religion of Iran, saw that the Divine Call was raised and that the peoples of the East and of the West were moved. The effulgence of the Sun of Reality beamed forth so radiantly that all eyes were brightened, the standard of God’s Cause was hoisted, and the people flocked in multitudes under the tent of God’s Words. Shi’ites were converted to the Baha’i Faith, and even the Jews were overtaken with such enthusiasm and fervour that, ere long, none may be found in Iran who has not accepted this divine guidance. So with the Zoroastrians – Iran’s ancient religion – who had rejected all the prophets from Abraham to Moses as well as Christ and the Messenger of God [Muhammad], but now a majority of whom have come to accept, believe and confess to all Holy Scriptures and books of the prophets of God, and they are also recognized as Baha’is in all sincerity and faithfulness.
  The witnessing of all these things caused the wicked ‘ulama to be so filled with hatred and jealousy that patience became exhausted, and at every moment they kindled a new fire of animosity, instigating and compelling by all possible means the ignorant rabble and vicious idlers to shed the blood of these wronged ones. One of the wicked‘ulama (Aqa Najafi[4]), living at present in Isfahan, whose father[5] stained his hands with the blood of Sultan ush-Shuhada and Mahbub ush-Shuhada[6] and was denounced by Baha’u’llah as the ‘Wolf’, was himself denounced as the ‘Son of the Wolf’. Everyone wondered concerning the significance of these titles and what harm would come from them, until recently the wisdom of these names was revealed, as the following will testify.
  The beginning of this turmoil, caused by the wicked ‘ulama and their ignorant followers in Iran, took place in the city of Rasht in the month of March (1903), corresponding to the month of Muharram (1321 [AH]).[7] At first the ignorant ‘ulama enticed the common people, vagabonds and idlers to loot and rob the friends [Baha’is], and incited them to persecution and oppression, and these, filled with greed, assaulted like wolves and attacked the lambs of God.
  One of their deeds was the disinterment of the body of a believer who had recently died, after which they cut it to pieces before setting it alight. During his life this man had shown great sincerity and kindness to all the people, who, including the enemies and even the ignorant ‘ulama, testified to his moral character, rectitude, trustworthiness and great love. They said, ‘This is a just, honourable and faithful man, but he is a Baha’i.’ His only sin was that ‘he was a Baha’i!’ That is, from earthly he became heavenly, from material he became spiritual, from worldly he became holy.
  Praise unto God! How astonishing! They peruse the Qur’an, perceiving the counsels and exhortations of God, still they are fierce and bloodthirsty, and consider oppression to be one of the requirements of the sacred Shari’at [Islamic Law], thus defaming and denigrating Islam in the sight of all nations. The just King of Iran endeavoured to restrain these thugs and vagabonds from their oppression, but found himself unable to do so. They plundered and pillaged the property of the Baha’is, and bitterly tortured the friends [of God]. This caused the ‘ulama to incite the rabble to commit the same acts in other cities of Iran.
  
  [3] Reference to the conflicts faced by the Babi community of Iran during the upheavals of 1848-53.
  [4] A reference to Aqa Muhammad Taqi Najafi
  [5] A reference to Shaykh Muhammad Baqir, for whom the Lawh Burhan was revealed, a portion of which is cited at the conclusion of this Tablet.
  [6] The martyrdom of these two brothers, the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs, took place on 17 March 1879. For details see: ‘Abdu’l-Hamid Ishraq Khavari,Nurayn Nayyirayn (Tehran: Mu’assisih Milli Matbu’at Amri, 123BE/1966); ‘Izzatu’llah Nur,Khatirat Muhajiri az Isfahan dar Zaman shahadat Sultan ash-Shuhada va Mahbub ash-Shuhada (Tehran: Mu’assisih Milli Matbu’at Amri, 128 BE/1972); Mazandarani, Tarikh Zuhur al-Haqq, vol. 5 (mss.), 242-8; and in English, Hasan M. Balyuzi, Eminent Baha’is at the Time of Baha’u’llah: With Some Historical Background (Oxford: George Ronald, 1972) 33-51.
  [7] 1 Muharram 1321 AH corresponded to 30 March 1903.
  - bdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 3)
  - Abdu’l-Baha-July 31st, 2009
  - Editor’s Note: In response to several inquiries, it should be noted that the original of this remarkable narrative by Abdu’l-Baha is found in Makatib ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 3, pages 122-47. For ease of reference, a copy is attached.
    By Abdu’l-Baha
    One of them is the ‘Son of the Wolf’ (Aqa Najafi) in Isfahan. Even though through various means he has amassed a vast fortune, stealing it all from the people, is immersed in all forms of carnal desires, and everyone testifies to his ill intentions, nevertheless the ignorant population follows his lead. For the purpose of plundering the friends’ possessions, they obey his command, extending their hands to pillage and attempting brute force. When this man witnessed the ascendancy of God’s Cause and the rise of the Divine Words, his breast was filled with the fire of hatred and jealousy. He raised the standard of mischief and caused enmity. He began by confusing the minds of the people by forging a telegram in the name of the Prime Minister of Iran and ordering his trusted confederates, under the cover of night, to post four hundred copies upon the walls of the city. The essence of this telegram was: ‘Shaykh Taqi (Aqa Najafi), the Hujjatu’l-Islam, must protect the religion (of Islam).’ This telegram was a pure fabrication and lie. Nevertheless when morning came, the rabble and the vagabonds seeing and hearing of it became excited and proceeded to the house of Shaykh Taqi, who immediately issued a fatwa[8] for the killing of innocent Baha’is.
    It is evident that in midst of such tumult and under such circumstances when the guide of an ignorant populace issues such a fatwa what commotion and mischief results. The ravenous mob invaded the shops and houses of the believers and began to destroy and pillage. But the divine friends, knowing it to be unlawful to defend themselves without the permission and consent of the government, were obliged to appeal to the governor of the city. Finding him, for some reason and purpose, negligent in the matter, they thought it best to gather the dispersed [Baha’is] in one place in order that some course of action might be determined upon. They assembled in the Russian Consulate, this being the only door open to them. There they passed the whole night in prayer, raising the cry, ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ (O Thou Glory of the Most Glorious!) and at times they referred their difficulties to the Governor, hoping thereby the mob might be quieted and the meek defended.
    The governor inquired of Shaykh Taqi the cause of the riot and asked concerning the telegram, what it was and whence it came. In answer he declared complete ignorance of the telegraph matter. He then went to the Russian Consulate and erecting a pulpit, began to outwardly exhort and adjure the mob, which had assembled to injure and murder the believers, to disperse. The governor then addressed a letter to the friends of God saying, ‘Be tranquil and at ease. The tumult has ceased and people have dispersed. Now return to your homes and attend to your work, and pray meanwhile for His Imperial Majesty, the King of Iran, for hereafter no one will molest you.’ The governor’s letter was registered in the consulate, after which the Baha’is came out of their retreat to go to their own homes.
    However, in private, Shaykh Taqi had advised his trusted men that, when the believers emerged from the consulate proceeding to their own homes, they should incite the mob to attack and slay them. Therefore, when the friends of God came out of the consulate to go home, on the streets, the malicious multitude attacked them like bloodthirsty wolves, seizing and beating whomever they could. With utmost viciousness they tortured and wounded seventy people in all, killing some outright.
    The honoured Sayyid Abu’l-Qasim Marnuni was one of the martyrs. This righteous Sayyid was about eighty years of age, and during his life was renowned in that realm for his piety, faith, knowledge and virtue. He was evident light and spirit incarnated. Even enemies bore witness to his chastity and sanctity, testifying to his generosity, charity and benevolence. He was in truth a help to the poor, and a refuge and support for the afflicted; his word was influential, honoured and accepted by all the people. In his last days, once he became known as a Baha’i, then the people of enmity, jealousy and denial, attacked him. They themselves testify, ‘When we assaulted him, he cried out: “We are from God and unto Him we return. Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!”’ And in the very moment of his expiration he spoke this verse with great joy and exultation: ‘You have done us no harm, we shall but return to our Lord!’[9]
    While his tormentors, like wild beasts, attacked him with rocks, clubs, axes and cleavers, he, single and alone, under the weapons of his evil-doing persecutors who were wounding and cursing him, suffered it all in fortitude with grandeur and majesty. He faced the Kingdom of Lights as though he felt not a blow nor received a wound, but rather perceived the open gates of the Supreme Concourse, and yielded his life to his Beloved with utmost joy, happiness and exhilaration. O that I had been with him to partake of his joy and to attain his great happiness!
    Finally the prince governor, seeing the intensity of the hostility of those ferocious wolves, had no alternative but to arrest and seize the divine friends and as such many were protected by being confined in prison. Behold how great was the outbreak and tumult that the prison-house became a place of refuge and the dungeon a court of safety. This much is sufficient and [the graveness of the matter] needs no further exposition.
    When the intensity of the violence and tumult had reached its zenith in Isfahan, a certain Sayyid Ibrahim, son of Yazd’s Imam Jum’ih, was returning from the sacred cities of Karbala and Najaf. In the exalted ‘Atabat [lit. ‘thresholds’; a designation for Karbala and Najaf] he had received from Sayyid Kazim Yazdi, the chief of the [Shi’ite] religion, afatwa and authority to shed the blood of the innocent. When he arrived at Isfahan, and perceived the flames of the fire of tyranny and persecution, read the forged and false telegram and saw the excitement of the people, he determined to hasten forthwith to Yazd. He received complete instructions from Shaykh Taqi to carry out, upon his arrival, whatever would cause destruction to the foundation of the friends of God. With these wicked intentions he reached the city of Yazd.
    This decadent man, however, perceived that the governor would not tolerate such a violation, deeming it to be a cause of riot and revolt which would result in the destruction of Iran and the defaming of Iran’s name. Therefore he carefully devised a stratagem and a ruse. Having arrived by chance upon the anniversary of the birth of the Messenger of God [Muhammad] – peace be upon Him – the people of the city came to visit him. In that gathering he related incidents concerning the rampages in Isfahan, describing in detail the courage and bravery of the people who had stood for the annihilation of the Baha’is, looting their wealth and property, and pillaging their possessions and belongings. At the same time, through pure lies and calumny, he insinuated that – I take refuge with God! – the just government would connive in such action and consent to these violations and transgressions. In reality, however, His Imperial Majesty and the illustrious prime minister had not a thought save that of justice and protection for their subjects. In short, this heartless man commended the people of Isfahan so greatly that the audience was inspired by religious zeal and fanatical enthusiasm to eradicate the Baha’is. In such ways he encouraged and provoked many, menaced others who refused to listen, and instigated the rabble and hoodlums to rob and plunder [the Baha’is].
    [8] A religious ruling issued by a mujtahid (doctor of law) the execution of which is considered binding upon Muslims.
    [9] Qur’an 26:50
    AbdulBaha Treatise 1903
    - Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 4)
    - August 1st, 2009
    - As a result, the third day after the arrival of that worthless [man], either through persuasion or force, a mob of ruffians and vagabonds was assembled. A great multitude, armed with swords and daggers, invaded the house of the honoured [Haji] Mirza Muhammad Sini-saz [tinsmith], with sticks and clubs beat and injured his wife and suckling babes, broke their household utensils and fixtures, plundered the furniture and demolished their home. With great force, they pulled the gentle Haji from his house, and dragged him in the streets until they arrived at a butcher’s shop, where a bully attacked him, like a wild beast, and with a meat cleaver, assaulted his blessed head, cutting it deeply, and causing several more injuries to his chest and side.
      It was then that a farrash [footman] of the governor arrived and rescued the poor victim from the hands of his tormentors. Because his wounds were severe and the blows of Shimr and Yazid[10] had been inflicted on him, that wronged man was unable to walk, and thus the farrash was obliged to drag him to the court of the governor, where he lay motionless.
      During this time, his eleven-year old son was at school. His schoolmates, being urged by their teacher, attacked this innocent lad. The wretched, tormented child ran to his teacher for protection and he, having a stone in place of a heart, commanded him to curse, insult and deny his religion. However, this wonderful child, with confidence and faith, refused to do so, saying: ‘I am only a school boy, unfamiliar with the reality of affairs. How can I stain my lips with a curse?’
      Then that pitiless instructor joined the other school boys, inflaming the fire of malice and enmity, and committing such a deed of cruelty which has caused hearts to burn and tears to pour forth from the eyes of friends and strangers. That inhuman teacher with his pupils, tortured that dear boy, beating him with sticks, stabbing him with penknives, picking him with needles and awls in such manner that pens cannot portray, nor tongues utter, nor ear hear, nor hearts imagine.
      In short, that light of the martyr’s eye and the first-fruit of the Abha Paradise, at the dawn of youth, manifested such constancy and steadfastness at the time of martyrdom and hastening to the divine altar of sacrifice, that brave men were stupefied. The teacher himself and the pupils would relate, ‘When we were stabbing him he only cried out, “Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!” and “Ya Mahbubu’l-A’la!” [O Beloved of the Most Exalted!]. Never wavering an instant, but with greatest joy and delight he yielded up life to the Life-Giver!’ In this manner he attained the presence of the Supreme Friend in advance of his noble father.
      If there be but a particle of justice, it will testify that this constancy and firmness, this joy and exhilaration, manifested on the plain of martyrdom, this cry of ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ at the zenith of anguish and pain, is beyond human endurance, especially when exhibited in a boy of such tender years. Sanctified is He Who confirmed his heart in God’s love when he hastened to the field of martyrdom! Sanctified is He Who caused him to utter ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ under the attack of the enemies. Sanctified is He Who caused his soul to rejoice when ascending to the Supreme Friend! Verily this is but one of the signs of the Mighty Lord!
      The blood of that superb child was still flowing when the malicious crowd killed his illustrious maternal uncle with utmost cruelty and torture, chopping his body until it was a mass of pieces. And this prince of faithfulness, under the keen sword of the foes, was heard saying, ‘I am content with the fate decreed by God, sacrificing myself for the sake of His Mighty Cause.’ The evildoers then tied with ropes the sacred remains of the benevolent father, the pure-hearted son and the sanctified uncle, and disgracefully hauled them through the streets, clubbing and stoning their mutilated corpses, meanwhile clapping and cheering, until they reached the town square, where they threw down the bodies.
      The mother of that fine child, seeing her martyred son, her husband slain by the severest cuts, and her brother covered with blood and dust, began to weep and bitterly cry over the wrongs they had suffered, and especially that of the child. One can imagine what must have been the condition of that wretched of the worlds, while being held captive by the people of enmity, upon finding those sanctified bodies thus hacked to pieces before her.
      Such viciousness, ferocity, bloodthirstiness, tyranny and injustice have not been heard of in ancient or medieval times – even among the most brutal criminals or the wilds of Africa. Possibly barbarous tribes, in moments of revenge for massacres and severe losses in battle, might have produced deeds of similar brutality. That would be the mere seeking of vengeance and attempting retribution. But such tyranny and gross injustice has never been witnessed from the hand of foes or the attack of enemies, as was poured out upon these angelic, pure minded, trustworthy, righteous and pure hearted souls – people that were kind to all, well-wishers of the world of humanity, renowned for their goodly characters, and even praised by their oppressors and well-known as innocent and guiltless. If we refer to all the histories of the world, we will see that such oppression and tyranny on the part of the enemies of God toward the lovers of the Merciful One, is unparalleled and unequalled, especially when we consider that not one of these martyrs ever stretched his hand in defence, nor uttered an uncivil word at the time of martyrdom. Nay, rather, with utmost concentration on the Supreme Concourse, with humility, submissiveness, tenderness and exaltation of spirit, they were praying until they surrendered their souls into the Hand of the Life-Giver.
      Sanctified be God! The government of His Imperial Majesty, the Shah of Iran – may God protect his dominion – has strictly forbidden hunters from killing birds during the season of breeding, or to discharge a gun even into the air, it being considered cruel and unlawful that, during the hatching period, the young ones should be killed or even startled or troubled by the sound of a gun. But the Baha’is, notwithstanding their innocence and purity, with righteousness and deeds approved at the Divine Threshold, were the victims of their own countrymen, and made to suffer such calamity, and were the object of such enmity. Consider the equity and tenderness of His Crowned Majesty [the Shah], and how stony-hearted are the people of the old religion.
      
      [10] Yazid, son of the Caliph Mu’awiyah, was the man who ordered the killing of the Imam Husayn in Karbala. Shimr ibn Dhu’l-Jawshan was the man who carried out the order.

Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 5)

Posted: 02 Aug 2009 05:21 PM PDT

In short, on that day, in course of this mighty cataclysm and the outbreak of this inferno of malice, gates and houses were burned, dwellings invaded, and they destroyed, beat, killed, and plundered all. The governor tried as far as possible to protect [the Baha’is], but he was unable to do so and his efforts remained futile. However, the aforementioned Sayyid Ibrahim, who was the Imam Jum’ih and the chief of the adversaries [of the Baha’is], together with a number of the mischief-makers, went to the governor’s house. There they outwardly denied being the instigators of the revolt and troubles, whereas in fact they secretly provoked the rabble, vagabonds and ruffians, and incited them with the prospect of booty, spoils and plunder.

The next day, provoked by the iniquitous clerics, the merciless mob carried out a greater assault, robbing and spoiling more than ever. With the severest tortures, they martyred six holy personages, cutting their bodies to pieces and throwing them into the town-square, after which they rode horses over the mutilated corpses of the martyrs and crushed them under the hooves of their steeds, mixing their blood and flesh with the dust.

Praise be unto God! For one thousand years, the Iranians, especially the Shi’ites, have been lamenting and loudly weeping over the tragedy of the Prince of the Martyrs [Imam Husayn] slain upon the plain of Karbala – a lamentation that reaches the highest pavilion of heaven – saying, ‘The army of the malicious Yazid mercilessly ran their horses over the body of that Martyred One, crushing Him under the hooves of their steeds!’

It is because of this that Jesus said, ‘Your fathers killed the Prophets of God, but you are building their tombs, visiting them, prostrating before them, and kissing them.’[11] And now this passage exactly reflects the present condition of the Iranians. With utmost cruelty and wickedness, certain people martyred Imam Husyan, and now the children of those murderers are mourning and lamenting, and building and adorning the tombs of the martyrs. How heedless and negligent are the people!

In summary, the idlers and vagabonds of Yazd, daily advancing in tyranny and mayhem, are becoming bolder and more impertinent. A brief report has reached us that by Friday the number of martyrs had exceeded one hundred. This special reporter, in a brief letter, written in great sorrow and sadness, states:

Alas! Alas! And again alas! Our hearts are burning! Our breasts are filled with sorrow and grief! The cry of lamentation is raised high and the shriek of mourning heard in all directions. The hand trembles in writing and the heart brims with utmost pain. The eye is tearful and the ears unable to hear the account of that persistent tyranny. Every day there is a greater calamity, and every moment brings a manifest outcry.

In the city of Yazd there are nearly five thousand Baha’i households – none have a moment of rest or peace. They have no supper at night and no meal during the day. By the depth of their sorrow and grief, their food has become pieces of their liver, and for water they drink their tears, expecting at each moment the attack of the pillaging and murdering enemies, to persecute and take captive the women and children. The majority are hungry, thirsty and naked. The women especially are suffering so keenly on account of the slaughter of their fathers and husbands and the martyrdom of their brothers, and in such despair that they know not how to care for their suckling babes.[12]

In brief, the steadfastness of these souls under the swords of persecution, their resignation and acquiescence while facing thousands of enemies, the joy and exhilaration of these luminous realities at the Divine Altar, the constancy of the confirmed women, the strength and faith of the holy maidservants, their patience in coping with massacre, beating, plunder, and the martyrdom of children, and the steadfastness of the young children themselves, are all the greatest proofs of the sincerity and faithfulness of the friends. Especially when in the time of this oppression and tyranny, they raised not a hand in defence of themselves, but rather considered self-sacrifice a great blessing and self-redemption as the greatest bounty of the world of humanity. They quaffed the overflowing cup of martyrdom as exhilarating wine. They sought not to withhold their lives from the sword, nor their throats from the dagger. They beheld destruction of their homes and dwellings, and yielded wealth and possessions to the plunderers and pillagers. Women and children were made helpless and homeless, and with utmost joy and gladness offered up their lives at the feet of the Divine Beloved, without uttering a single word at which their murderers could take offence. Rather, they entreated intercession for them, asking God’s forgiveness and blessing upon their persecutors.

Had they raised their hands in defence, a single soul could have withstood a large multitude, as was written by one of the friends from Yazd, his own words being as follows:

God has tied the hands of all, giving no permission for defence; otherwise no one would be able to be impertinent [towards us]. But, knowing that we never transgress the revealed ordinances by raising the hands of resistance, the enemies are able to massacre, rob, and shed pure blood with great audacity. Had they thought we would defend ourselves, the leaders and their followers would not have dared to breathe or utter a word against us. We yearn, however, for martyrdom in the Path of God, and ask it with all our hearts and souls. Only do we implore a refuge for our families, wives and children. Should we not do so, we fear we would be accused of neglect; otherwise, life itself has no merit and is not worthy to be offered as ransom in the Path of God. If it be accepted, it is our greatest honour and glory.

If such martyrdom, submission to pillage and plunder, loss of home and property, captivity of women and children, giving up of life with utmost joy, or such a cry in the throes of martyrdom as ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ or the shout of ‘Ya Rabbiya’l-A’la!’ [O My Lord, the most Exalted!] or the roar of ‘You have done us no harm, we shall but return to our Lord!’ or the melody of ‘Is anyone truly capable of beholding, to come and behold me?’; if all these things do not prove steadfastness and constancy, and demonstrate the greatest evidence of faithfulness, spirituality and love in these holy souls, then from what shall we produce the evidence of steadfastness and firmness? Thus, ‘seek ye death, if ye are sincere!’[13] Should they write the description of what befell them with the ink of their blood, of a certainty the pages of the leaves of the world would not be sufficient. If these souls be condemned, then from what shall we prove the steadfastness of the Prophets, the firmness of the chosen ones, and the constancy of the believers during past centuries? For the greatest virtue, for which the Prophet [Muhammad] was commended, was only his ability to ‘stand steadfast as thou art commanded’.[14]

[11] Matthew 23:29-33 states, ‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?’ [King James Version]

[12] This Tablet was printed based on the original text. From this point until the verse ‘the rejectors shall be in great loss’ is based on a text in Abdu’l-Baha’s handwriting. [The editor ofMakatib]

[13] Qur’an 2:94

[14] Qur’an 42:15

Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 6)

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 08:57 AM PDT

In short, the last information from Yazd, conveyed by the illustrious Siyyid Mahdi Afnan, the offshoot of the Divine Lote Tree, is as follows:

The number of the martyrs has reached one hundred and seventy pure souls, which we know of. Of those martyred that we have not counted, God knows. Several thousand houses, shops and stores have been robbed and plundered, and many homes have been burned. Women and children have been left helpless and neglected; left naked, hungry and homeless, without a kind protector, or a friend or an assistant or a companion. They go from door to door seeking shelter, all the while thanking God, day and night, for their mighty calamities, saying: ‘Praise be unto God that we have received such affliction and hardship in the Path of God! We have been the targets for a thousand shafts of oppression in the Path of His Love! This was the utmost desire of our hearts and souls; this was our comfort and the repose of our being.’

It was known that these events would take place, and it was heard from the lips of ‘Abdu’l-Baha several times that in a large assembly of the believers last year He stated unequivocally, ‘Yazd is in great peril. Pray for it, pray for it.’ By the will of God the fulfilment of the following passages, written by the pen of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, will also appear:

Ere long, by the Command of God, the veils will be raised from the Face of His Cause, and its refulgence will be reflected upon the horizons of the world. The teachings of the religion will be promoted, the standards of your Glorious Lord will wave from the highest edifices; the base of superstitions will be shaken; the veils of darkness will be rent; the morn of clear evidences will appear; the Kingdoms of Heaven and earth will shine with the lights of revelation. Then ye shall see the banners of the opposing nations hauled down, the faces of the enemies darkened, the decrees of the wicked leaders abrogated, and the believers shall be in great joy while the rejecters shall be in great loss.

At any rate, on the morning of that Friday, the mob suddenly assembled from all quarters, crying while attacking, ‘Alas for our Holy law! Alas for our faith! Alas for our religion!’ Previous to this they had killed five or six persons every day, but on that day the guarding soldiers, instigated by the ‘ulama, allied themselves with the ignorant rabble, and began to pillage. The vagabonds martyred a number of the believers, beat the women with clubs, hands and whips, and looted a large number of shops, stores and homes [of the Baha’is]. Many children became fatherless. Many mothers and fathers became childless. Many sisters became brotherless. How many homes were completely destroyed! How many families were scattered and made helpless and homeless! How great the number of the affluent that became penniless! How vast the number of those reared in beds of comfort now compelled to sleep upon the cold, black earth! How numerous were the wounded and the ill, with none to care for them or dress their injuries!

At the time of their execution one would cry out, ‘Is anyone truly capable of beholding, to come and behold me?’ Another, ‘Do you find fault with us for aught except that we believe in God and in His holy verses?’[15] And another, ‘O the misery of men! no Apostle comes unto them but they laugh him to scorn!’[16] And yet another would exclaim, ‘I witness that there is no God but God!’ and ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ And still another would shout, ‘We have kept both Baha and the khun-baha [blood-money]!’[17] One was loudly chanting the poem of Varqa, called Servitude, while another, with joy and delight, was bidding farewell to his murder, saying, ‘May God preserve you!’ upon the utterance of which he was struck so violently in the mouth that from the blow he yielded up his life. And yet another martyr, at the time of his assault by the enemies, stated, ‘No king has ever been accorded such majestic pomp and glory!’ A handsome youth, at the moment of death, cried out joyously, ‘Tonight is the night of my nuptials, and I am to obtain the Beloved of my heart and the Desire of my soul!’

Praise be unto God! What ignorance is this that the murderers take the exact last utterances of martyrs, weave them into verses to be chanted by children in the streets and bazaar, describing the place this one was martyred, what his condition was, and what he said, and how such a young man chanted such a verse, and how he was torn into pieces.

There were two gentlewomen who, while mourning in their home for their martyred kin, were attacked by a cruel mob. First they beat and tortured the two wronged women as much as they could, and then dragged them outside the home, after which they were stabbed and chopped into many pieces with swords and daggers. When the ferocity of the people reached this level, the governor, finding himself powerless to stand against the rioters, fled from the city and retired to the citadel for self-preservation.

Praise be unto God! They seized a baker and with meat axes hacked him into pieces. Throughout the time of his torture he sang in a melodious and resonant tone and with great joy announced, ‘For ten years I have been longing for this! I beseech God to forgive and to pour out upon you His bounties, that you may attain your hearts’ desire, for through you I have attained the desire of my heart and soul!’

The number of those martyred, up to that day, is reported to have been more than one hundred and fifty persons within the city of Yazd. In the surrounding villages, numerous personages were martyred in each hamlet. The details have not reached us, except a short report of a telegram received in Tehran to the effect that the governor, being pressed by the rioters and compelled by the vagabonds of the city, was forced to blow one of the friends from the mouth of a cannon, and to behead another in the town-square. Briefly, the boorish mob put a woman in a sack, over which they poured kerosene, and burned her alive. They tightly tied and nailed another believer to a tree, poured kerosene over him and burned the tree and the man together.

In Ardakan, a village near Yazd, lived the honoured Sadr, the esteemed Mu’tamidu’sh-Shari’ah, the adored Nizamu’sh-Shari’ah, and the beloved Diya’u’sh-Shari’ah, with all their families, kinsmen and relatives. They were of the venerable ‘ulama and were sayyids, and all had received titles from His Imperial Crown. Yet the ‘ulama issued a fatwa demanding the blood of these honourable souls to be spilled. The ignorant mob, incited by the ‘ulama, attacked those gentle beings with guns, arms and weapons of war. Though these believers had sufficient number to stand against the crowd, could have resisted easily and were provided with ample means of defence, yet, in accordance with the command, ‘it is better to be killed than kill,’[18] they yielded their lives to the blood-thirsty wolves who, stretching out their claws of tyranny, martyred seventeen persons with the utmost cruelty. Among the victims there was a young child who fell into a well, and he has survived and remains alive. None other was left standing. The orchard and mansion where they resided were utterly destroyed. The trees were uprooted. All that could be pillaged was taken away, including a considerable amount of wealth.

The number of martyrs in Ardakan has reached nineteen by now and in the village of Taft the number was twenty-eight. In other villages, each suffered one or two martyrs. In Manshad there were ten. In Dih-Bala they threw a believer, alive, into a baker’s oven and roasted him to death. To date, six women have been martyred. While these many have been martyred, a great many more have been injured and wounded.

[15] Qur’an 5:59

[16] Qur’an 36:30

[17] Translation from Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 73.

[18] God Passes By, p. 198, a statement attributed to Baha’u’llah. For a similar proclamation see, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, (Haifa: Baha’i World Centre, 2002) 110.

Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Persecutions in 1903 (part 7)
August 10th, 2009
Editor’s Note: This is the final instalment in Abdu’l-Baha’s remarkable report about the persecution of the Baha’is in Isfahan, Yazd and the surrounding areas. Previous segments are available at: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
By: Abdu’l-Baha
Jesus – may the spirits of both worlds be a sacrifice unto Him! – has plainly pointed out the pathway to the Kingdom, showing clearly the shortest and surest road. That straight path is the field of self-sacrifice. Therefore these sanctified souls have but followed that Effulgent Source [Christ], and through this path have they proceeded to the Kingdom of Mysteries. For the sake of such as these He said: ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ ‘Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake.’[19] Similarly, in the Tablet of Aqdas it is revealed:
Blessed the slumberer who is awakened by My Breeze. Blessed the lifeless one who is quickened through My reviving breaths. Blessed the eye that is solaced by gazing at My beauty. Blessed the wayfarer who directeth his steps towards the Tabernacle of My glory and majesty. Blessed the distressed one who seeketh refuge beneath the shadow of My canopy. Blessed the sore athirst who hasteneth to the soft-flowing waters of My loving-kindness. Blessed the insatiate soul who casteth away his selfish desires for love of Me and taketh his place at the banquet table which I have sent down from the heaven of divine bounty for My chosen ones. Blessed the abased one who layeth fast hold on the cord of My glory; and the needy one who entereth beneath the shadow of the Tabernacle of My wealth. Blessed the ignorant one who seeketh the fountain of My knowledge; and the heedless one who cleaveth to the cord of My remembrance. Blessed the soul that hath been raised to life through My quickening breath and hath gained admittance into My heavenly Kingdom. Blessed the man whom the sweet savours of reunion with Me have stirred and caused to draw nigh unto the Dayspring of My Revelation. Blessed the ear that hath heard and the tongue that hath borne witness and the eye that hath seen and recognized the Lord Himself, in His great glory and majesty, invested with grandeur and dominion. Blessed are they that have attained His presence. Blessed the man who hath sought enlightenment from the Day-Star of My Word. Blessed he who hath attired his head with the diadem of My love. Blessed is he who hath heard of My grief and hath arisen to aid Me among My people. Blessed is he who hath laid down his life in My path and hath borne manifold hardships for the sake of My Name. Blessed the man who, assured of My Word, hath arisen from among the dead to celebrate My praise. Blessed is he that hath been enraptured by My wondrous melodies and hath rent the veils asunder through the potency of My might. Blessed is he who hath remained faithful to My Covenant, and whom the things of the world have not kept back from attaining My Court of holiness. Blessed is the man who hath detached himself from all else but Me, hath soared in the atmosphere of My love, hath gained admittance into My Kingdom, gazed upon My realms of glory, quaffed the living waters of My bounty, hath drunk his fill from the heavenly river of My loving providence, acquainted himself with My Cause, apprehended that which I concealed within the treasury of My Words, and hath shone forth from the horizon of divine knowledge engaged in My praise and glorification. Verily, he is of Me. Upon him rest My mercy, My loving-kindness, My bounty and My glory.[20]
This is the ransom for the blood of the martyrs! This is the utmost desire of the near ones! This is the eternal life of the spiritual ones! This is the pathway of Jesus! This is the way of the Divine Manifestations of both ancient and modern ages! In a Tablet addressed to the Wolf, the father of Shaykh Taqi, [Baha’u’llah] wrote:
Thinkest thou that We fear thy cruelty? Know thou and be well assured that from the first day whereon the voice of the Most Sublime Pen was raised betwixt earth and heaven We offered up Our souls, and Our bodies, and Our sons, and Our possessions in the path of God, the Exalted, the Great, and We glory therein amongst all created things and the Concourse on high. Unto this testify the things which have befallen Us in this straight Path. By God! Our hearts were consumed, and Our bodies were crucified, and Our blood was spilt, while Our eyes were fixed on the horizon of the loving-kindness of their Lord, the Witness, the All-Seeing. The more grievous their woes, the greater waxed the love of the people of Baha. Unto their sincerity hath borne witness what the All-Merciful hath sent down in the Qur’an. He saith: ‘Wish ye, then, for death, if ye are sincere.’ Who is to be preferred, he that hath sheltered himself behind curtains, or he that hath offered himself in the path of God? Judge thou fairly, and be not of them that rove distraught in the wilderness of falsehood. So carried away have they been by the living waters of the love of the Most Merciful, that neither the arms of the world nor the swords of the nations have deterred them from setting their faces towards the ocean of the bounty of their Lord, the Giver, the Generous.
By God! Troubles have failed to unnerve Me, and the repudiation of the divines hath been powerless to weaken Me. I have spoken, and still speak forth before the face of men: ‘The door of grace hath been unlocked and He Who is the Dayspring of Justice is come with perspicuous signs and evident testimonies, from God, the Lord of strength and of might!’[21]

[19] Matthew 5:10, 5:8, 5:11 respectively
[20] The text of the Tablet of Aqdas quoted by ‘Abdu’l-Baha is at variance with the published version in Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1988) 16-17. A discussion of these differences is beyond the scope of the present study and is left for another occasion. For the purpose of the present translation, the version in Tablets of Baha’u’llah is employed.
[21] The passage cited by ‘Abdu’l-Baha is from Baha’u’llah’s Lawh Burhan. However, a comparison of the version in Makatib 3:145-6 with Lawh Burhan in the original text of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Lawh Mubarak khitab bih Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Mujtahif Isfahani ma’ruf bih Najafi (Langenhain: Baha’i-Verlag, 138 BE/1981) p. 57, suggests some discrepancies. For the purpose of this translation, reliance has been placed on Shoghi Effendi’s translation of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1988) 84-6

Iran Press Watch
Documenting the Persecution of the Baha’i Community in Iran

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Mr Grau set out the campaign of persecution carried out against the Baha’is since 1979.

He also vindicated the Bahá’ís’ innocence against the multiple charges and attacks brought against them. “Baha’is talk to their neighbours about noble ideas and pure and goodly deeds through commendable and seemly conduct. How is it a threat to society? [...] What is the hypocrisy in that a schoolgirl, after listening to insults against the Founder of her Faith, whom she loves intensely, politely raises her hand to ask permission to explain some of the teachings of her Faith to her schoolmates?” Mr Grau said.

Mr Grau finished his speech by summarising the events related to the case of the seven members of the former Yaran, an ad hoc group created to tend to the needs of the beleaguered Baha’i community which ceased to function earlier this year.

[Subtitles added by IPW's Spanish Team]

Sunday, August 02, 2009

This is part one of the two part video of Arab kids being taught about the Faith by their teachers at the 17th Terrace. We stumbled upon this group, which was one of three that we saw that afternoon. If you can decipher the Arabic and translate it into your own language...the lessons are (supposedly) amazing!
source-- BAHAI PILGRIM SITE

Thursday, July 23, 2009

IRAN WORLD WIDE FOCUS

Global Day of Action

25 JULY

3 DAYS OF MOURNING IN IRAN 24 -25 26 JUNE 2009

FOLLOWED BY worldwide solidarity with the civil rights movement in Iran”. IN JULY 25

Grand Ayatollah Declares 3 Days of National Mourning
(Ayatollah Motazeri pictured with Ayatollah Khomeini (on bed). )
Grand Ayatollah Montazeri Declares Three Days of National Mourning

[TEHRAN BUREAU] Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most important living cleric in Iran, and one of the most outspoken foes of the conservatives and hard-liners, has issued

a statement about the attacks of the security forces on the demonstrators and the resulting casualties.

In the name of God

We all come from Him and will go back to Him

The great and dignified Iranian nation:

With much sorrow I was informed that, during peaceful rallies to defend their lawful rights, the great Iranian people have been attacked [by the security forces], beaten, and bloodied, and killed. While expressing my condolences for this painful event and the losses, and feeling the pain of the nation, I declare Wednesday [June 24], Thursday and Friday days of national mourning. I express my strongest support for the Muslim nation [of Iran] in their defense of their rights in the framework of the Constitution that recognizes republicanism [direct and free elections, and respect for the votes] as one of the pillars of the [political] establishment, and declare that any action that would harm the republicanism of the system is not permitted [is against religion]. Every one of our religious brothers and sisters must help the nation in defending its lawful rights. Based on this principle, any resistance in this direction [against people who are defending their right], particularly use of violence, beating, and killing of [the people of] the nation is acting against the Islamic principle that the nation must decide its own fate and path and, therefore, I declare it to be religiously haraam [the worst sin].

Hossein Ali Montazeri

Given the immense respect that Ayatollah Montazeri enjoys in Iran for speaking against the hard-liners and even standing up to Ayatollah Khomeini when thousands of political prisoners were executed in the summer of 1988, this declaration is bound to have a great effect, and should provide the impetus for continuing peaceful protests against the rigged presidential election.

Copyright © 2009 Tehran Bureau

Ayatollah Motazeri pictured with Ayatollah Khomeini (on bed).

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By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles | 21 June 2009
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 15:28 and is filed under slider, slideshow. You can follow any responses to this entry GO TO THE SITE
http://tehranbureau.com/grand-ayatollah-declares-3-days-national-mourning/
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On 25 July 2009, in more than 60 cities around the globe, well-wishers of the people of Iran will mark a Global Day of Action “to demand respect for the human rights of the Iranian people and to demonstrate worldwide solidarity with the civil rights movement in Iran”. This action has been designated by the organizers as “a non-partisan collaborative of individuals and human rights organizations”. Full details concerning the genesis and aim of this initiative may be found at http://united4iran.com/

Bahá’ís from countries across the planet join the swelling chorus that calls for the internationally recognized human rights of all Iranians to be upheld and safeguarded, wholeheartedly supporting those gatherings and other forums that seek through non-partisan means to draw attention to this pressing issue.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

JuJljuly 25,2009 has been announced as the "Global Day of Action for Human Rights in Iran " by the human rights activists for the following purposes :y 25,2009 has been announced as the "Global Day of Action for Human Rights in Iran " by the human rights activists for the following purposes :

1) Civil and human rights for the people of Iran
2) Stopping the abuse of power—the imprisonment, torture and killing
3) Solidarity with the Iranian people. To our Iranian brothers and sisters: We have heard your voices, and you are not alone. 1) Civil and human rights for the people of Iran
2) Stopping the abuse of power—the imprisonment, torture and killing
3) Solidarity with the Iranian people. To our Iranian brothers and sisters: We have heard your voices, and you are not alone.

Join this unprecedented

wave of global citizen activism in solidarity with the people of Iran. On July 25, participate in an event in one ofmore than 60 cities around the world.

Monday, July 20, 2009

http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-07-15-voa2.cfm

Editorials - The following is an editorial reflecting the views of the U.S. government

Free Baha'i Leaders Held In Iran
15 July 2009

Free Baha'i Leaders Held In Iran - Download (MP3)
Free Baha'i Leaders Held In Iran - Listen to (MP3)

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bi-partisan government body known as USCIRF, is calling for the release of 7 leaders of Iran's Baha'i community who have been imprisoned for over a year. The seven – 2 women and 5 men – were reportedly due to stand trial on July 11. According to the Baha'i World News Service, their families were recently informed by authorities that the trial was delayed.

The seven Baha'i leaders – Behrouz Tavakkoli, Saeid Rezaie, Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Affif Naeimi and Mahvash Sabet – have been charged with a variety of crimes, according to official Iranian news reports. They include "propaganda against the system," "insulting religious sanctities," and "being corrupt on earth," a charge that is punishable by death. The 7 have not been allowed to see a lawyer.

Journalist Roxana Saberi shared a cell with two of the prisoners.

"The charges against these imprisoned Baha'is are baseless and a pretext for the persecution and harassment of a disfavored religious minority. They should be released immediately," said Leonard Leo, chair of USCIRF, in a written statement. The statement was issued after USCIRF received a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian American journalist who spent almost four months in Tehran's Evin prison earlier this year.

Ms. Saberi, who shared a cell with two of the Baha'i prisoners, wrote that Iran's political prisoners "and the authorities who have detained them need to know that the Iranian people's human rights are a matter of international concern."

The most recent State Department report on human rights in Iran noted that repression of the Baha'i community in Iran during the last year continued unabated. Baha'is are considered apostates and are not permitted to practice their religion; they are banned from government and military leadership posts, the social pension system, and public schools and universities, unless they conceal their faith. Baha'is are subjected to arbitrary arrest and government confiscation of their property. At least 40 Baha'is, including the 7 Baha'i leaders who are set to go on trial, were in prison at the end of 2008.

USCIRF Chair Leonard Leo said that the 7 members of the Baha'i leadership "are in jail solely for their religious identity, and have not been afforded any due process or direct access to legal representation." He called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint an envoy "to investigate. . . instances of repression in Iran, such as the impending Baha'i trial."

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Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Justice, not Shame!

Posted: 19 Jul 2009 01:58 PM PDT

Editor’s Note: Dr. Naficy is a well-known Iranian poet, writer, and human rights and political activist. In April of this year, he wrote a brilliant essay, which Iran Press Watch was pleased to share extracts of which in translation (ipw1, ipw2, and ipw3). Dr. Naficy has graciously provided this site with a full translation of his essay and Iran Press Watch is pleased to bring this seminal article to the attention of its readers.

By Dr. Majid Naficy

Recently, a letter was published over the signature of 42 Iranian intellectuals addressed to the Baha’i community and proclaiming “one and a half century of persecution and our silence is enough”. The title of the letter was We are Ashamed.

Over a month ago, Mr. Khosro Shemiranie sent this letter to me to sign. Even though from the age of fourteen I have been saddened by what Baha’is have been going through and I have written about it, I responded that I could not sign it since it was instigated by a “feeling of shame” and “collective sin” and not “seeking justice and freedom of conscience”. I added, “If you reword this letter in which the phrase ‘We are Ashamed’ is repeated thirteen times and change it to ‘We arise to defend the rights of Baha’is’, you can be sure that I will sign it without any hesitation.”

Now that this open letter has been published and broadly disseminated, and many others have joined as signatories, I find it necessary to write my reasons for not signing it. I hope by launching this discussion, I can bring to light the tyranny and persecutions to which Baha’is have been subjected during the rule of the three regimes of Qajar, Pahlavi and Khomeini over the past 160 years.

1. My First Encounter with Baha’is

The first time I got to know a Baha’i was in Sa’di High School in Isfahan, when I was in the seventh grade. His name was Golestan Mossafaei, and he was in the eleventh grade. I met him at our school’s Literature Club. The club was managed by Mohammad Hoquqi, our teacher and resident poet. This club did not last long; it shut down under the pressure imposed by prejudiced school officials.

Golestan always had a sweet smile, and sometimes he composed poems. A few times I went to his house, which was located close to a stream in Darvazeh Hasanabad. It was a modest house with one room. Even that room was barely furnished. Golestan explained how their house had been set on fire a few times, by an anti-Baha’i group called Hojjatiyeh.

Flyers had also been thrown into their yard, pressuring them to leave their residence.

I felt deeply sad hearing about the tyranny inflicted on Golestan and his family.

I wrote a short story about it, and read it to members of my literary circle “Jong-e Isfahan”.

The vice principal of the school was furious about my friendship with Golestan, and told my father that Majid had been entrapped by Baha’is. My father gave me a worn-out booklet called “Memoires of Prince Dolgoruki”, the Russian Ambassador in Iran from 1846-1854, who allegedly claimed that the Baha’i movement had been started by Russians in order to destroy Iran and the Shiah sect of Islam. My mother forbade me from having a friendship with Golestan Mossafaei. She made such a monster of Golestan that whenever my four year old sister was mad at me, she would say, “Get lost Mofassaaei”.

School teachers collaborated in pressuring me, and failed me in “calligraphy” when I was in grade 7! I was a bright student who had passed grade six with an average above 90. In the eighth grade, I was given failing grades in “calligraphy”, “religion”, “algebra” and “geometry”, and had to retake the exams for these subjects at the end of summer. I was not given passing grades and had to repeat grade 8 the following year. This was the first big failure of my life, and taught me a lesson in resilience. I left day school, and enrolled in a night school so that I would be able to complete two grades in one year.

Sa’di High School was run by a religious mafia, composed of a few teachers and a fanatically religious vice principal. At the top of the group, there was a physics teacher whose name was Nuri and looked like a shopkeeper in the old bazaar. His shirts were buttoned up to the chin, and his face was always unshaven. He was the one who shut down our literature club, with the excuse that the organizer of the club disseminated the atheistic views of the prominent novelist, Sadeq Hedayat (1903-51), and caused students to drift away from Islam. Two mullahs by the names of Rohani and Faqih-Imami were our “religion” teachers. Another Mullah named Fazaeli, with good penmanship, taught us calligraphy. Even though he had a close relationship with the Shah’s appointed rulers in Isfahan, he also had close ties with our school religious mafia.[1]

After two years of studying at night school, I enrolled in another high school called Harati. That school was not free of staunch religious, fanatical teachers either.

I remember on cold winter days, as we heard the school bell ring, we had to stand still on the spot and listen to Mr. Parvaresh. After the revolution when he was appointed a Minister, we found out that he had been a member of an anti-Baha’i group [Hojjatieh Society -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hojjatieh]. He would sprinkle his religious speech with aphorism from Imam Ali in three languages, English, Arabic and Persian, showing off his talent!

2. Shaykhis and Mullahs

About the same time, impressed by the book Tat Neshinha-ye Boluk Zahra [The Tat People of the Zahra County] written by Jalal Al-Ahmad (1923-69), I became interested in the rural life of Iran and in traveling to a small village called Jandaq situated on the edge of Dasht- Namak desert. Inhabitants of this village told me that they were followers of a sect called Shaykhi Baqiri. This enticed me to started reading Shaykhi books. I realized that the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsa’i (1753-1826) and his successor, Siyyid Kazim Rashti (1793-1843) had been instrumental for the appearance of Ali-Muhammad the Bab (1819-50) [co-founder of the Baha'i Faith].

After the death of Siyyid Kazim Rashti, one of the Qajar Princes, Aqa Karim Khan Kermani (1810-1871) became the Shaykhi leader. In order to stop his followers from accepting the Bab, he turned into the most active anti-Babi mullah of his time.

Shaykhis grew in number and influence under him and his heir’s leadership. Even Mozaffari’d-Din Shah considered himself a Shaykhi.

After Karim Khan Kermani, the Shaykhi school of thought was divided into two branches.

One branch that was in the majority considered Karim Khan’s son as their leader and the Fourth Pillar (that is, the intermediary between the Hidden Imam and his followers, which is similar to Khomeini’s idea of Velayet-e Faqih, “rule by jurists”). The other branch, under the leadership of Mohammad-Baqir Hamadani, rejected the heredity nature of the Fourth Pillar. They became known as Shaykhi Baqiris.

After studying Shaykhi books, I concluded that some of Shaykh Ahmad’s views seemed more logical than the views of his Shiah counterparts. For example, resurrection at the Day of Judgment (known as Hurqalya) was the resurrection in a softer and more refined form– not a physical reconstruction. I found the Babi movement attractive only to the extent that it was egalitarian and the fact that a courageous female poet by the name of Tahirih Zarrin-Taj (1814 or 1817-1852) was one of its prominent followers. Other than that, from a young age, I was not interested in religious ideology.

My paternal grandfather, Abu-Torab, who had left the city of Kerman to settle in Pudeh, a small village near Isfahan, did not accept the heredity branch of the Shaykhis. Going through my father’s library, I came across a few manuscripts of his grandfather, and once briefly read through one which explored the philosophical issue of free will versus predestination.

My father believed that there were no differences between Shaykhi and currently practiced Shiah schools, and that it was just a matter of whom each group considered to be their Source of Emulation. However, I had the feeling that my parents were afraid of becoming known as Shaykhis and kept secret their meetings for the purpose of studying and discussing the books of Kermani and Hamadani.

Among the views of Shaykhi Baqiris, my father liked their distrust of traditional mullahs. Among contemporary Islamic thinkers, my father liked Ali Shariati (1933-77), an Iranian scholar who was against the cast of clergy. I remember my father, while driving for picnics on Fridays, used to sing a folk song making fun of mullahs:

“I am a mullah, a mullah / Stayed overnight in a stable / A flea came and bit me / I kicked my quilt off/ Burnt my cot / And broke my teaspoon / I am a mullah, a mullah / Stayed overnight in a stable”.

In Iranian folktales, a mullah was often pictured as a “cunning fox”, and as a creature obsessed with food, overeating and sexual excesses, while pretending to be pious and self righteous. Khomeini was well aware of how mullahs were portrayed and their reputation. After the revolution, imitating his teacher, Abdul-Karim Haeri-Yazdi, Khomeini, in one of his speeches, changed the famous proverb “How easy to become a mullah, how hard to become a human!” to “How hard to become a mullah, impossible to become a human”. He was trying to influence the subconscious of the masses and to overcome their innate sense of mistrust and resentment towards the mullahs.

3. From Tahirih to Ezzat

From 1964 to 1981, occasionally I came upon or heard about Baha’is. For example, I heard about Bahram Sadeqi (1936-86), a renowned storywriter from Najafabad who was a Baha’i.

However, it was on September 17, 1981, when I found myself again in a situation in which I felt that I had the same destiny as Baha’is.

It was over two years since the revolution in Iran. Fundamentalist militant rulers were violently persecuting and executing members of the Iranian National Front and the leftist organizations. These groups were the ones that had played a crucial role in uprooting the Pahlavi regime.

On September 16, my wife and comrade, Ezzat Tabaian, left the house. That night, she phoned a friend and hurriedly told him that while being chased by the Islamic Militia, she had fallen and broken her pelvic bone. My wife asked him to contact me and tell me to quickly destroy all “incriminating evidence” in the house. The next day, the same friend asked if I had a safe place to spend the night, knowing that our home would not be spared from attacks. When I replied that I had nowhere to go, he suggested a large house on Lashkar square that belonged to his old aunt.

I knew his aunt was a Baha’i, and her house would not be a safe place either. However, we had no choice but to go to his aunt’s house. A deft servant opened the door and led us in. The old aunt told us how Islamic forces had arrested the last members of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Tehran. She was worried about her own safety as well.

That night, I had the strange feeling that Tahirih, the courageous Babi female poet was talking to me from the edge of the well into which she had been thrown after being strangled, 150 years before. I was seeing a connection between Tahirih and the painful fate of my wife in the claws of her tormentors. A few years later on September 18, 1986, I wrote a poem, Raftam Golat Bechinam [I Went to Find your Flower] published in a collection of poems under the same title, about the events of three days after the arrest of my wife Ezzat. The second part of the poem relates to the old Baha’i woman who offered me her home as refuge:

I have hardly fled

The slaughter place of a Marxist

To take refuge in a Baha’i’s.

Is there a lesson here for me?

In the deserted courtyard

Where the yellow leaves rustle

And the lonely goldfish

Circles in the green water,

A secret is revealed to me:

The bloody body of Zarrin Taj is still

Hanging over the prison’s well.

- Have you seen my Isaac?

The old building echoes my words.

“Ezzat”s and “Tahirih”s had the same destiny. On January 7, 1982, Ezzat and another leftist woman, along with fifty leftist men, faced the firing squad. Their bodies were dumped in the Khavaran cemetery located southeast of Tehran. Two months before that, I had gone to the same cemetery with my wife to visit the grave of a relative, Sadeq Okhovat, who had faced the firing squad. At that time, there were perhaps fewer than 30 graves at Khavaran. The second visit was for my wife, and I was accompanied by my brother-in-law, Hosein Okhovat-Moqadam. However, when Hosein was executed a few weeks later, I could not bring myself to visit the Khavaran cemetery again.

Later I learned that three days before my wife was executed — that is, on January 4, 1982 — six members of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Tehran had been executed and their bodies had been dumped in the same cemetery.

On January 2009, this cemetery was demolished by the Islamic Government of Iran.

It was the resting place of 50 Baha’is, and thousands of other freedom-seeking Iranians.

4. The Test of the Broadmindedness of Iranians

I know about the sufferings endured by Baha’is not only from books, but also from seeing it first hand in my own day-to-day life. Their sufferings date back to the time of the Shah of Iran, particularly in the 1950s, when with the Shah’s approval and using the national radio, Mohammad-Taqi Falsafi would deliver blistering sermons which provoked mobs to attack Baha’i holy places.

This trend has continued under the present reign of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has been governing for the past 30 years, and has executed over 200 Baha’is solely on the ground that they were Baha’is. Baha’is do not have the slightest basic human or civil rights as Iranian citizens. In an article which I wrote in 2004 titled “Shirin Ebadi and Freedom of Conscience”, I recognized:

Defending the Baha’is must be considered a litmus test for any intellectual Iranian claiming that they honor human rights. In the Islamic government of Iran, there is no place for any Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, or the like. This is because according to Article 13 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the only recognized religious minorities are Zoroastrian, Jewish, or Christian Iranians.

Among the many minority groups that are legally deprived of their right to freedom of conscience, the situation of the Baha’is has been in particular the bleakest.

From the inception of this religion, dating back to the era of Mohammad Shah Qajar, the Iranian Shiah clergy have been leading open attacks on this community [i.e. Babis and Baha’is]. The clergy imagined that the appearance of the Bab robbed them of their messianic claim to the expected Hidden Imam, Who is suppose to appear at the “end of time” to fill the world with justice. They believe that the appearance of the Bab took away from them the raison d’etre of Shi’ism.

During the final decade of the Shah’s regime, rumors began to be spread by fanatical groups known for their anti-Baha’i stance, aimed at provoking the people with mentally-sick hatred against the Baha’is, that Baha’is were supporters of the Shah. These false rumors became so widespread that even after the 1979 revolution, when in 1981 the regime began to intensely suppress the opposition including the Baha’is, Iranian intellectuals hesitated to defend the Baha’is against oppression – even when they could see perfectly well that Baha’is were being imprisoned, tortured, and executed merely for being Baha’i. It is for this reason that I consider the single most important quality of a democratic-minded Iranian is to be a supporter of the right of Baha’is to their religion and not heed the fictitious excuse that “Baha’is are members of a political party and not a true religion”.

5. The Test of the Broadmindedness of Baha’is

After the publication of my article on Shirin Ebadi and the freedom of consciousness referred to above, I was asked: if the test of broadmindedness of an Iranian is in his defense of the rights of Baha’is, then what defines the broadmindedness of a Baha’i?

In my opinion, a democratic Iranian Baha’i must not only defend the rights of all heterodox thinkers in Iran, but must first and foremost defend the rights of the followers of Azal who call themselves by the name Bayani. Only then can a Baha’i be worthy of the title of free and democratic.

To make this matter more clear, I will explain something that happened in 1987 in Los Angeles. I was invited to a poetry night, and recited the poem raftam golat bechinam, from which a stanza was quoted above. Among the attendees was a Baha’i couple. At that time, in this poem I had used the word Babi instead of Baha’i. Afterwards, the Baha’i woman asked, “Why did you use the word Babi? Today there are no Babis and they all have become Baha’is.”

Her question and comment not only demonstrated the narrow-mindedness and exclusivity of some Baha’is towards the minority group of the Babi-Azalis, but it also illustrates the narrow-mindedness of many Iranian leftists, of which I had been one, as well.

At this point is it necessary to briefly look at the history of the emergence of the Babi movement and the divisions that took place within it.

6. The Azalis and the Baha’is

At the age of 24, Ali-Muhammad Shirazi in 1844 declared himself to be the Bab, which means he was the gate to the Promised One of Shia Islam. He later confirmed that indeed He was the Promised One himself. Shortly before His execution in 1850 in Tabriz, He named one of His followers, a 14-year-old youth named Mirza Yahya Nuri, to be His successor and gave him the title Subh-i Azal.[2]

After the premiership of Amir Kabir, efforts to eradicate the Babis increased in intensity and many of them were compelled to leave their native land. In 1863, Mirza Husayn-Ali, known as Baha’u’llah, declared himself to be “He Whom God Shall Make Manifest”, Whose appearance was foretold by the Bab. Baha’u’llah was a step-brother of Mirza Yahya (Subh-i Azal) and was 13 years his senior. At the time, both brothers lived in Edirne, a town in the Ottoman Empire.

Mirza Yahya did not accept his brother’s claim and the differences between the two caused enmity and bloodshed among the Babis. Eventually, in order to alleviate the situation, the Ottoman government was forced to exile Yahya to Cyprus and Baha’u’llah to Palestine.

Edward Browne (1862-1929), an English scholar who visited both brothers, writes about this bloodshed which resembles the enmity between Shiah and Sunni in Islam or Trotsky and Stalin at the time of Bolshevism.[3]

The followers of Baha’u’llah proclaimed their mission to be for the entire world and quickly grew in numbers. However, the followers of the younger brother [Mirza Yahya], returned to or stayed in Iran to fight against the political system and to reduce the influence of the Qajar dynasty. Two of Mirza Yahya’s sons-in-Law, Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani and Shaykh Ahmad Ruhi, emerged at the forefront of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-11).

They gave their life in this path in Tabriz. During the 1909 interval in which the Iranian Constitution was suspended, the successor of Mirza Yahya by the name of Yahya Dawlatabadi was collaborating with the prominent writer Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda (1879-1959) to publish the freedom-fighting newspaper Sorush in Istanbul.

Today, Azalis who continue to call themselves Bayani, that is, followers of the book of the Bayan written by the Bab, are a small minority community in Iran. Because of their practice of dissimulation, they hide their beliefs. By contrast, the followers of Baha’u’llah have their center in Haifa, have worldwide recognition and number several million.

7. The Dualistic Approach of the Leftist Movement

During the 1970s, leftist intellectuals in Iran revisited the Bab’s movement and grew attracted to it as a social uprising against feudalism — they also acknowledged the contributions of Azali thinkers during the Constitutional Revolution.[4] However, as Iranian Marxists on one hand did not respect the necessary role of freedom of conscience, and on the other hand believed the fictitious rumors about Baha’i collaboration with the government during the premiership of Amir-Abbas Hoveyda (and the evidence they had in this regard was that the notorious Parviz Sabeti ran the SAVAK’s televised shows), they had a negative view of the Baha’is. This negative attitude increased, particularly after the revolution.

The Soviet-oriented Tudeh party, which considered itself a main backer of the Islamic regime, started helping the fundamentalist clergy in their anti-Baha’i activities. As written by Reza Fani-Yazdi, “Suddenly, in spring 1982, the Tudeh party sent a circular letter to all its regional offices throughout the country instructing that all Baha’is were to be expelled from its membership rolls.”[5]

The members of the Tudeh party were asked not only to expel the Baha’is, but also to divulge the identity of any members of the independent leftist groups who were anti-regime. Though the Tudeh party had played an important role in creating the new Islamic regime, it was not long after the revolution that they fell prey to the oppressive regime they had helped build.

On February 11, 1981, an independent Marxist and anti-establishment group, Peykar Organization had arranged a demonstration in Tehran’s Enqelab Square to mark the anniversary of the anti-Shah revolution. There I was identified by two medical students supporters of the Tudeh Party) with whom I had used to go hiking at the time of the Shah. The Islamic security guards had turned Capri, a movie theatre into a centre for interrogating demonstrators. They seized me, and were dragging me to the interrogation center when I managed to escape with the help of a few friends who started fighting with the vigilante. (Two of my rescuers are still alive and live in North California.) When I made it home, I found my wife Ezzat very worried; she had seen me captured, but had not seen my escape. Alas, only a few months later it was I who had to witness my wife leaving home and never coming back.

8. Appeal for Justice not Collective Shame

With 300,000 followers in Iran, the Baha’i community is the largest minority group after the Sunni sect of Islam. Nevertheless, Baha’is are deprived of all basic human and civil rights, including the freedom of belief, access to higher education, and employment in any government sector.

In a secret memorandum issued in 1991 and signed by the leader, Khamenei and President Rafsanjani, the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council instructed all its lower bodies regarding the principle policy of the government towards Baha’is: “prevention of their progress and advancement” at all levels of society.[6] This was also the policy of Khomeini before and after the revolution. While residing in Paris in the summer of 1978, Khomeini was interviewed by James Cockrof, a professor at Rutgers University. Khomeini was asked about his stance regarding the Baha’is and whether they would enjoy freedom of belief and action in an Islamic regime. Instead of a direct response, Khomeini stated, “Baha’ism is not a religion. It is a political party and a misguided sect”. The interviewer again asked if Baha’is would be allowed to practice their religious duties. Khomeini responded, “No”.[7]

In Khomeini’s terse responses, one can find two justifications for the Shiah fundamentalist’s suppression of the Baha’is. The first justification is that the Baha’i faith is not a religion, but a political party associated with the government of the Shah and colonialism, and which gives support to Israel. Therefore, the Baha’is should be suppressed for the sake of the country’s security. The second justification is that the Baha’is are condemned for apostasy. According to Article 5 of the Criminal Code regarding the “law of apostasy” presented to the Islamic Parliament in February 2008, apostates (which includes the Baha’is) will be sentenced to death if they are male, and life imprisonment if they are female.

The first justification mentioned above is based on collective punishment. That is, if a member of a group is alleged to have committed a crime, then all members of that group, whether male, female, elderly, or child, are guilty through association, and will be subject to punishment. The second justification is based on sheer disregard for human rights, freedom of belief and of the right to choose a religion or no religion.

This justification has its roots in the obscurantism of the middle ages.

In both the above justifications, the right and individual responsibility is completely absent, and instead emphasis is placed on collective belief and group ideologies.

In contradistinction to the above, if we were to accept the principle that all humans, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, social status and religious belief, are equal before the law and that they have natural rights to freedom of belief, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and such natural liberties, then the above two justifications for oppressing Baha’is and other minorities will have no foundation whatsoever. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize individual freedom in the country’s Constitution in order to open the door of justice to all Baha’is and other minorities.

This appeal for justice has two inseparable parts:

1. Complete alignment of the country’s Constitution with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, which calls for the separation of religion and state

2. Activities of the anti-Baha’i group Hojjatiyeh should be considered illegal and forced to end. All those who have been involved in the persecution of Baha’is and other minorities should be brought to justice in a court of law, in the presence of a jury and defense attorneys.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this essay, the greatest shortcoming of the open letter to the Baha’i community of Iran titled “We are Ashamed” is that instead of demanding justice for the Baha’is (that is, insisting that freedom of belief must be enshrined in the Constitution and that anti-Baha’i groups be made illegal), it proposed a collective shame upon all Iranian intellectuals for allowing 150 years of oppression against the Baha’is. Instead of calling on people to accept human rights, this open letter has established its foundation on collective shame and group repentance.

Without a doubt, when it comes to human and civil rights, the Baha’is of Iran are the most deprived. As I have mentioned earlier, the test of Iranian broadmindedness must be measured by his sensitivity to the cruelty perpetrated against this group of our countrymen.

However, first, it is incorrect to accuse all intellectuals of “silence against crimes perpetrated against the Baha’is”. Each person is responsible for his own actions and not for the oversights of others, whether in the past or at the present. Second, feeling ashamed or guilty for wrongdoings committed in the past is a personal matter and should be sincerely communicated directly to the individuals or families adversely affected by the acts of oppression. As I wrote in my July 2006 essay titled “Behazin and right of silence” published in “Shahrvand” magazine, I clearly explained that asking individuals to feel ashamed or to repent publicly for their beliefs is an old method of religious inquisition, dating back to the reigns of dictators such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Khomeini.

The main objective of such practices is to undermine and destroy the individual’s self-worth.

A liberated and broadminded intellectual would instead defend the rights of individuals, and would not allow public pressure to curtail individual beliefs and actions. They would insist on personal responsibility and choice.

Public shaming and public confession is a method used by Franciscan monks in their inquisition period and employed in fanatical environments for the purpose of extracting acknowledgment and breaking down personal will. In a similar manner, party administrators in the Stalinist era or under Mao’s regime employed “self-critical sessions” which used such techniques, and Khomeini used them in his televised public “confessions”, or for compulsory group meetings in Evin prison.

I say no to the so-called “original sin” of a group. I say no to metaphoric “baptism” by signing a letter that confesses to shame. We must fight for the freedom of belief and demand that anti-Baha’i activities be banned in Iran. Let everyone tell their own personal stories, and if one feels ashamed about keeping silent while crimes were committed, let him or her take personal responsibility and deal with it as he or she sees fit.

20 February 2009

Notes

1. In September 2000 I published my memoir of this period in a detailed essay “avalin-haye man” (My Firsts) in Shahrvand magazine. This essay has also been included in my book “man khod iran hastam va si-o-panj maqaleh-ye digar” (I am Iran Alone and Thirty-Five other Essays Toronto, Afra-Pegah publishers 2006

2. Dr. Naficy is mistaken in this regard. While the Bab consented to Baha’u’llah’s request for Mirza Yahya to be named a temporary head of the community, there is no evidence whatsoever that Mirza Yahya was named a successor. The title Subh Azal was not given by the Bab and was self-adopted by Mirza Yahya Nuri. [Translator]

3. For an example of this discussion, refer to Edward Granville Browne, A Year Amongst the Persians, Cambridge University Press, 1927, pp. 559-62. In that book, Browne refers to the killing of seven Azalis in Akka by the followers of Baha’u’llah.

4. For instance, see Mohammad-Reza Feshahi, Vapasin Junbesh Qurun Vusta’i: Akhbari, Usuli, Shaykhi and the Babi. Javidan Publications, Tehran, 1977.

5. Reza Fani-Yazdi, “Baha’i-setizi Pish va Pas az Enqelab” [Anti-Baha’ism before and after the Revolution”, Iran-Emrooz, 6/11/2008.

6. This document was uncovered by Reynaldo Pohl, the United Nations’ special representative on human rights in Iran, and published by him in his report of 1993: http://bic.org/assets/Pohl%20Iran%20report%20E.CN4.1993.41.pdf. The passage related to the instructions issued after a joint meeting of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, President of Iran, and the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council is on p. 55, paragraph 310. [Translator]

7. See The Denial of Higher Education to the Baha’is of Iran, by Geoffrey Cameron.

[The Persian version of this essay was first published on Thursday, March 12, 2009, at http://fa.shahrvand.com/2008-07-14-20-49-09/2008-07-14-20-49-46/2284-2009-03-12-17-58-08. Translation by Iran Press Watch and Dr. Majid Naficy.]

[Source: http://hra-news.org/news/2038.aspx. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Thursday, July 16, 2009

PM underlines concern for Iran’s Bahá’ís at historic meeting with Bahá’í delegation

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 04:00 PM PDT

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown has underlined the UK government’s concern over the seven Bahá’í leaders being detained in Iran.

Mr Brown’s remarks were made at a meeting which took place this afternoon at the Prime Minister’s office in the Houses of Parliament, attended by Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire – who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís group – and a delegation of three Bahá’ís, including two members of the national governing council of the Bahá’í Faith in the United Kingdom.

It was the first ever meeting between a UK Prime Minister and representatives of the Bahá’í community, which was established in Britain in 1898.

The prisoners – five men and two women – were arrested in spring 2008. Prior to their arrest they were members of an informal committee looking after the affairs of Iran’s 300,000 strong Bahá’í community, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. Charges against the seven have been reported in government-controlled mass media as “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities” and “propaganda against the Islamic republic”. A further accusation of “spreading corruption on earth” has also been cited.

Continue reading…

List of Baha’is Imprisoned in Iran

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 01:51 PM PDT

Introduction

Iran Press Watch has updated its list of Baha’is imprisoned in Iran because of their religious affiliation and plans to publish a monthly update.

Babol

Mr. Moshfeq Samandari (Apr. 14, 2009) here

Bushehr

Asadollah Jaberi (Jul. 9, 2009) here

Amad (Kaveh) Jaberi (Jul. 9, 2009) here

Karaj

Shahram Safajoo (Apr. 26, 2009) here

Qa’emshahr

Masoud Atayian (Nov 17, 2008) here

Anisa Fanaian (Jan 18, 2009) here

Mazandaran

Zia’u’llah Allahverdi (Jun. 24, 2009) here

Sonya Tebyanian (Allahverdi) (Jun. 24, 2009) here

Sari

Fayzu’llah Rushan (Apr. 2008) here

Fuad Naeimi (Sep. 2007) here

Simin Gorji (2008) here

‘Ali Ahmadi (2008) here

Changiz Derakhshanian (2008) here

Siyamak Ibrahimi-Nia (2008) here

Zia’u’llah Allahverdi (Oct 18, 2008) here

Sonya Allahverdi (Oct 18, 2008) here

Anvar Moslemi (Nov 22, 2008) here

Soheila Motallebi (Nov 22, 2008) here

Firouzeh Yegan (Jan 10, 2009) here

Pegah Sanai (Jan 10, 2009) here

Torreh Taqi-Zadeh (Feb 15, 2009) here

Mishel Ismaelpour (Apr 21, 2009) here

Semnan

Mrs. Sahba Rezvani-Fanaian (Dec. 15, 2008; transferred to Evin on May 4, 2009) here

Adel Fanaian (Jan. 5, 2009) here

Taher Eskandarian (Jan. 5, 2009) here

Abbas Nurani (Jan. 5, 2009) here

Mr. Pooya Tebyanian (Mar. 8, 2009)

Mrs. Manizheh Nasrillahi (June 17, 2009) here

Shiraz

Sasan Taqva (Nov. 2007)

Raha Sabet (Nov. 2007)

Mehran Karami (Feb. 2009)

Haleh Rouhi (Nov. 2007)

Tehran

Mahvash Sabet (Mar. 2008) here

Jamaloddin Khanjani (May 2008) here

Saeid Rezaie (May 2008) here

Fariba Kamalabadi (May 2008) here

Vahid Tizfahm (May 2008) here

Behrouz Tavakkoli (May 2008) here

Afif Naeimi (May 2008) here

Tonekabon

Badi’u’llah Fazli

Yasuj

Ali-Askar Ravanbakhsh (Oct. 28, 2008) here

Zulaykha Musavi (Oct. 28, 2008) here

Ruhiyyih Yazdani (Oct. 28, 2008) here

Yazd

Mehran Bandi (Aug. 28, 2008) here

Plane Crash in Iran

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 05:35 AM PDT

Iran Press Watch was deeply saddened to learn of the plane crash earlier this morning in Iran in which 168 passengers were killed, including Iran’s national judo team. Our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and the people of Iran. Our prayers are with all Iranians.

For further details, kindly consult such sites as CNN or other major news outlets.

Two Baha’is Sentenced to Imprisonment

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 04:47 AM PDT

The following news was posted in Persian on the Khabar Navard site and is offered below in translation:

Last year witnessed many incidents of attacks on Baha’i homes in the Mazandaran region, and interrogations and arrests of Baha’is. These persecutions were particularly intense in such towns as Behshahr, Qaemshahr, Sari and Tonekabon

Two Baha’i residents of Behshahr, in the province of Mazandaran, namely, Zia’u’llah Allahverdi and his wife, Sonya Tebyanian (Allahverdi) were incarcerated for 50 days last fall (see previous post). During May and June of 2009, they had two court sessions, which on June 24 resulted in a verdict of a 2-year and a 1-year sentence for the husband and wife, respectively.

The charge against them is “activities against national security”. The two Baha’is were given 20 days, that is, until July 14, 2009, to file an appeal.

The above is happening against a background such that every form of turmoil and insecurity in the nation is blamed on the Baha’is, though no one has ever produced the slightest evidence in support of any wrongdoing by the Baha’is. From the bombing of the Husayniyh in Shiraz to the present conflicts in all towns, particularly Tehran, they blame every form of unrest on the Baha’is!

It is noteworthy that from the perspective of religious law, civil law or just basic ethics, to charge someone without any evidence or proof is viewed as immoral and a transgression. However, every day, based on the most frivolous excuses, Baha’is are subject to interrogation, violation and arrest – and so far, not a shred of evidence against them has come to light.

It is now more than a year since the former Baha’i leaders of Iran were incarcerated without any formal charges in the notorious Evin prison, and languish in the harshest physical and psychological conditions. Each day, the Iranian regime accuses them of a new crime and adds to the preposterous charges against them. Every so often their families have been promised a trial for their 7 loved ones, and then the trial has been canceled or postponed.

[Posted on June 28, 2009, at: http://khabarnavard.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post_4152.html. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Editorials – An Invitation

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 04:43 AM PDT

As part of its continuing service, Iran Press Watch is instituting a series of editorials which comment on conditions in Iran as well as potential pathways to solutions which could be explored through the Baha’i writings and related materials.

The Baha’is of Iran are eager to contribute actively to the social and economic improvement of that country and have had a long and cherished record of doing so through the formation of many schools, moral training classes, building of hospitals, hospices, motels, bathhouses, and much more.

Although Iran Press Watch was founded in order to provide independent and academic information on the persecution of Baha’is in Iran, we also look forward to a time when Iranians of all religious, ethnic and tribal communities can work together for the betterment of their homeland.

Towards this goal, we invite our readers to contribute short essays that might be suitable as editorials, which are oriented toward two very broad subjects:

1. Current conditions in Iran, and why they have led to the state of the country as it exists, from a social or economic perspective.

2. Outlines for how some of the ideas presented in the writings of the Baha’i faith-community could suggest solutions to social, economic or governance issues of Iran.

A few possible topics:

§ Why such a small minority as the Baha’is, obedient to government and laws, attracts such intense hatred over such a long period of time

§ The coming trial of the Yaran, and its effect on the image of Iran abroad

§ The effect of the recent upheavals on Baha’is’ relationships with their Muslim neighbors in Iran

§ The Baha’i approach to elections — indirect (electing local electors, who then elect national leaders), no parties, no politicking — and how such an approach might be of interest in areas of the world where the politics of disunity has led to national unrest

§ The usefulness of integrating Iran socially and economically with the rest of the world

§ The usefulness of orienting the encouragement of certain social norms toward rewards for desired behavior more than punishment for not behaving as desired

§ The importance of trustworthiness in government

§ Importance of the equality of men & women, and women’s education

§ Usefulness to Iran of reducing extremes of wealth & poverty

And many more.

The point to this series is that the Baha’i writings are not merely abstract indicators for a future perfect society, but are highly relevant to specific currently existing conditions in the Iranian republic; they point to ways to improve that society through their consequent effects. Editorials in this series will make this link explicitly and in some detail.

Baha’is Arrested in Bushehr

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 03:12 AM PDT

The port city of Bushehr (or Bushihr) has a long and important association with the Baha’i community, as it was in Bushehr that Siyyid Ali-Muhammad Shirazi, known as the Bab, a co-founder of the Baha’i Faith, lived for six years from 1834 to 1840, engaged in commerce and writing the early compositions of his doctrines and teachings.

In recent times, there has been almost no news about harassment of the Baha’is in that town, but the following disturbing report was filed by the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, which appears below in translation:

According to a report received by our office, on Thursday, July 9, 2009, at 11:30 am, a number of individuals in civilian clothing who introduced themselves as agents of the Ministry of Intelligence went to the work place of Mr. Asadollah Jaberi in Bushehr and asked him to accompany them to his residence.

Upon arrival, they searched Mr. Jaberi’s home for three hours from 12 noon until 3 pm, and confiscated a large quantity of his personal property, such as books, CDs, videos, computer case, laptop, mobile phone, and other items belonging to the Jaberi family.

Once the search was concluded, the agents arrested Mr. Jaberi and his son, Amad (Kaveh) and took them to the local office of the Ministry of Intelligence.

At 3:30 pm, agents of the same Ministry went to the home of Farideh Jaberi [a daughter of Asadollah Jaberi] and confiscated her books, CDs, computer case and other personal items, and compelled her to present herself at the Ministry’s office in Bushehr on Saturday, July 11.

On the same day, the home of Mr. Parham Ranjir was searched at 7:30 pm, followed by the search of the residence of Mr. Bahram Zare’i at 8 pm, and the search of the home of Abbas Zare’i at 8:30 pm. However, since Bahram Zare’i was away on a journey, the agents were not able to search his residence.

It should be noted that the arrest of Asadollah and Amad Jaberi took place without any court order or warrants, and the arresting agents did not specify the charge against these two individuals. So far, no news has been received of their condition.

[Posted on July 10, 2009, at http://chrr.us/spip.php?article4478 and http://khabarnavard.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-post_9359.html. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Accusations against Baha’is within the Context of Islamic Heresiography
Posted: 14 Jul 2009 08:09 AM PDT
The Baha’i Faith is an independent world religion which began in the Iran in the 19th century. In 1844 (1260 AH) Siyyid Ali-Muhammad Shirazi declared himself to be the Hidden Imam, the Qa’im or Mahdi expected by Shi’ite Muslims. In 1850 the Bab was executed in Tabriz and for a number of years the Babi community was in disarray until in 1863 Baha’u'llah declared himself to be not only He Whom God Shall Make Manifest foretold by the Bab [man yazhirullah], but the Promised One of all religions. The Baha’i Faith therefore bares the same relationship to Islam that Christianity has to Judaism. Baha’is believes in the divine origin of all religion, but sees their social teachings of revelation as varying according to the needs of the time and place.
As a graduate student I sometimes hired Iranian students to assist me with translating certain Persian Baha’i histories. My preference, of course was to use Iranian Baha’is who would be more familiar with the vocabulary specific to our Faith, but there were occasions when I resorted to non-Baha’is. On one occasion an intelligent, rather secularized young man of Muslim background was reading a Baha’i text in Persian with me when he awkwardly asked me the following question: “Is it true that Baha’is believe that before a man gives away an apple, he should taste it first.”
I knew better than to take his question literally, but I wasn’t about to guess at what he meant, so I said, “Farhad if you want an answer to your question you’re going to have to be clearer.” After fumbling around a bit he finally asked me if it were true that Baha’is believed that a father should sleep with his daughter before he gave her away in marriage. At that point I said, “Think, for a minute, Farhad. If you were going to make up stories to discredit a religion, what sort of things would you say?” He then admitted that he had figured the stories weren’t true but he couldn’t be sure.
This story, as fantastic as it might appear is all too typical of the rumors and slander that are spread about Baha’is in various places throughout the Islamic world.[1] The Nineteen Day Feast where Baha’is gather to say prayers, read from their scriptures, discuss the affairs of the community and share refreshments and food are rumored to be sexual orgies. The Baha’i Faith itself is thought to have been a Russian and British plot to destroy the unity of Islam, notwithstanding the unlikelihood of those two countries having colluded on anything in the 19th century. Nowadays it is imagined that Baha’is are receiving their support from Zionists or the US government.
A plethora of largely fabricated evidence has been published to support such charges, the most famous being the forged memoirs of Prince Dolgorukov which are aimed at proving the Baha’i Faith to be a Russian plot.[2] Similarly, Firaydun Adamiyyat, in his biography of Nasser-al-Din Shah’s first Prime Minster, Amir Kabir states that a British intelligence officer claims Arthur Conolly admits to recruiting Mulla Husayn as a spy in his traveler’s narrative Journey to the North of India Overland from England through Russia, Persia, and Affghaunistaun, however there is no mention of Mulla Husayn or the Báb there.[3] As was the case with Dolgorkov’s forged memoirs there was a problem with the chronology. The meeting supposedly takes place in 1830 when Mulla Husayn would have been 17 and the Bab ten years of age. Connolly died two years before the Bab declared his mission to Mulla Husayn. After Adamiyyat was confronted with these facts, this allegation was removed from subsequent editions of the book.
In 2003 a somewhat more imaginative version of these charges was published by Abdullah Shahbazi in the Quarterly Journal of the Institute for Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies. The article entitled “History of Baha’ism in Iran” argues the Bab had been approached by Anglo-Jews companies to make claims which which disrupt the Islamic world.[4] The article has a rather unique take on an incident which took place in 1839 wherein the Jews of Mashhad were forcibly converted to Islam after accusations of blood libel.[5] Shahbazi’s position is that these Jews voluntarily converted en mass in order to subsequently become Babis in order to provide a false impression that numerous Muslims were converting to the Bab’s religion. About sixty of these crypto-Jews did become Babis and subsequently Baha’is, but the majority did not.[6] They make up only a minuscule portion of the Baha’is of Muslim background in Iran.
More recently there has been a renewed effort in Iran to fabricate links between Baha’is and Zionism. The propagandists have gone so far as to masquerade as Baha’is on internet sites such as http://jewbahais.blogspot.com run by someone using the name Yohanna, where misleading information is posted regarding the relationship of Baha’is to both Judaism and Zionism. Photos are included supposedly picturing Jewish-Baha’is in New York that in fact depict Baha’is of Christian background in London.
It is not my purpose here to refute these charges as they have been adequately dealt with elsewhere by abler writers than myself.[7] What I wish to do here is provide some insight as to the origins of such charges, and how they have been part of the standard repertoire used against religious dissidence in Islamicate culture for centuries. While some scholars have argued that many of the conspiracies theories regarding the Baha’i Faith emerged only in 1940’s and reflect the propensity of Iranian society to “believe and endorse conspiracy theories,”[8] I would like to suggest that such charges are really quite old, much older than the Baha’i Faith itself and extend beyond the borders of Iran itself. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that the charges being made against Baha’is by Shi’ites are virtually the same ones Sunnis have been making against Shi’ites for centuries within the Islamic world.
Aside from the Baha’i Faith itself, Islam has historically been the most tolerant of the world’s religions. This is mostly owing to the fact that Qur’an itself asserts that there is no people to whom a prophet has not been sent. (Qur’an 35:24, 16:24.) This opened the door for the acceptance of the legitimacy of nearly all the previous religions, even those not formally considered People of the Book (i.e. Christians and Jews.) Much more problematic has been the acceptance of any claims to revelation after Muhammad. No religion likes to be superseded, but in Islam particularly the notion that there would be no revelation after the Qur’an came to be seen as every bit as fundamental to the religion as the Oneness of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad, so much so that many Muslims erroneously believe that asserting the Finality of Prophethood is part of the shahadah or Islamic declaration of Faith. For this reason, any religious movement arising after Islam or which departed from the common understanding of Islam had to be explained away as something other than a religion. The stock explanation came to be that such movements were really political in nature, usually instigated by an outsider, often a Jew, aimed at creating disruption (fitna.) For instance, Sunni Muslims hold a Yemenite Jew, Abdallah ibn Saba, responsible for the founding Shi’ism, a belief that goes back at least as far as al-Tabari and is most famously cited in al-Shahristani’s classical heresiogrpahy, Al-Milal wa al-Nihal.[9]
A classical work which illustrates the manner in which Muslims came to view religious dissidence is in Nizam ul-Mulk’s Siyasat-Nameh or Treatise on Government. Nizam u’l-Mulk served as Grand Vizier to the Seljuks who had invaded the Middle East under the pretext of saving Islam and the Caliphate from Shi’ite heretics. Most especially Nizam u’l-Mulk had to contend with the Ismaeli Assassins, to whom according to some accounts he eventually fell victim. The Siyasat Nameh presents the Sassanid ruler Khosrau the Just as the ideal ruler and one of the acts which is depicted as bringing him to power was his suppression of the Mazdakite heresy. Nizam u’l-Mulk presents the Mazdakite religion as a Manichean-type dualism which was especially dangerous for its social program of community of property and wives.[10] It is difficult to know at this distance if the historical Mazdak really had anything more radical in mind than a more equal distribution of property and ending the practice of the wealthy having several wives while the poor could afford none, but the notion of communism and wife-swapping came to be associated not only with his heresy but with subsequent religious dissidence as well. Shi’ites, as well as the Babis, were accused of engaging in such practices. While the economic prosperity of the Baha’is of Iran during the Pahlavi period may have dissolved any notion that Baha’is were communists, the idea that Baha’is practiced a ‘community of wives’ lived on in lurid stories about Baha’i sexual orgies.[11]
As in Christianity, Manicheanism came to be seen in the Islamic world as the paradigmatic heresy, and in works like al-Tabari, it came to be associated with incest as well. Such charges have echoed down the ages and been associated with virtually any dissident religious movement which arose thereafter, especially in Iran, and especially in regards to any movement associated with Shi’ism. The association of heresy with incest appears to go back to the Arabs first encounter with Zoroastrianism. Certain Zoroastrian scriptures appeared to approve of next-of-kin marriages, though the extent to which this was actually practiced during the Sasanian period is a matter of debate. Nonetheless, since Islam had extensive definitions of what constituted incest (lit. mahram or taboo) Muslims found Zoroastrian beliefs in this area to be shocking. As Geert Jan Van Gelder points out in his article on “Incest and Interbreeding” in Encyclopedia Iranica,
Marriage rules help to define a religion and a culture; the alleged practices of the Zoroastrians are a recurrent motif in Muslim texts and are used to distinguish between “us” and “them.” Heretical sects are often credited with a sexual free-for-all or holding women as communal sex objects, with all the implications of possible incest.[12]
Shi’ites were particularly vulnerable to such charges. For instance, the Arabic poet and prose writer, Abu’l-Ala Maarri (d. 449/1058), accused the Carmathians of incestuous practices. Likewise the Ismaelis are accused by early Muslim heresiographers with allowing “marriage with daughters and sisters, drinking wine, and all sorts of sensual pleasures.”[13]
If we compare the attacks against Baha’is even today to those made by Sunni Islamists against Shiites we will see that they are virtually identical. For instance, someone writing under the name of Dr. Abdullah Muhammad al-Gharib warned of Ayatollah Khomeini’s rise to power arguing that he was in fact an American agent, working to support the cause of Zionism in order for Persians to wreck their revenge on Islam for the destruction of the Persian Empire. Al-Gharib insists “the day will comes when people will know that the Jews were behind [the Iranian Revolution] just like Ibn Saba’ was behind their emergence in the first place.”[14]
In describing how it was necessary for Salah al-Din to defeat the Fatimids before turning his attention to the Crusaders he notes that despite the defeat of the Shi’ites they once again emerged:
with their old beliefs with only the names changed: the Safavids, the Baha’is, the Qadianis, the Druze, the Nusayris [‘Alawites], the Assassins, the Isma’ilis…. The [batinis] returned to support the enemies of Allah and to cooperate with them against Muslims. They cooperated with Britain, Portugal, France, and Czarist Russia…. They returned to shred Islamic unity all over again.[15]
Two months before the death of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, he preached a four hour sermon attacking the Shi’ites utilizing al-Gharib’s work. In that sermon the Iran-Iraq War is blamed on a conspiracy on the part of the U.S., Iran, and Iraqi Shi’ites to destroy an Islamic nation. Even the Lebanese Hizbullah was labeled an “Israeli puppet.” The Shi’ites are accused of sexual corruption which includes, yes, accusations of incest.
It should be apparent by now that the charges being made against Baha’is have little to do with their own beliefs and practices but are instead drawn from a standard Islamic repertoire of what a heresy is supposed to look like and the assumed motives behind its origins and propagation. That Muslims might presume some of these things about Baha’is to be true, is perhaps not surprising. What is more disturbing is the fact that evidence is being deliberately fabricated primarily by Shi’ite ‘ulama (though sometimes Sunnis are also involved) to support such charges. One would hope that a religion sect born of oppression would refrain from utilizing the same weapons against Baha’is that been aimed against them. But alas, this appears not to be the case.
[1] For instance former Deputy Head of Al-Azhar and Member of the Islamic Research Council Seif Mahmoud Ashour, stated the following in regards to Baha’is:
“We hear they permit incest, that a man can marry his sister, pray with nineteen raq’aa , fast nineteen days a year and pray towards Acre (in Israel, resting place of Baha’u’llah’s remains) and not towards Mecca”. The Daily Star, December 7, 2006.
The truth of course, is that while Baha’is have a different Qiblih and fast for only nineteen days as opposed to the thirty days in Islam, incest is most certainly not part of their religion, nor do they marry their sisters.
[2] Intrafamily-i siyasi ya yad-dashtha-yi Kinyaz Dulquruki [Political Confessions, or the Memoirs of Count Dolgoruki].’ In Salnama-yi Khurasan [Khurasan Yearbook], Historical Section, 1st. Reprinted Tehran, 1323 Sh/1943-44. These fictitious memoirs of the former Russian ambassador to Iran (1846-1853) has the ambassador hatching this plot with Baha’u'llah and Mirza Yahya in the home of Hakim Ahmad Gilani. The problem with this scenario is that Gilani died in 1835, years before Dolgorukov ever set foot in Iran. Baha’u'llah would have been about 17 at the time while Mirza Yahya was only five. No Russian version of Dolgorukov’s memoirs have ever been produced. Some of the more egregious mistakes have been edited out of later editions, such as the one where Dolgorukov supposedly gives Baha’u'llah money to build a house in Akka. Dolgorukov died long before Baha’u'llah was exiled there.
[3] Amir Kabir va Iran. Tihran in 1323/1944 (pp. 243-4)
[4] Abdullah Shahbazi, “History of Baha’ism in Iran” http://www.shahbazi.org/pages/bahaism2.htm
[5] Blood libel accusations against Jews have been historically connected with Christianity, not Islam, but they were introduced to the Islamic world in the 18th and 19th centuries by the French.
[6] When the state of Israel was formed in 1948 many members of this community immigrated there, the families which had become Baha’i, did not.
[7] cf. Momen, Moojan (2004), “Conspiracies and Forgeries: the attack upon the Baha’i community in Iran”, Persian Heritage 9 (35) As if to prove that refuting such charges is child’s play, an eighteen year old boy Adib Masumian has written a book doing so entitled Debunking the Myths (Lulu:2009.) Unfortunately such refutations cannot be made in the Iranian press where these charges are usually repeated.
[8] Eliz Sanasarian , “The Comparative Dimension of the Baha’i Case and Prospects for Change in the Future”, in Brookshaw; Fazel, Seena B., The Baha’is of Iran: Socio-Historical Studies, (New York, NY: Routledge, 2008), p. 159.
[9] Al-Milal wa al-Nihal, Ed. William Cureton in Books of Religions and Philosophical Sects. 2 vols. Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz (reprint of the edition of London 1846), vol. 2, p. 11.
This story is recounted in numerous Sunni sources, such as the following from ImamAbu Hanifa’s Musnad Imam-e-Azam p. 158:
“Abdullah ibn Saba was a Jew who accepted Islam during the time of Uthman and he urged the people of Egypt to kill Uthman and he would exhibit much love for Ali. He was an evil infiltrator and whose mission it was to spread corruption among the Muslims.”
[10] Hubert Darke, trans. The book of government, or, Rules for kings : the Siyar al-Muluk, or, Siyasat-nama of Nizam al-Mulk , (Surrey : Curzon Press, 2002) p. 192.
[11] Note this description from a Muslim website of Tahirih’s proclamation at the Badasht which separated the early Babis from Islam: “The ruling of Islamic sharee’ah no longer applied and it was permissible for the people – indeed prescribed for them – to share their wealth and women.” http://islamqa.com/en/ref/88689 Accessed June 8, 2009. Tahirih’s proclamation did call for the abrogation of the shariah, but not mention was made of the community of wives and property.
[12] http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f1/v13f1005.html, accessed June 10, 2009.
[13] ‘Abd-al-Qaher Bagdadi, al-Farq bayn al-feraq, ed. Mohammad Badr, (Cairo, 1910), p. 270.
[14] Al-Gharib, Wa ja’a dawr al-majus, [Then came the Turn of the Maajus] p. 296, from the internet edition available at www.d-sunnah.org
[15] Al-Gharib, Wa ja’a dawr al-majus, p. 78
[Above paper was presented at 2009 CESNUR Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 11-13, 2009]

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Dear Friends,
No doubt you’ll be relieved to know that trial of Baha’is in Iran is postponed.
Whilst this is a great relief please lets not stop praying for these pure souls or stop the campaign to release them and other Baha'is. 40 in Total.

The Blessed Beauty of Abhá: Bahá’u’lláh – may my life be sacrificed for His followers - instructed the believers to detach themselves from all else and recite this prayer 9 times, for the release of the friends from prisons and their freedom the fangs of the enemies.

He is, in truth, the Omnipotent, the Unrestrained!

O Lord of all Names and Fashioner of the Heavens! Release [Thy] friends from the prison of enemies. Verily, Thou art the Sovereign Ordainer of Thine decrees, He who shineth, resplendent, from the Horizon of Creation.

O Thou, Everlasting Root! By the life of Bahá *, deprive them not of hope, nay rather aid and assist them. Verily, Thou rulest as Thou pleasest and within Thy grasp lie the Kingdom of Creation. The fangs of Thine enemies have been whetted, ready to bite into the flesh of Thy friends. Protect these companions, O Thou Who rulest over all Humankind and art the Judge on the Day of Judgment!

Bahá’u’lláh

Elder's Meditation of the Day - July 11
"Do not grieve. Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men. Death will come, always out of season. It is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey. What is past and what cannot be prevented should not be grieved for..."
--Big Elk, OMAHA Chief
Our earth continues to grow by cycles and seasons: The cycles of growth - spring, summer, fall, winter. The cycles of the human being - baby, youth, adult, elder. It is through these cycles that we will experience the changes. I will not always necessarily agree with these changes, but I need to trust the Grandfathers are in charge. Things will come and things will go. Really, I own nothing, the Creator owns all. Too often I label things as mine. I say this belongs to me, but it really belongs to the Creator. He gives me things to take care of. I need to do the best I can with what I have, with what I know at the time. And when the Creator changes things, I need to let go for His planning is the best.

Oh Great Spirit, today let me do the best I can with what I know, with what I have. Let me experience acceptance of Your will.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Cherie Blair: Iran’s Baha’is face “uncertain, dangerous future.”

Posted: 09 Jul 2009 03:22 PM PDT

Cherie Blair QC – one of the United Kingdom’s leading human rights lawyers and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair – is calling for Iran to ensure that seven leaders of the Bahá’í faith – held in prison for more than a year without charge or access to their legal counsel – be given a fair trial and a chance of justice.

In an article published in Thursday’s edition of The Times, Mrs Blair writes that, in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed Presidential election result, there is a risk that the ongoing threat to the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority may be overlooked. “They face a very uncertain, dangerous future,” writes Ms Blair.

Read Cherie Blair’s article here (Times Online)

The five men and two women, detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since the spring of 2008, helped see to the minimum needs of Iran’s Bahá’í community after all Bahá’í institutions were banned by the Iranian government. Their informal committee was disbanded along with all local-level Bahá’í administrative groups in Iran in March this year. Family members of the seven have recently been told that they will face trial on Saturday 11 July. Spurious allegations made against them include “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities”, “propaganda against the Islamic republic” and “spreading corruption on earth.”

“We must urge that the Iranian Government give the leaders of the Bahá’í community a fair trial,” writes Mrs Blair, “and allow independent observers access to ensure this happens. We must also call on Iran to live up to their international obligations to protect all their citizens and allow them to hold and practise their religious beliefs, without discrimination or fear.”

Mrs Blair’s article also pays tribute to Iranian lawyer and Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, who announced that she would defend the Bahá’í prisoners. As a result, Dr Ebadi’s “offices were raided and shut down, angry mobs appeared outside her home and she, and her family, received renewed and serious threats to their safety,” writes Mrs Blair.

“Shirin Ebadi is a courageous woman and a brilliant advocate. But we can not let her carry this burden on her own,” Mrs Blair says.

[Source: http://bahainews-uk.info/2009/07/08/cherie-blair-iran%e2%80%99s-baha%e2%80%99is-face-%e2%80%9cuncertain-dangerous-future-%e2%80%9d/]

Roxana Saberi and USCIRF Call for Release of Iranian Baha’is

Posted: 09 Jul 2009 02:56 PM PDT

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)– responding to a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who spent almost four months in an Iranian cell–today demanded the release of seven Iranian Baha’i prisoners of conscience who are set to go on trial Saturday and could face the death penalty, noting that this particular action is just one manifestation of the much broader pattern and practice of the theocratically supported repression that marks Iran’s current electoral crisis.

“In addition to the hundreds of Iranians who have been detained in the context of Iran’s disputed presidential poll, many other ‘security detainees’ arrested long before the June election remain behind bars,” wrote Miss Saberi in a letter to USCIRF requesting U.S. government intervention in the Baha’i case. “These Iranians and the authorities who have detained them need to know that the Iranian people’s human rights are a matter of international concern.

“The elections in Iran last month have exposed the world to the cold realities about how the Iranian government regularly deals with dissent or views that are a perceived threat to the theocratic regime,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair. For example, a senior cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, recently said in a Friday sermon that election demonstrators should be convicted and sentenced to death for “waging war against God.”

The seven Baha’is to be tried, two of whom shared a cell with Miss Saberi, are charged under the jurisdiction of Branch 28 of Iran’s Revolutionary Court, the same judicial process which convicted Miss Saberi in April. The Baha’is are accused of spying for Israel and other religious offenses.

“The charges against these imprisoned Baha’is are baseless and a pretext for the persecution and harassment of a disfavored religious minority. They should be released immediately,” said Mr. Leo. “USCIRF urges the President and other leaders in the international community to speak out and call for the release of the seven Baha’i leaders, as the President did for Miss Saberi. These prisoners are in jail solely because of their religious identity, and have not been afforded any due process or direct access to legal representation.”

On April 18, Miss Saberi was tried, convicted, and sentenced to eight years in prison on false espionage charges. After an international outcry, including statements by President Barack Obama, Miss Saberi appealed the verdict and was released weeks later. Currently, in Iranian prisons are more than 30 members of the Baha’i community, which is banned from practicing its faith.

On July 6, 10 Nobel laureates, including former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called on the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to urge the release of political prisoners and appoint a special envoy to assess the Iranian elections and their aftermath. The letter noted the laureates’ concern for 2003 Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, a human rights lawyer who is legal counsel for the seven Baha’is and has not been permitted access to her clients. “USCIRF urges Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to appoint an envoy to investigate the elections and other instances of repression in Iran such as the impending Baha’i trial,” said Leo.

Read the Letter by Roxana Saberi

Congressman Frank Wolf demands human rights as integral part of dialogue with Iran

Posted: 09 Jul 2009 02:24 PM PDT

On July 9, 2009, Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia made the following statement, urging the Obama administration “to make human rights and religious freedom, including the persecuted Baha’is, an integral part of the dialogue” with Iran.

“Madam Speaker, May 14 marked the one-year anniversary of the imprisonment of the seven-member national committee of the Iranian Baha’is. They have been unjustly held for over a year without formal charges or access to their attorneys.“According to The New York Times, the seven Baha’is are scheduled to face trial this Saturday, July 11.

“They will reportedly be charged with “espionage for Israel,” a crime which is punishable by death.

“The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recently released their 2009 report which recommends that the State Department designate Iran a country of particular concern due to its gross violations of religious freedom.

“Such violations include the execution of over 200 Baha’i leaders since 1979, the desecration of Baha’i cemeteries and places of worship and the violent arrest and harassment of members of the Baha’i faith.

“As the administration seeks diplomatic engagement with Iran, I urge them to make human rights and religious freedom, including the persecuted Baha’is, an integral part of the dialogue.

“Human dignity and freedom must not be relegated to the sidelines.”

[Source: http://iran.bahai.us/2009/07/09/u-s-representative-frank-wolf-makes-statement-in-defense-of-the-bahais-in-iran/]

Norway summons Iran diplomat over human rights concerns

Posted: 09 Jul 2009 02:10 PM PDT

Norway’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Oslo, Mohsen Bavafa, to express its concern for the human rights situation in Iran.

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere also called on Iran to release protesters arrested after the disputed 12 June presidential election, the ministry said in a statement.

“The authorities in Iran do not respect basic human rights,” Stoere said.

“Norway objects to the politically-motivated arrests, and reacts in particular to the fact that local employees at the British embassy in Tehran have been imprisoned,” he added.

Iran arrested nine Iranian employees at the British embassy in Tehran, and accused them of fomenting post-election unrest. All but one of the nine have been released.

Oslo also condemned the arrests of opposition members, journalists, human rights activists and peaceful demonstrators.

“Iranian authorities are urged to immediately stop political arrests and release those unjustly imprisoned,” said the foreign minister.

Norway also condemned the 4 July execution of 20 Iranians convicted of drug trafficking.

In addition, Stoere raised his concern over the situation of the Baha’i community in Iran, in particular the upcoming trial against seven Baha’i leaders in Tehran.

“I urge the Iranian authorities to respect the religious beliefs of all minorities in Iran,” he said.

[Source: Norway’s Foreign Ministry website via Washington TV]

Thursday, July 09, 2009

l have rolled up the world and all that is therein, and spread out a new Order in its stead.’ `The day is approaching when God will have raised up a people who will call to remembrance Our days, who will tell the tale of Our trials, who will demand the restitution of Our rights. Bahai writings

TO -MORROW 11TH JULY TRIAL FOR 7 BAHAIS IN EVIN IRAN

PLEASE

recite prayers for the Yaran ( friends) on Friday ( 11-11:30 pm ,Iranian Time) and Saturday (7-7:30pm ,Iranian Time ) before their possible trial at the Branch 28,Revolutionary Court.

the Bab was set before a firing squad in Tabriz, Iran, on 9 July 1850, He explained to His executioners that they had no idea who He was and what they were doing. His last words were: `

`O wayward generation! Had you believed in Me every one of you would have followed the example of this youth [Anis], who stood in rank above most of you, and would have willingly sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you.’

Like Jesus, who prayed as He was crucified,`Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

July 11th is Baha’i Rights Day
July 8th, 2009
Baha’i Rights Day is dedicated to raise awareness about human rights abuses perpetrated against the Baha’i community. Decades have passed and the Baha’is in Iran and Egypt have not had a minute of rest from the ongoing persecution. Looting of Baha’i homes, the arrest and incarceration of Baha’is, denial of civil rights, the desecration of Baha’i cemeteries, the expulsion of Baha’i students from university and the closure of Baha’i businesses are only a few aspects of the crusade launched against the Baha’is.
The date is significant inasmuch as the the trial of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, arrested in the spring of 2008, is scheduled to be held at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court on July 11, 2009.

Here’s how you can help
Inform your friends, family and colleagues that on July 11 they should tweet, blog, Facebook in support of human rights for Baha’is
Contact journalists to formally recognize this day and write about the Baha’i persecution
Contact bloggers and request that they write about Baha’is and their rights.
Tweet about it consistently on July 11 and use the #BahaiRights hashtag in order for people to locate. The idea is to make #BahaiRights a top trend on July 11. Follow @BahaiRightsDay
You do not have to be a Baha’i to participate! Please make others aware of that. We’re uniting to help raise awareness for the plight of the Baha’is, no matter what our race or religion may be.
Inform yourself on the persecution at Iran Press Watch or the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights
Make every effort to spread the word about the day! Thank you.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Distribution of an Anti-Baha’i Proclamation

Posted: 03 Jul 2009 10:48 AM PDT

The reliable outlet Peyke Iran reported on Friday, July 3, 2009, that certain unknown individuals have widely disseminated a proclamation in Marvdasht, a district in Shiraz, warning people against business dealings with the Baha’is. In this proclamation, they have cited high religious authorities who have issued rulings against such dealings and interactions with the Baha’is.

Pictures of two such documents were provided by the Baha’is of Iran to media outlets and appear below in translation.

The first is a letter to Grand Ayatollahs inquiring about the Baha’is and dealing with them:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!

Peace be upon the blessed threshold of the sources of emulation of the Islamic world!

Respectfully it is submitted: the wayward sect of the Baha’i has been active in one of the districts in the vicinity of Shiraz and, regrettably, some Muslims, because of being ill-informed, have associated and consort with them on a regular basis. As such, we beseech your distinguished selves to offer an opinion on the following questions so that the public is informed:

We cherish the hope that all enemies of the Sacred Household of Muhammad (Peace be upon them), particularly those harboring enmity towards the Hidden Imam, are uprooted.

1. What is the ruling in regard to wedlock of a Muslim with a Baha’i (namely, for a Baha’i woman with a Muslim man, and for a Muslim woman with a Baha’i man)?

2. What is the ruling about business transactions or dealings with Baha’is?

3. What is the opinion of your distinguished selves regarding shaking hands and kissing Baha’is?

4. What is the ruling about eating food prepared at a Baha’i home or by a Baha’i hand?

5. What is the ruling for eating out of a plate or drinking from a glass used earlier by a Baha’i?

6. What is the ruling for attending celebrations or weddings of Baha’is, or attending commemorative services by Baha’is because they were known to [Muslim] attendees?

7. Working (such as in building construction, etc) by a Baha’i for a Muslim, and for a Muslim to be employed by a Baha’i?

8. Are the Baha’is considered infidels and najis [lit. defiled, in Shi’te jurisprudence it designates unclean or untouchable]?

The second document provides the response of several Grand Ayatollahs to these questions and request for religious rulings. Responses bear the signature and seal of each jurist:

The illustrious Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei:

All followers of the wayward Baha’i sect are condemned as infidels and najis [unclean], and [Muslims] should avoid food and substances containing moisture touched by the Baha’is. The believers are duty-bound to combat trickeries and seditions of this wayward sect.

The illustrious Ayatollah Behjat:

They are najis and association with them should be avoided.

The illustrious Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi:

Every form of affiliation, socializing, marriage, buying, selling and other contact with members of the misguided Baha’i sect is forbidden. Muslims must completely avoid such actions.

The members of the misguided [Baha’i] sect are outside of Islam and any kind of interaction with them is forbidden.

[Source: http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=3244. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Arson in a Baha’i-Owned Automotive Store

Posted: 03 Jul 2009 04:51 AM PDT

At midnight on Tuesday June 30th 2009, unidentified men broke the glass storefront of the Mr. Peyman Shadman’s automotive supply store in Semnan and set the place on fire by throwing explosives inside. Mr. Shadman is an Iranian citizen and a Baha’i.

As the store carried flammables like motor oil, the fire did tremendous damage. The firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to homes nearby. Mr. Shadman’s store has been set on fire several times but the authorities have shown no effort to stop the arsonists.

[Source: HRA-Iran http://hra-iran.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1360:arson-in-a-bahai-owned-automotive-shop&catid=66:304&Itemid=293]

Iran’s Baha’is mentioned in U.K. Prime Minister’s questions

Posted: 03 Jul 2009 04:43 AM PDT

The Prime Minister has promised to continue raising Britain’s concerns with Iran, over the issue of the seven Bahá’ís being detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

Gordon Brown’s comments came during Prime Minister’s questions in the House of Commons, in response to the MP for Montgomeryshire, Lembit Opik.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“I have become deeply concerned about the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran facing trial by the revolutionary court on 11 July on serious but unsubstantiated charges, with no evidence being offered against them,” said Mr Opik, who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís group.

Describing current circumstances in Iran as “very difficult issues”, Mr Brown expressed his “disappointment at the restrictions that (Mr Opik) has mentioned on the freedoms of the Iranian people, with people due to stand before a closed court on 11 July.”

According to information conveyed by the authorities at Evin to the family members of the seven Bahá’ís who have been imprisoned for more than a year, a trial date has been set for 11 July. The seven were arrested in the spring of 2008 and have been held without any formal charges or access to their attorneys. Official Iranian news reports have said the Baha’is will be accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

“Some people in Iran are seeking to use Britain as an explanation for the legitimate Iranian voices calling for greater openness and democracy. However, we will continue, with our international partners, to raise our concerns with Iran, including on the issue that the honorable Gentleman raised,” Mr Brown said.

[Source: http://bahainews-uk.info/2009/07/02/irans-bahais-mentioned-in-prime-ministers-questions/]

For Bahais, a Crackdown Is Old News

By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN

Published: June 26, 2009

CLIFTON, N.J.

Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times

Habib Hosseiny and his wife, Ahdieh, in front of a painting of a Bahai leader, Abdul-Baha.

Follow the latest updates on The Times’s news blog.

Updates on Iran’s Disputed Election

Iranian Leaders Gaining the Edge Over Protesters (June 27, 2009)

Times Topics: Iran

Sometimes during the past two weeks, making her rounds as a hospital resident, Dr. Saughar Samali has caught a glimpse of television news in a patient’s room or heard a bulletin on the radio in the family-practice office. Against her desire, against her better judgment, she has been plunged back into the maelstrom of Iran.

As long as she is on duty, Dr. Samali can suppress what she sees and hears of the marchers, the arrests, the beatings. But when she leaves St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson and returns home to nearby Clifton, the present conjures up a terrible past.

She remembers when her father’s factory in Tehran was set afire, leaving him severely scarred and blind in one eye. She remembers her family’s trying to escape to Pakistan, traveling in a smuggler’s Jeep, headlights out on a midnight desert. She remembers the army bullets that shattered the windshield and pierced the tires, and she remembers the months in prison that followed.

It was 1985, and she was 5 years old. In all the years since, even after a subsequent, successful escape and a new life in the United States, Dr. Samali has not forgotten what it meant to be a Bahai in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“I try to turn my emotions off,” Dr. Samali, 28, said of the current turbulence in Iran. “The Bahais in Iran go through this every day. It’s sad to see this, but maybe this is a way for the truth to come out.”

The Bahais have long served as the proverbial canaries in the coal mine of Iran’s theocracy. Their persecution, as documented over nearly 30 years in numerous human rights reports, has contradicted all the näively hopeful predictions that the hard-line surface of Iran obscures a deeper wellspring of moderation and tolerance.

In 1983, the Iranian government banned all official Bahai activity. Deeming the faith an apostasy, Iran’s fundamentalist Shiite government has denied Bahais higher education, confiscated Bahai property, desecrated Bahai cemeteries and refused to recognize Bahai marriages.

During the recent upheaval, which is essentially a struggle among Shiites over the dubious re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bahais have again served as scapegoats. Supporters of President Ahmadinejad have recycled the canard that Bahais are American spies and secret Zionists, and have added a new one, claiming the British Broadcasting Corporation stands for the Bahai Broadcasting Company.

The rhetorical attacks have coincided with the government’s decision to put seven Bahai leaders on trial on July 11 in a so-called Revolutionary Court. The leaders, arrested in early 2008, face charges of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” according to official Iranian press reports. Espionage is punishable by death.

So, for the 165,000 Bahais in the United States, at least 10,000 of whom are refugees from Iran, the questionable election and the crackdown on protesters come as grim confirmation of the government’s character.

“I feel a sense of turmoil in my heart,” said Farhad Sabetan, a spokesman for the Bahai International Community, the organization that represents Bahai interests at the United Nations. “Bahais have gone through this kind of pressure for over the last 30 years, and the way they’ve been treated is how the Iranian people are now being treated.”

The Bahai community in Clifton embodies both stirring achievement and unrelenting tragedy. A mixture of American converts and Iranian immigrants and refugees, the group operates a Bahai center for classes and celebrations and elects a nine-member “spiritual assembly.”

One of those nine, Habib Hosseiny, was born and raised in Iran, becoming a professor of English. He was studying for his master’s degree at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vt., when the Islamic revolution overthrew the shah in 1979. After hearing of the execution of seven Bahai leaders in 1981 in Hamadan — “all my friends, such beautiful people,” Mr. Hosseiny said — he decided not to return.

In the United States, Mr. Hosseiny built a career teaching English as a second language in colleges and high schools. He and his wife, Ahdieh, raised children, who gave them grandchildren. His Bahai friends in Clifton included doctors, engineers and journalists.

All the while, from afar, Mr. Hosseiny followed the waves of persecution in Iran. His father-in-law was imprisoned three times. A gynecologist who served on the spiritual assembly in Mr. Hosseiny’s home city, Kermanshah, was arrested and killed. The Iranian government seized Mr. Hosseiny’s home and all of his savings.

“When you’re strong in your faith, you accept this as a test,” Mr. Hosseiny, 69, said. “You want to take on important, difficult tests, so you can achieve.”

Even after 30 years of official oppression of Bahais, Mr. Hosseiny repeats a mantra that mullahs plainly do not hear: that Bahaism is a religion of peace, that Bahais are not political, that Bahais support the government wherever they live. All the Bahais in Iran want, he said, are the same human rights as other citizens.

As he watches the news, as he tries to call relatives in Iran, as he tracks events as obsessively as Dr. Samali tries to screen them out, Mr. Hosseiny has arrived at a conclusion similar to hers. Maybe the Bahais have achieved some kind of equality at last.

Attacked by the Basij militia and the Revolutionary Guard, assaulted with water cannons and guns, Iranian Muslims, at least the ones who publicly call for fair elections and human rights, are being treated just like Bahais.

E-mail: sgfreedman@nytimes.com

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The New York Times

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Two Historical Documents by Mousavi and Abtahi

Posted: 15 Jun 2009 04:00 PM PDT

Editor’s Note: In our continual effort to document the mistreatment of the Baha’is of Iran and the regime’s role in bringing about systematic discrimination against the Baha’is, two official documents by Iranian authorities relating to the Baha’is of that nation are shared below by Iran Press Watch in translation (originals of both documents are posted on the Persian page of this site).

The first is a memorandum to government offices and agencies written by Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who served as the fifth and last Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989, before the constitutional changes which removed the post of prime minister.

The second document is written by Hojjat ol-Eslam Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi who is an Iranian theologian, scholar and chairman of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue. He is a former vice president of Iran and a close associate of former President Mohammad Khatami.

First Document

In The Name of God

Section seven/Minorities

Number 11-4462

February 1, 1989

Memorandum to all Ministries, Organizations, Government Agencies, Islamic Revolutionary Foundations, and Governors of all Provinces across the country:

Based on the reports received, there have been no coordinated, unified instructions for confronting members of the misguided Baha’i sect available to the executive branch . Therefore, with the approval of the respected President of the Islamic Republic, it is necessary that all ministries, organizations, government agencies, Islamic revolutionary foundations and governors of all provinces across the country to implement the guidelines outlined below as the official policy of the government.

Spies should be sternly confronted based on established laws and regulations, but with respect to other citizens, regardless of their beliefs, they should be treated as ordinary citizens in a manner consistent with the latter part of Article 23 of the Constitution. However, attempts should be made to correct their beliefs.

No official or representative of the Islamic Republic is permitted to deprive citizens of their civil or social rights unless they have been proven to be spies, or as stipulated by laws established by the official legal authorities of the country.

It should be noted that based on Article 13 of the Constitution, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian Iranians are the only religious minorities that are free to practice their religious duties within the framework of the laws of the country. They are permitted to conduct their personal lives and activities based on their respective religious laws and ordinances.

Mir Hussein Mousavi
Prime Minister

Second Document

The weighty responsibility of supervising the implementation of the constitution

In The Name of God

Number 80-7662

December 31, 2001

Dearly esteemed brother, Mr. Sayed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

With Greetings:

Based on a report presented at the official meeting of the respected Committee of the Islamic Parliament on December 30, 2001, which I attended, with respect to principals 88 and 90 of the Constitution, some of the Baha’is employed in government offices and agencies will lose their rights as citizens of the country due to their belief and their association with the Baha’i religion.

I remind you that on February 1, 1989, the respected former Prime Minister [Mir Hussein Mousavi] with the approval of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a memorandum to all ministries, organizations, government agencies, Islamic revolutionary foundations, and governors of all provinces across the country indicating:

“No official or representative of the Islamic Republic is permitted to deprive citizens of their civil or social rights unless they have been proven to be spies, or as stipulated by laws established by the official legal authorities of the country.”

By presenting the above-mentioned background information and with respect to Article 23 of Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, your views and recommendations as the President of the country and the authority responsible for the implementation of the Constitution will provide us with guidance regarding the necessity of considering the civil rights of the Baha’i sect workforce.

Signed Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi

Thursday, June 11, 2009

“Ahle hag natarsid yemayatat mikonim = Oh people of Truth, do not be afraid we support you , back you up , protect you.”

“Bahá’i do not be afraid we support you / back you up & protect you.”

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Several Updates on the Baha’is of Iran

Posted: 09 Jun 2009 04:20 PM PDT

The following news items appeared on June 4, 2009, on the Persian site of the Baha’i International Community and are provided below in translation by Iran Press Watch. The source of each story is cited next to the name of the town.

Isfahan (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060403)

More details have reached us regarding three Baha’is of Villashahr (near Isfahan) who were arrested because they participated in the burial of a deceased Baha’i, who were later released on bail pending their trial.

Hushmand Talebi-Iskandari, Mehran Zayni-Najafabadi and Farhad Ferdousiyan were convicted on July 21, 2008, on the charge of “trespassing and illegal use of governmental property”. The court had set a fine and instructed that they “should cease their use of this property (the cemetery)” and “to return it to its original condition”, i.e., that they should remove the bodies buried there. Upon appeal, the appeals court ruled on February 14, 2009, clearing the three Baha’is of this charge and designating that parcel of land for burial of the dead as a cemetery.

However, according to the latest news, on May 21 a large sign was posted on this land next to some graves, which read, “According to a letter dated January 21, 2009, this land has been bestowed by the Ministry of Minerals to the Municipality of Najafabad and now belongs to the Municipality. Therefore, any encroachment, trespassing or burial of the dead on this location is strictly forbidden; violators will be prosecuted in accordance with provisions of Section 635 of the Islamic penal code, which rules on punishments for unauthorized burials.”

In addition, news has reached us that the Municipality has received instructions from the Ministry of Intelligence that they may no longer provide hearses to Baha’is to carry their dead.

Karaj (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060408)

Shahram Safajoo (http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/2452) was released from prison on bail on May 18. On May 31, he was again summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence and was given two weeks to locate a lawyer for his trial.

Semnan (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060402)

Mrs. Maryam Shiraliyan (Subhani), a Baha’i of Semnan, passed away on May 20, 2009. However, governmental authorities have refused to issue a burial certificate, and have informed her family that they would only do so if the family consents that the deceased by buried under an Islamic headstone in the Baha’i cemetery. The family of Mrs. Shiraliyan refused this demand. After several appeals to the office of the Governor of Semnan, two days later a burial certificate was issued on May 22.

Shiraz (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060407)

Sasan Taqvi, one of the three Baha’i youth who in November 2007 were imprisoned on charges of being involved in a humanitarian project intended to indirectly promote the Baha’i Faith, commenced his temporary [medical] leave from prison on April 28, 2009, and has been authorized to extend it until May 26. No news has been received about his return to prison at this time.

Shiraz (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060401)

Shahram Kamali was arrested on May 25, 2009. During the previous two months he had been summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence. Since the time of his arrest, he has only been able to contact his family once, and has expressed his expectation that the authorities intend to transfer him to Tehran for incarceration.

Tehran (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060404)

Shahram Hasim, who on May 27 received instructions to present himself at the Ministry of Intelligence (see http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/2885), had disappeared since May 20. It has been learned that he was imprisoned as of that date , but was released on May 23. His place of incarceration has not been given.

Tehran (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060405)

According to the latest information received [from Iran], Shahram Chiniyan-Miyanduab was a resident of the village of Hasan-Abad near Tehran, and not Miyanduab. From the time of his arrest in February-March, he has been incarcerated in Evin prison. The authorities have told one of the Baha’is who went to Evin to inquire of Mr. Chiniyan’s condition that he has been charged and imprisoned for “membership in the Baha’i sect”, “insulting Islamic religious sanctities” and “collaboration with anti-revolutionary groups”.

Yasuj (http://news.persian-bahai44.org/2009060406)

Ali-Askar Ravanbakhsh and his wife Zulaykha Musavi-Ravanbakhsh, who are from Mehraban, and another Baha’i from Yasuj, Ruhiyyih Yazdani, had been on temporary leave from prison since May 3, 2009 (http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/392). On May 22, they returned to the place of their incarceration.

Visit – Shiraz Plock 100

Posted: 09 Jun 2009 04:16 PM PDT

Editor’s Note: Iran Press Watch was pleased to receive the following moving essay, which describes the feelings of many Iranian Baha’is. It is presented below in translation; the original in Persian is attached.

By a passer by

I miss them a lot. I am talking about the three Baha’i youth: Sasan Taqva, Raha Sabet and Haleh Ruhi. I like to visit them, and for this purpose, I travel to Shiraz. Come along if you like. It takes some concentration to summon the power from within. First we say prayers, meditate and then visualize Shiraz, a city whose foundation was laid upon a spiritual dream. I hope that someday the spiritual city of Shiraz will be worthy of a great hero to initiate a world-encompassing movement from within this spiritual place.

Together, we pass through the streets of Shiraz to reach the prison facility of the Ministry of Intelligence, called Plock 100. This is the place where the three youth are incarcerated. We enter quietly. We walk through narrow concrete hallways with high ceilings. Everywhere is dead silent; we move forward quietly. After passing through a few covered areas, we arrive at a metal door. Slowly we open the door. We see a small L-shaped area; looking around, we don’t see any windows — do you see any? No light can penetrate the cement walls and into the cell. The air is heavy, there is not enough oxygen and it is hard to breath. What a jail! The florescent ceiling light is on at all times. The floor is bare concrete, without so much as an old carpet to cover it. There are only a few blankets to use as a mattress and cover. There is an old television set which appears to have been installed some time ago. There are a few books, magazines and personal items in the other corner of the cell.

Haleh and Raha, two angel-like girls, under the pressure and hardships of the past 18 months in jail, look skinny, weak and pale. They are only allowed outside in the small yard 15 minutes each day to get a little fresh air. Everything, even down to the timing of these short breaks, is determined by the prison guards. Despite all these restrictions, they seem happy; it is as though they are living in a different world. They enjoy each other’s company.

We hear footsteps, then the door opening. Look at the girls — they are silent. It seems that Raha has a piece of paper and a pen in her hands. We see a male guard at the door, he is waiting for something. The girls give him a list of the necessary items that they need — there are no stores in this prison. There is no conversation between the girls and the guard. Can you hear anything? If you ask the girls, they will tell you that they are forbidden to talk to the male guards, and that there are no female guards at this prison. I understand you have good reason to feel upset; those who set out to serve their forsaken, deprived countrymen with love and compassion are detained in an atrocious prison which can best be likened to jailhouses from the Middle Ages.

Let us pray for their steadfastness and ask God to remove their difficulties. We can pray individually or in groups. Let us raise our hands to God and ask for His mercy to shower upon these two prisoners and all the other male and female inmates who are spending their days in the various prisons of Iran. Let us pray for the freedom of all the captives who are inflicted with a heavier load of tyranny and injustice than the rest of us, irrespective of their religion, belief system, ethnicity or language.

Friends, it is time to go. Let us part with a message to the girls: “Haleh, Raha, we deeply love you! We are proud of you as our countrymen and as our fellow Baha’is. You are symbols of strength and steadfastness. You are worthy role models for Iranian youth”.

Slowly, we head towards the door; we take another glance at the cell and its high walls. Certainly you agree that this horrifying prison with its solid concrete walls has not succeeded in creating a barrier between the girls and ourselves.

We open the metal door quietly, enter the hallway and go towards the other side, where the obedient follower of his Lord, Sasan, is all alone in his cell. We open the door and see a cell similar to that of the girls. We see a young man, smiling and resigned to the will of God, is whispering prayers in the corner of his cell.

Think for a little while! How has he tolerated 18 months of solitude? What has given him such power to be joyful and content? We wholeheartedly listen to his prayer which has filled the atmosphere of his cell: “Subhanika ya hu, ya man huwa hu. Ya man lisan ahadan illa hu.”[1] The thick, solid walls of his cell cannot prevent him from conversing with his Lord.

We hear that many outside the jail are praying along with him. Apparently, he can hear their prayers; during deep meditation he can even see them (in the same way that my friends and I had seen you while we were in jail and had gained energy from you). Dear Sasan, my good friend, we have to go now.

May we witness the freedom of all of the innocent prisoners of Iran!

O entrapped bird! May you live to witness that blessed day when there are no more cages and confinements in the world!

[1] This expression appears 19 times in Baha’u'llah’s Tablet of the Bell [Lawh-i Naqus] and means, “Sanctified art Thou, O He; O He Who is He; O He other than Whom there is none but He.”

[Original attached. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]

Download: Origianl Persian

"THE BAHAIS QUESTION ?"

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Abuses in Iran

Journalist Held without Charge in Notorious Tehran Prison

Friday, November 20, 2009

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

BWNS: Due process ignored as trial date is set for Iranian Baha'i prisoners

Monday, August 10, 2009

Documenting the Persecution of the Baha’i Community in Iran

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Monday, July 20, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Friday, July 10, 2009

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Saturday, July 04, 2009

For Bahais, a Crackdown Is Old News

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