Iran Update

Last updated: 28 August 2008

Note: This report, updated regularly, is provided as a service to news media and others desiring details of the situation of the Baha'is in Iran. All information has been verified by the Baha'i International Community.

Words in italics have been altered or added since the previous update.

Fears grow for jailed Baha’is; Nobel prize winner maligned when she announced she was prepared to defend them.

The seven members of a Baha’i coordinating committee remain in Evin Prison in Tehran. Fears are growing for their safety, especially since a government prosecutor was quoted in the press as saying the individuals had “confessed” to operating an “illegal” organization with ties to Israel and other countries – charges that are denied by the Baha’i International Community in the strongest possible terms. (See BWNS article.)

Further, the Baha’i International Community believes that Iranian authorities are trying to prevent the seven Baha’is from obtaining legal counsel by maligning Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, a prominent human-rights attorney and Nobel laureate who announced that she and her colleagues at the Defenders of Human Rights Centre in Iran were prepared to help defend the Baha’is. (See official Baha’i statement dated 12 August 2008.)

Accusations began circulating in the government-backed news media that Mrs. Ebadi or her daughter had converted to the Baha’i Faith, despite the fact that Mrs. Ebadi has stated clearly that she and her daughter are Muslims. The Baha’i International Community confirms that neither of them are members of any Baha’i group.

The seven members of the Baha’i coordinating committee that are imprisoned are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mr. Vahid Tizfahm, and Mrs. Mahvash Sabet. The first six have been detained since May, and Mrs. Sabet since March.

None have been allowed access to an attorney, and – despite what has been reported in the media – their families have not received notice of any formal charges against any of them.

On 19 August, Mr. Tavakkoli’s wife was detained for four days after she visited the prosecutor’s office and pressed for clarification of her husband’s situation.

More Baha’is arrested; at least 25 currently in jail.

Three Baha’is in Tehran were arrested and jailed on 19 August for no known reason. All three, Mr. Touraj Amini, Mr. Iraj Amini, and Mr. Payman Amoui, were first detained in March but had been released until this re-arrest.

Their detention brings to at least 25 the number of Baha’is known to be held by authorities in Iran.

Attacks, threats, detentions, expulsions – persecution against Baha’is continues:

Reports coming out of Iran indicate that the broad-based, government-backed campaign to stamp out the Baha’i community continues unabated.

Some examples of recent attacks and other harassment:

• Two Baha’is in Mashhad were killed and one seriously injured when they were run over by a car, apparently on purpose. All three had earlier received threatening telephone calls.

• After authorities first suggested that the fire that destroyed the home of the Shaaker family in Kerman had been caused by an electrical problem, the fire department of that city has now confirmed that arson was the cause. The fire was reported last month by the Baha’i World News Service as one of a string of apparent arson attacks against Baha’is. (See BWNS article.)

• Another arson attempt occurred in Rafsanjan in Kerman province when a burning tire was wedged in the door of a home, blocking the exit for the Baha’i family living there. Neighbors ran to their rescue, thus averting injury or serious damage.

• The official Islamic Republic News Agency published a special report on 13 August claiming that Bahá’ís were planning to plant a bomb at the Tehran International Exhibition a few months ago. Seyyed Kazem Mousavi, a historian on modern Iran, claimed to have uncovered and put a stop to a criminal plot that may have resulted in a great human catastrophe. The Baha’i International Community categorically denies that Baha’is planned any such attack.

• More cemetery desecrations have been reported, and, in addition, three Baha’is who participated in a burial in a Baha’i cemetery that has been in use for 15 years were arrested and convicted of “taking part in the illegal occupation and use of government property.” The three were fined and ordered to “cease their occupation of the said property” (the cemetery) and to “return it to its prior condition” (that is, exhume the interred Baha’i).

• Baha’i students continue to be barred from university, and new evidence indicates that they are being identified as Baha’is early in the application process and are being blocked even from going online to check their test scores.

• E-mails from an anonymous sender containing unfounded allegations of immoral behavior at Bahá’í gatherings have circulated within Iran. The e-mails contained obscene images along with Bahá’í holy symbols.

• A Baha’i in Rafsanjan, in Kerman province, received a threatening phone call when hosting non-Baha’i guests in his home. The caller demanded details about the visitors and when he did not get a response from the Baha’i, the caller issued threats and cited specific previous attacks against other Baha’is.

• Two Iranian Baha’is living in Europe have received a letter with detailed threats and ending with the words “Death to Baha’is.”

Anti-Baha’i articles continue in national daily newspaper:

Kayhan, the government-backed national daily newspaper, in late July launched a news series of anti-Baha’i articles. They consist of excerpts from a newly published book that purports to be the memoirs of a man who recounts immoral and unethical behavior of family members and others that he says are Baha’is.

At the beginning of this year, the same newspaper published a separate series of 40 articles critical of the Baha’is, and Iranian television has also broadcast programs attempting to create ill will against the Baha’i Faith and the Baha’is.

U.S. House of Representatives passes resolution:

On 30 July, the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington passed a resolution condemning the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. The vote was 408-3.

This followed the statement a month earlier by six Nobel Peace Prize laureates – organized as the Nobel Women’s Initiative, with an office in Ottawa, Canada – calling for the unconditional release of the seven Iranian Baha’is who are members of the coordinating committee. Founders of the Nobel Women’s Initiative are Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Betty Williams, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Jody Williams, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, and Wangari Muta Maathai.

Since the arrests of the prominent Baha’is in mid-May, many governments and organizations around the world have expressed concern, including the European Union, the White House, the Iranian Researchers’ Association, the International Commission of Jurists, the Federation for Human Rights, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Examples of the statements:

• The European Union, in its statement of 21 May, first expressed concern about the arrests, then said: “The EU reiterates its serious concern about the continuing systematic discrimination and harassment of the Iranian Baha'is on the grounds of their religion.”

• The White House, in a statement issued on 14 June by National Security Counsel spokesman Gordeon Johndroe: “The Iranian regime’s human rights record is shameful. A month ago today, the regime arrested six Baha’i leaders solely on the grounds of their religion. They should be released immediately. Iran should uphold the basic human right to practice religion and should end its persecution of the Baha’i community.”

• The International Commission of Jurists said in a press release that the six Baha’is were “arbitrarily arrested” and should be “released immediately or charged with a recognizable offense.” Despite reports that the Baha’is were supposedly arrested “for security reasons, not for their faith,” the ICJ said it considers there to be “sufficient evidence to show that they may have been arrested in relation to their peaceful activities as members of the national coordinating group of Baha’is in Iran.”

• Two prominent attorneys in India and a lawyers’ group in Bangladesh have written to the Iranian government asking that the human rights of the detainees be honored, and that at a minimum they are allowed counsel, visits from relatives, and information about the exact charges to be brought against them.

• The government of Australia addressed the following statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva: “Australia is deeply concerned by news that several Bahá'í leaders were arrested in Iran on 14 May. It is not clear if they have been charged with any specific crime, and it appears the accused have not had access to legal counsel or family members. Australia considers that the Council needs to play an active role in ensuring the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of religion or belief.”

• Five Canadian academics, all natives of Iran but not members of the Baha’i Faith, have written to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling the arrest of the Baha’is the “latest affront to universally accepted human rights” that “joins a growing list of violations the Iranian government has committed against a wide range of those who wish merely to have the opportunity to contribute the the well-bing of Iran. …”

• Scottish religious leaders, including the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the cardinal who heads the Roman Catholic Church there, have called on the Iranian authorities “to fulfil their obligations under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights with regards to religious freedom and ensure the immediate and safe release of these prisoners.”

Among others who have issued statements are:

• Federation Internationale des Droits de l’Homme and Human Rights Watch
• Amnesty International
• U.S. Department of State
• Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry
• International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
• Anti-Defamation League
• Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
• Various Iranian organizations. (See the Persian-language Iran Update.)

Summary:

Harassment of Baha’is is pervasive and includes many incidents of all of the following:

• Arrests and detention, with imprisonment lasting for days, months, or years. In cases where the Baha’i is released, substantial bail is often required.
• Direct intimidation and questioning by authorities, sometimes with the use of high-intensity lights and physical mistreatment.
• Searches of homes and business, usually with Baha’i books and other items confiscated.
• School expulsions and harassment of schoolchildren.
• Prohibition on Baha’is attending universities.
• Court proceedings where Baha’is are accused of promoting propaganda against the government “for the benefit of the Bahaist sect.”
• Monitoring of the bank accounts, movement, and activities of Baha’is, including official questioning of Baha’is requiring them to give information about their lives, actions, neighbors, etc.
• Denial or confiscation of business licenses.
• Denial of work opportunities in general.
• Denial of rightful inheritances to Baha’is.
• Physical assaults, and efforts to drive Baha’is out of towns and villages.
• Desecration and destruction of Baha’i cemeteries, and harassment over burial rights.
• Dissemination, including in official news media, of misinformation about Baha’is, and incitement of hatred against Baha’is.
• Evictions from places of business, including Baha’i doctors from their offices and clinics.
• Intimidation of Muslims who associate with Baha’is.
• Attempts by authorities to get Baha’is to spy on other Baha’is.
• Threatening phone calls and letters to Baha’is.
• Denial of pension benefits.
• Denial of access to publishing or copying facilities for Baha’i literature.
• Confiscation of property.