Baha'is in Iran are Easily Forgotten

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Wikileaks has revealed government and diplomatic violations of the truth while paradoxically keeping their own sources secret. In the process, editor in chief and whistleblower Julian Assange has become a hero for human rights defenders. Sadly, the intense publicity surrounding Wikileaks diverts attention from serious injustice and continuing human rights violations, some already on the back burner and badly neglected. A good example is the state-sponsored persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

The 300,000-strong Baha'i community, the largest religious minority in Iran, represents less than 1% of the population. Over the past 30 years, they have suffered torture and execution. They have been denied tertiary education and government jobs, their shops and properties are often seized, cemeteries desecrated and children harassed at school. In addition, Bahai's are facing stepped-up persecution and have been falsely blamed for organizing and inciting anti-government protests although they abstain from partisan political activity on religious principles. Charges against them include espionage, "propaganda activities against the Islamic order" and "corruption on earth," the latter a capital offence. Baha'i communities around the world insist these charges are spurious and part of a campaign to scapegoat members of the faith.

During the Shah's era, Baha'is strove for education and became successful and prominent, creating envy and suspicion, and although police sometimes protected them against Islamic extremists, they were victims of periodic outbreaks of violence.

A major source of ideological friction with Islam is the doctrine of a hierarchy of traditions that subsumes previous ones. According to Baha'is, the Prophet Mohammad was not the last prophet but one in a progressive line, and the next one is not due for a thousand years!

Women's rights are central to Baha'i teaching and in stark contrast to the discriminatory sharia laws implemented by the Islamic Republic of Iran. These rights include full support for the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

There are numerous documented stories of violent arrests and incarcerations in the hundreds of prisons situated in basements of houses in Tehran.

Rozita Vasseghi is a Baha'i prisoner. In Kafkaesque fashion, a man claiming to be a 'postman' arrested her three years ago after a knock on the door, and during repeated interrogations while blindfolded, her captors threatened her with death. Throughout her ordeal, she was denied a lawyer. Following release from prison, she found a job but government authorities exerted pressure on her employers to have her fired. A few years later, she was arrested at her home, and for the next six months, found herself in solitary confinement. Her elderly mother, who was allowed visits of only five minutes, was horrified by her wasted appearance. Accused of insulting Islam, acting against national security and teaching the Baha'i religion, she is serving a five-year sentence.

Rozita's sister Rosa, suffered multiple incarcerations before escaping Iran. She was on her way home in a shared public taxi when the driver asked about her religion. Discovering she was a Baha'i, he stopped and made a phone call. A car with several people soon showed up, the women fully covered in chadors. Rosa was blindfolded and forced into the vehicle and when they reached their destination, she was thrown onto the pavement, her hands were tied and she was dragged down stairs to a room and beaten. Her captors repeatedly called her an infidel and declared her blood would be impure until she renounced her faith and converted to Islam. Over several years, she was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned.

As proponents of a religion originating from Islam, stamped by modernity, universal human rights and compatibility with many Western values, Baha'is are vulnerable targets for persecution by the Iranian theocracy. Baha'i women are doubly at risk, being female and Baha'i, and as victims of severe injustice, they deserve more outrage and support than Assange and Wikileaks.

Ida Lichter is the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression, published by Prometheus Books, New York.

Iran's human rights record condemned by United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, 21 December 2010 (BWNS) – In a vote today, the United Nations once again strongly condemned Iran for failing to live up to international human rights standards.

By a vote of 78 to 45, with 59 abstentions, the UN General Assembly confirmed a resolution that expressed “deep concern at serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations.” In more than two decades of such resolutions about Iran, the vote passed with one of the highest percentages ever.

The resolution specifically expressed concern over Iran’s “intensified crackdown on human rights defenders and reports of excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, unfair trials and allegations of torture,” as well as its “pervasive gender inequality and violence against women,” and its discrimination against minorities, including members of the Baha’i Faith.

“The world community has clearly spoken. It is outraged at Iran’s continued and intensifying violations of human rights,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

Welcoming the result Ms. Dugal noted that the resolution documents a wide range of violations, from torture to the oppression of women to the persecution of minorities. “All of this has been going on for too long, and it is high time that Iran pays heed to the call of the international community and complies with the standards of international law,” she said.

The resolution devoted an entire paragraph to Iran’s treatment of members of the Baha’i Faith, cataloging an extensive list of recent anti-Baha’i activities. These included: “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 confiscation and destruction of their property, and the vandalizing of their cemeteries…”

It also expressed concern over the recent trial and sentencing of seven Baha’i leaders, saying they were “repeatedly denied the due process of law.”


Worldwide condemnation

The UN vote has coincided with a renewed protest – from numerous governments, organizations and prominent individuals – at the persecution of Iran’s Baha’is.

In a statement dated 17 December, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honorable Lawrence Cannon, reiterated his country’s deep concern at the “ongoing failure of the Iranian authorities to meet their domestic and international legal obligations.”

“The Government of Canada stands firmly with the people of Iran against human rights abuses and discrimination, as well as ill treatment of women and minorities,” said Mr. Cannon.

A number of India’s prominent citizens have also recently called upon Iran to respect its minorities. Among them, former Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, appealed for justice for the seven imprisoned Baha’i leaders. “The attitude of a country and a nation towards minority religion is the touchstone of how civilized a country it is,” he said on 17 December.

In a debate on freedom of religion in Germany's Parliament, held on 17 December, members of Parliament spoke out on the situation of Baha’is in Iran. Christoph Strässer MP – human rights policy spokesman for the Social Democrats - noted that the Baha’i community, "ever since it was founded, has been dedicated to peace and tolerance..."

Street campaigns about the human rights situation in Iran have been held in the German cities of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Mainz and Taunusstein.

“We have gathered here to protest the alarming situation of Baha’is, of human rights in general and the climate of fear that exists for Baha'is, for women, for youth, for bloggers, for journalists,” said Omid Nouripour, MP for Frankfurt, speaking at the event in the city, “and we raise our voices to show the world that the people of Iran need our help.”

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has also called for the release of the Baha’i prisoners. “Clearly the seven Baha’i leaders are being held solely on account of their faith,” said CSW’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston on 10 December, “and this contravenes Iran’s international legal obligations.”

In Australia’s parliament last month, members specifically referred to Iran’s discrimination against, and failure to protect the rights of, minorities - including the Baha’i, Sufi, Baluch, and Kurdish communities - as well as the trial and sentencing of the seven Baha’i leaders.

Reports of the 10-year jail terms previously provoked a chorus of condemnation from governments around the world - including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union and the President of the European Parliament also joined the protest, along with numerous human rights organizations, other groups and countless individuals.

In its annual International Religious Freedom Report, published in November, the United States Department of State  reported  that the Iranian government’s respect for religious freedom has continued to deteriorate, creating a “threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shi’a religious groups, most notably for Baha'is.”

“The U.S. government has publicly condemned the treatment of the Baha’is in UN resolutions,” said the report.

The most recent United Nations resolution was put forward by 42 co-sponsors and approved in a preliminary form in November by a committee of the General Assembly, also by an overwhelming vote against Iran.



To read the article online, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/803

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

Open letter speaks out for the rights of all Iranians

7 December 2010

NEW YORK — In an open letter to the head of Iran's Judiciary, the Baha'i International Community today contrasted the country's persecution of Baha'is with Iran's own call for Muslim minorities to be treated fairly in other countries.

"We...request that the Baha'is in that country be granted their full rights of citizenship, in order that they may be able to fulfill their heartfelt aspiration to contribute, alongside their fellow citizens, to the advancement of their nation," says the letter.

"This, indeed, is no more than what you rightfully ask for Muslim minorities who reside in other lands. Baha'is merely seek the same treatment from you," the Baha'i International Community states.

Respecting the rights of Iranian Baha'is now would "signal a willingness to respect the rights of all the citizens of your country," the letter says.

The document, dated 7 December and addressed to Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Larijani, states that the injustices meted out on Iran's Baha'i citizens are a "reflection of the terrible oppression that has engulfed the nation." Redressing the wrongs suffered by the Baha'is would "bring hope to the hearts of all Iranians that you are ready to ensure justice for everyone."

"Our call, then, is in reality a call for respect of the rights of all the Iranian people," the Baha'i International Community says.

"How can a just society, or a just world, be built on a foundation of irrational oppression and the systematic denial of basic human rights to any minority? Everything your country overtly professes to seek on the world stage is contradicted by your treatment of your own people at home."

Read the full letter in English

Read the full letter in Persian

"Reprehensible measures"

The letter catalogs in detail the "many reprehensible measures" resorted to by officials during the detention, trial, sentencing and appeal, of the seven Baha'i leaders, who formerly served as the members of a national-level group that – with the Iranian government's knowledge – helped see to the minimum spiritual needs of the Baha'is of Iran.

The seven were accused of propaganda activities against the Islamic order and the establishment of an illegal administration, among other allegations. All the charges were categorically denied.

The letter charts how the prosecutors at the trial of the seven were “ultimately unable to present any credible evidence in support of their claims.” The trial, it observes, "was so devoid of the impartiality that must characterize judicial proceedings as to render the process a complete mockery." "How was it," the letter asks in this respect, "that the verdict issued by the judges could refer to the religion of the defendants as a ‘misguided sect’?”

"...[W]hat is now starkly visible to all is the willingness of the authorities to trample the very standards of justice they are mandated to uphold on behalf of the peoples of Iran," the open letter states.

Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations says that there was never any foundation to the charges that the seven had acted against the interest of Iran.

"To add to this manifest injustice, the judiciary has not yet formalized the appeal verdict," says Ms. Dugal, "thus depriving the prisoners of the right to seek bail or to be granted leave from prison."

"In defiance of all reason, the prisoners are now in the third year of what is still termed a ‘temporary’ detention," she says.

Appalling conditions

After receiving their sentence, the seven Baha'i leaders – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – were moved from Evin Prison to Gohardasht prison in Karaj.

"They are now effectively placed in exile in contravention of Iran's statutes governing the transfer of prison inmates," says Bani Dugal. "Amongst other indignities, they are forced to endure appalling filth, pestilence, exposure to disease, and quarters so crammed that it is difficult for them to lie down or even to perform their daily prayers."

"It is clear from recent reports that their health has deteriorated and they have no access to adequate medical treatments," she said.

Reports of the trial and sentencing of the seven provoked a chorus of condemnation from governments around the world. The European Union and the President of the European Parliament also joined the protest, along with prominent religious leaders, numerous human rights organizations, and countless other groups and individuals.

"We join with governments and well-meaning people throughout the world, as we call upon Iran's Head of the Judiciary to immediately set these seven innocent Baha'is – and, along with them, all of the Baha'is incarcerated across the country – free," said Ms. Dugal.

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

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• tatement of Senator Patrick Leahy on the Persecution of the Baha’is in Iran
• Iranian Bahai activist sentenced to two-year jail term
• Iran sentences Ebadi’s former aide [Jinous Sobhani] to jail

tatement of Senator Patrick Leahy on the Persecution of the Baha’is in Iran Posted: 01 Oct 2010 09:59 AM PDT September 29, 2010 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to call the Senate’s attention to members of the Baha’i faith who have and continue to suffer severe persecution by the Iranian Government. Senators should be aware that seven prominent Iranian Baha’i leaders are currently in prison, facing sentences of up to 10 years, charged with espionage, establishing an illegal administration, and promoting propaganda against the Islamic order. These spurious charges are only the latest example of the mistreatment of the largest religious minority in Iran. Ironically, the Baha’i faith originated in Iran during the 19th Century, separating the Baha’is from their previous affiliation with Islam. The founder of the faith, known as The Báb, was then arrested, locked in a dungeon, and executed, as were some 20,000 of his followers. These atrocities devastated a religion whose tenets include global unity, peace and diversity. Persecution of the Baha’is in Iran continued into the next century, with the Iranian Government’s destruction of Baha’i literature in 1933, and in 1955 the demolition of the Baha’i national headquarters. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the government has stepped up its active discrimination against the Baha’is. Children are prohibited or discouraged from receiving higher education, Baha’is are unable to practice their faith in public, they are prevented from opening businesses or advancing their careers, and Baha’i cemeteries are destroyed. Baha’is are slandered by the Iranian media, often called worshippers of Satan. The arrests of the seven Baha’I leaders are the latest official Iranian abuse against members of this religious faith. These men and women led the “Friends in Iran”, a Baha’i group working to meet the needs of the Baha’is in Iran. After their arrest, the group disbanded, reducing the much needed support to the Baha’is. The leaders were incarcerated in 2008, and were not brought before a judge for over 20 months. The systematic abuses of the Baha’i by the Iranian Government are clear violations of provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, on economic and educational opportunities, religious freedom, and due process. They are also violations of Iran’s own laws. Prominent global leaders are speaking out in support of the Baha’is in Iran, including Secretary of State Clinton, her British counterpart William Hague, and the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. They have each expressed concern and disapproval with Iran’s mistreatment of Baha’is. They are joined by a long list of human rights groups, such as the International Federation for Human rights, Human Rights Watch and the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights. I want to add my voice in condemning Iran’s persecution of its Baha’i religious minority. Mr. President, our nation stands for fundamental rights and freedoms. We are not perfect, and I have not hesitated to speak out when I felt we fell short of our own values and principles. But I also believe we have an obligation to speak out when the fundamental rights of citizens of other nations are being denied. The Baha’is of Iran deserve our admiration and support. Press Contact David Carle: 202-224-3693 —Source: http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=c9a0b087-c468-43b9-a427-7e8a6ff6a182

Iranian Bahai activist sentenced to two-year jail term Posted: 01 Oct 2010 06:16 AM PDT [There has been many news articles about the arrest and prison sentence of Mrs. Jinous Sobhani, the former aide to Nobel laureate Mrs. Shirin Ebadi. Iran Press Watch has carried some of these articles. The one below has new and complementary information and therefore it is being reproduced for your ease of reference. The Editor Iran Press Watch] (M&C NEWS, Sep 30, 2010, 17:12 GMT) Tehran – An Iranian Bahai and human rights activist has been sentenced by a Tehran court to a two-year jail term, opposition websites reported Thursday. Jinous Sobhani was sentenced by the revolutionary court, in charge of national security violations, after she was arrested last December during demonstrations against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the reports said. Sobhani was also the secretary of the Human Rights Defenders Centre run by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. She is currently free on bail, but expected to return to jail to serve out her sentence. Bahaism, a monotheistic religion promoting the unity of all religions and mankind, is not recognised or allowed to be practiced in Iran, whose official religion is Shia Islam. Bahai missionaries are arrested and detained – unlike Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian missionaries, whose faiths are recognized and protected by the government. In another case not yet confirmed by Iran, seven leaders of the Bahai religion – two women and five men – were reportedly sentenced last month to 20-year jail terms for espionage and propaganda against the Iranian Islamic system. The government did say the seven were arrested in 2008 and confessed to their crimes, including having supplied classified information to foreigners through personal contacts with Western diplomats in Tehran. Several Western countries have expressed concern over the charges and denounced the arrests as persecution of Iran’s largest religious minority. Tehran rejected the allegations and said the issue had nothing to do with religion. Ebadi, of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, and her legal team were supposed to lead the defence of the seven Bahais, but Ebadi has been abroad since June last year. She fears arrest if she returns because of her opposition to Ahmadinejad. — Source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1588228.php/Reports-Iranian-Bahai-activist-sentenced-to-two-year-jail-term

Iran sentences Ebadi’s former aide [Jinous Sobhani] to jail Posted: 01 Oct 2010 03:29 AM PDT (AFP) TEHRAN — Iran has sentenced a former aide to Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi to two years in jail, an opposition website reported on Thursday. “Jinous Sobhani, a Bahai citizen and former secretary of the Human Rights Defenders Centre (Ebadi’s group) was sentenced to two years in prison,” Rahesabz.net reported. The report did not specify the charges but said that Sobhani was out on bail after being arrested in January, a week after anti-government demonstrations on the Shiite mourning day of Ashura. She is now due to go to jail to begin serving her term. She was previously arrested in January 2009 and accused by the judiciary of “propaganda against the system and acting against national security.” She was released in March of that year on bail. Hardline media including Fars news agency identified Sobhani at the time as a member of the banned Bahai faith and said she was arrested for links with a Bahai organisation. The Bahai faith was founded in Iran in 1863, but is not recognised by the government. Its followers are regarded as infidels and have suffered persecution both before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Bahais consider Bahaullah, born in 1817, to be the last prophet sent by God. This is in direct conflict with Islam, which considers Mohammed to be the last prophet. Iran has sentenced seven Bahai leaders jailed since May 2008, to 10 years in prison on charges including spying for foreigners, spreading corruption, undermining Islam and cooperating with Israel, French members of the faith said. — Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g81DyTgsV2tFp4qHCpHJAw0Cjnjg?docId=CNG.33da28c6162abae7c64f799b1d07089a.a31

The campaign against Iran’s Baha’is

Selma Kassir, September 21, 2010    share

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Nobel Peace laureate and human rights advocate Shirin Ebadi helped represent seven members of a Baha’i group in Iran. (AFP photo/Martin Bureau)

Nobody was around to help them when the roads to their village were blocked and officials prohibited anyone from entering. Only trucks and at least four front-end loaders were allowed in. They had a mission: leveling the residents’ 50-plus homes. One homeowner, unaware of the situation, had somehow entered the village and was beaten.
They had been warned. They had appealed to the authorities for protection, but to no avail.

Nobody was ever held accountable.
Was it the West Bank? Was it Gaza?
No, this was northern Iran’s Ivel village, and the residents were Baha’i, a sizeable religious minority in the country.

The incident, which took place in June, is only part of a 30-year systematic campaign of harassment and persecution. Only after seven former members of Yaran, or “Friends” – a coordinating committee in charge of the community’s internal affairs – were arrested in March and May of 2008, did the “Baha’i question” begin to capture the attention of the international community. Despite international outcry, the five men and two women were each sentenced to 20-year jail terms in August for “actions against national security,” and for spying for Israel and America.
Nobel Peace laureate and human rights advocate Shirin Ebadi, together with colleagues from her Defenders of Human Rights Center, represented the seven Yaran members. The lawyers’ request to meet their clients or view their files was denied until the investigations were finalized, Ebadi told NOW Lebanon. “At that stage, they had already been detained for almost two years.”

“I myself read the file page by page, but there wasn’t even the slightest piece of evidence in the file that would support the prosecutor’s accusations. If they had been judged by a fair court, the verdict of their acquittal would have been instantly pronounced,” Ebadi said.
Ebadi has requested a revision of the case and repeatedly called for the Yaran members’ immediate release. Meanwhile, they were transferred to the notorious Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, 20 kilometers outside Tehran.
“In my opinion, the actual reason for arresting them is the fact that they are Baha’is and are not ready to abandon their beliefs,” Ebadi said.
With an estimated 350,000 followers, the Baha’i community is the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, where the faith originated about 160 years ago.
While Article 13 of the Islamic Republic’s constitution recognizes Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians as minorities free to practice their religion, no mention of the Baha’is is made.
As they are not officially recognized as a religion, “unfortunately the Baha’i community in Iran has absolutely no rights,” Ebadi said. “They even have no right to enroll in universities [and] no right to employment, neither in the public sector nor in private companies.”
Iranian authorities and state-run media refer to the Baha’i faith as a “misguided sect,” even though the Baha’is make up the only non-Muslim religious community in Iran that recognizes the Prophet Mohammad as a messenger of God. Yet, the Baha’i belief that Baha’u’llah, the founder of the religion, is the latest in a never-ending series of divine messengers – succeeding Moses, Jesus and Mohammad – contradicts the Muslim belief in Mohammad as the last prophet.
The harassment of the community is not new. “Since the beginning of the Iranian Republic, the Baha’i leadership was either in prison or outside prison under surveillance,” said Mehdi Khalaji, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Many Baha’i leaders, over the past 30 years, were assassinated outside prisons or executed inside prison.”
But even prior to the establishment of the Iranian Republic, Baha’is have been subjected to waves of persecution. Around 20,000 Babis (predecessors of the Baha’i religion) and Baha’is were killed in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, and hundreds more were executed in the early 1980s. According to the Baha’i International Community, there are currently about 50 Baha’is imprisoned in Iran simply on account of their faith.

“The Iranian government, or clerics, since 150 years ago, [have tried] to portray the Baha’i faith not as a religion but as a foreign plot against Shiism. So they say that the Baha’i faith is a political sect created by the British and protected by Israel, and present this as the reason as to why the main center of the Baha’is is in Israel,” Khalaji said.
Baha’u’llah arrived in the town of Acre as a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire 60 years prior to the establishment of the state of Israel. For this reason, today the resting place of Baha’u’llah and the administrative center of the worldwide Baha’i community are located in the Jewish State.
“It has nothing to do with Israel historically,” Khalaji said. “They don’t want to admit that it is a religion.”
Against this backdrop, it is no surprise that “no lawyer dared to defend the Yaran” within a year of their arrest, said Ebadi, who took on the case on their families’ request and faced severe opposition. State-run newspapers harshly criticized her, asking how a Muslim dared defend Baha’is. Ebadi turned to Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri prior to his death in December 2009 for guidance.
Asked whether a Muslim could legally defend a Baha’i, he replied, “If you are certain that they are innocent, it is your duty to defend them by all means,” Ebadi said.
According to Professor Touraj Atabaki, head of the Department of the Middle East and Central Asia at the International Institute of Social History in the Netherlands, Iran’s “mass campaign orchestrated against the Baha’is,” while outwardly targeting this specific community, indirectly addresses other religious communities in the country. In Iran’s attempt to promote “homogenous Shiism,” the Baha’is are scapegoats, he said.
“The main problem the Iranian government is facing is to have a clear legal definition of who is Iranian, the definition of citizenship.” As long as religion remains the defining criterion of citizenship, Atabaki said, Baha’is are likely to remain the weakest among the victims of this policy.
Even before issuing a statement of support on Ebadi’s request, Ayatollah Montazeri, in an unprecedented move, issued a fatwa in May 2008 saying that even though Baha’is are “unbelievers,” they are entitled to the right of citizenship.

For Khalaji the question goes beyond citizenship rights. “We need the whole society to take the responsibility for what’s happening to the Baha’is. We need lots of work for introducing the Baha’i faith to Iranians… and make society understand that whether you believe in the Baha’i faith or not, you have to respect this faith as a religion.”

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