Heads of medical schools urge Iran to release jailed Baha'i educators

8 December 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States — Almost 50 leaders of medical education in the United States have joined the worldwide protest against the Iranian government’s persecution of Baha’i students and educators.

Forty-eight Deans and Senior Vice-Presidents – who between them head more than a third of American medical schools – have signed an open letter addressed to Iran’s representative to the United Nations. The letter was published on the Persian-language “Association Against Education Discrimination” website on 7 December – the day that Iranian student movements annually commemorate Student Day.

“We are writing as individuals who are leaders of globally recognized educational institutions to voice our concern about the treatment of Baha’i students and educators in Iran,” the letter says.

“As leaders of medical education, we believe that education is an inherent human right. At our respective institutions, we have hosted and continue to host students, residents, fellows, and faculty irrespective of their religious beliefs from all over the world. We have welcomed this diverse population into our educational communities to contribute to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of humanity.”

The letter’s chief signatory – Dr. Philip Pizzo, Dean of Stanford University’s School of Medicine – helped collect the signatures last month at the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Council of Medical School Deans.

The statement details the systematic attack launched by Iranian authorities against an informal community initiative – known as the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) – which was set up to provide education for young Baha’is barred from university. Seven Baha’is associated with BIHE are now serving four- and five-year jail terms.

“The arresting of BIHE faculty and administrators as well as the banning of generations of Baha’is from education solely on the basis of their religious background are violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights to which Iran is a State Party,” the letter continues.

“We therefore urge your government to release the instructors and administrators of BIHE from prison. We also request that your government extend Baha’i students and faculty in Iran the same rights to education that we offer every student and professor at our institutions regardless of their heritage, religion or country of origin.”

The open letter was published on the same day that the situation of Baha’i educators and students was raised in a joint statement by an international group of lawmakers – US Senators Mark Kirk and Joseph Lieberman, Canadian MP Irwin Cotler, British MP Denis MacShane, Australian MP Michael Danby, Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein, and Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris.

Continuing outcry

These latest actions come just days after Senator Mobina Jaffer, Canada’s first Muslim senator, told a Canadian Senate enquiry that it was "unprecedented" that Iran has now criminalized the education of young people.

The condemnation of the imprisonment of the seven Baha’i educators has spanned the world. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has led the criticism of their sentences, along with such prominent figures as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Jose Ramos-Horta, andLieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, the former UN peacekeeping force commander who tried to stop the 1990s genocide in Rwanda.

In October, some 43 distinguished philosophers and theologians in 16 countries signed an open letter protesting against the attack on BIHE.

In Germany, some 45 prominent professors have demanded the immediate release of the seven, while in Australia, letters of protest have been sent by 73 university academics, and Universities Australia, representing the vice-chancellors of all Australian universities.

Last month, more than 50 academics in Ireland called upon the Iranian authorities to allow access to higher education for all, while 26 professionals from the cinema industry urged the government of Brazil to defend the rights of filmmakers, journalists and Baha'i educators and called upon Iran to immediately release those imprisoned.

Click here to see the full list of signatories to the open letter

Further information

• "Closed Doors: Iran's Campaign to Deny Higher Education to Baha'is" - Special Section
• "Inciting Hatred: Iran's Media Campaign to Demonize Baha'is" - Special Report
• "The Trial of the Seven Baha'i Leaders" - Special Report
• BWNS Iran Update
• List of BWNS articles

Recent Iran-related articles

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Baha'i educators sentenced
http://news.bahai.org/story/860


NEW YORK, 18 October 2011, BWNS – Seven Baha'i educators in Iran have each received four or five-year prison sentences, according to reports received by the Baha'i International Community.

Verdicts against the seven were reportedly handed down by a judge at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

The educators have been detained for almost five months in connection with their involvement in an informal community initiative – known as the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) – in which Baha'i professors, debarred by the Iranian government from practicing their professions, offer their services to teach young community members who are banned from university.

Two of the individuals, Vahid Mahmoudi and Kamran Mortezaie, were each sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Four year jail terms were given to BIHE lecturers Ramin Zibaie, Mahmoud Badavam and Farhad Sedghi, consultant Riaz Sobhani, and helper Nooshin Khadem.

"It is not even clear at this stage what the exact charges were against these innocent souls, whose only desire was to serve young people who have been unjustly barred from higher education on purely religious grounds," said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"What kind of society makes educating the young a punishable crime?" she said.

Two other Baha'is associated with BIHE – husband and wife Kamran Rahimian and Faran Hesami, both psychology instructors – are also still being held without charge.


Global protest

The most recent attacks carried out against BIHE continue to provoke condemnation from governments, organizations, academics and young people throughout the world.

More than 70 academics in Australia, including University of Ballarat vice-chancellor, David Battersby, have signed an open letter protesting Iran's educational discrimination against Baha'is and calling for the immediate release of the imprisoned educators.

On 10 October, 43 prominent philosophers and theologians in 16 countries signed another letter of protest. "To acquire knowledge and learning is the sacred and legal right of all; indeed, the state is obliged to provide it. In Iran, the government has done the opposite..." wrote the academics.

Two Nobel Peace Prize laureates – Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, and Jose Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor – in another open letter, sharply criticized the Iranian government, comparing its actions to "the Dark Ages of Europe" or the "Spanish Inquisition."

On 5 October, resuming a Canadian Senate debate about the Baha'is in Iran, Senator Hugh Segal described the suffering heaped on Baha'is as "systematic and brutal, especially when the Baha'i are known as a peaceful faith that embraces the sanctity of all religions."

"The official Iranian oppression of Baha'i ... is a clarion call to humanity and to free peoples and democracies everywhere to look directly at the harsh colors of the Iranian reality and not look away until the challenge is faced head on," said Senator Segal.

Around 112 Baha'is are currently behind bars in Iran because of their religion. This includes the seven Baha'i leaders, serving 20-year jail terms on trumped-up charges. The cases of some 300 other Baha'is are still active with the Iranian authorities.






To read the article online and access links, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/860

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


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Baha'i World News Service
http://news.bahai.org/story/858


UN Secretary General "deeply troubled" by developments in Iran
UNITED NATIONS, 13 October 2011, BWNS – For the fourth consecutive year, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has strongly criticized Iran's record on human rights, saying violations have "continued and intensified" over the last 12 months.

Iran has stepped up its crackdown on human rights defenders, women's rights activists and journalists, Mr. Ban said in a report released yesterday.

Read the report here: http://news.bahai.org/sites/news.bahai.org/files/documentlibrary/858_Secretary_General_Report.pdf

The Secretary General said he was "deeply troubled" by recent developments, which included a "notable increase" in the country's use of the death penalty, along with a rise in unfair trials, amputations, and the use of torture, arbitrary arrest and detention.

Mr. Ban called on the Iranian government to respect the rights of all its citizens – but noted especially the "important and constructive role the human rights lawyers and activists play in protecting human rights," encouraging  Iran to "fully guarantee freedom of expression and assembly and to open up greater space for their independent work."

Restrictions on "unrecognized religious minorities," were also highlighted in the report with "serious concern" being expressed, particularly at the ongoing persecution of Iran's Baha'i community.

Iranian Baha'is face limits on access to higher education, Mr. Ban said, noting that this form of discrimination culminated this year in a government effort to shut down the informal initiative to educate young members of the Baha'i community barred from university.

"According to numerous reports, on 21 May 2011, security forces conducted raids on the homes of individuals involved in the activities of the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education and arrested 15 of its members in various cities, including Gohardasht, Isfahan, Karaj, Sari, Shiraz, Tehran and Zahedan..." he said.

Mr. Ban also discussed the fate of seven national Baha'i leaders, arrested in 2008 and sentenced to some 20 years imprisonment in 2010 – noting that their excessive sentence was upheld earlier this year.

"The High Commissioner for Human Rights has raised this case several times in letters to and meetings with the Iranian authorities, expressing deep concern that these trials did not meet the requirements of due process and fair trial," he said.

Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations, welcomed the report and its conclusions.

"Taken as a whole, Mr. Ban's report has once again indicted the current Iranian regime, documenting the government's wide-ranging effort to silence the growing demands of its citizenry for justice, democracy, and transparency.

"Baha'is have long suffered from the Islamic Republic's ongoing and ever-increasing inability to tolerate any viewpoint or opinion that falls outside the official script. Mr. Ban's report clearly documents the degree to which so many others – from women to journalists to lawyers – are also bearing the brunt of this oppression.

"The report also outlines Iran's refusal to cooperate with UN special rapporteurs, who have since 2005 been denied permission to visit Iran so that they can investigate the situation there.

"We hope the international community will duly take note and continue its effort to see that Iran ends the unjust persecution of its own citizens," said Ms. Dugal.









To read the article online, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/858

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

Philosophers and theologians worldwide condemn Iran's attack on Baha'i educators


NEW YORK, 10 October 2011, (BWNS) – More than 40 distinguished philosophers and theologians from 16 countries have joined the condemnation of Iran's policy to bar young Baha'is and others from higher education.

In an unprecedented global initiative, the 43 prominent academics – of Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim backgrounds – have signed an open letter, published in The Daily Telegraph (UK), and reported in the Folha de São Paulo (Brazil),

Read the open letter here: http://news.bahai.org/sites/news.bahai.org/files/documentlibrary/857_philosophers_letter_en.pdf

Read the Daily Telegraph article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8816662/Religious-academics-denounce-persecution-against-Irans-Bahai-minority.html

The letter condemns in particular recent attacks by the Iranian authorities on an informal educational initiative of the Baha'i community – known as the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) – in which Baha'i professors, debarred by the Iranian government from practicing their professions, voluntarily offer their services to teach young community members who are banned from higher education.

Seven Baha'is associated with BIHE recently made their first court appearances after being imprisoned for four months. They were detained after a series of raids on 22 May, in which 39 homes associated with BIHE were targeted. The Institute's activities have since been declared "illegal."

"As philosophers, theologians, and scholars of religion, living throughout the world, we are raising our voices in protest against the recent attack by Iranian authorities on the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education," the open letter states.

"To acquire knowledge and learning is the sacred and legal right of all; indeed, the state is obliged to provide it. In Iran, the government has done the opposite..."

"Attacks such as these, against the rights of citizens to organize and be educated in freedom, can no longer be tolerated. We call upon the Iranian government not only to cease its persecution of Baha'is, but to provide, and promote, education for all."

Among the most celebrated academics backing the call is Dr. Charles Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at McGill University, Canada. He signed the letter, he said, out of his deep sense of "conviction that there ought to be 'no compulsion' in religion."

It is also "connected to my disquiet about the Iranian revolution," said Professor Taylor, "and the way its finer ideals have been hijacked by people who are abusing their faith in order to make it serve as a tool of mobilization against the 'enemy.'"

Another prominent figure to add his name to the list is Hilary Putnam, Cogan University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Harvard, U.S.A.

"Ever since the American and French revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century, the aspiration of peoples of different ethnicities, nationalities, and creeds for their fundamental human rights, including the right to worship as one's conscience dictates and the right to education, have gained momentum," said Professor Putnam.

"The persecution of the Baha'i university students in Iran is a shameful attempt to turn the clock back to the dark ages. Their cause deserves the support of enlightened and moral people everywhere."





OPEN LETTER
As philosophers, theologians, and scholars of religion, living throughout the world,
we are raising our voices in protest against the recent attack by Iranian authorities on the
Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE).
As people of faith, we affirm that human beings are fundamentally spiritual in
nature, created with the innate capacity to know God and investigate truth for
themselves. To acquire knowledge and learning is the sacred and legal right of all; indeed,
the state is obliged to provide it.  In Iran, the government has done the opposite. Among the
numerous violations of the human rights of Bahá’ís, their access to higher education is
systematically blocked for no other reason than their beliefs.  In order to cater to the needs
of their youth, Iranian Bahá’ís developed the BIHE – their own, informal, community
education initiative. On 22 May, 39 homes associated with the BIHE were raided. The
Institute’s activities have since been declared “illegal.” Nine educators remain incarcerated.
Attacks such as these, against the rights of citizens to organize and be educated in
freedom, can no longer be tolerated. We call upon the Iranian government not only to cease
its persecution of Bahá’ís, but to provide, and promote, education for all.
Signed by:
Charles Taylor               Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, McGill University, Canada
Hilary Putnam         Cogan University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Harvard University, U.S.A.
Cornel West   Class of 1943 University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton
University, U.S.A.
Leonardo Boff Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and Ecology, Rio de
Janeiro State University, Brazil
Stanley Hauerwas    Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University, U.S.A.
Ebrahim Moosa    Professor of Religion & Islamic Studies, Duke University, U.S.A.
Graham Ward    Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford University, U.K.
John Milbank    Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics, University of Nottingham, U.K.
Rabbi David Novak J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies, Professor of Philosophy,
University of Toronto, Canada
Tahir Mahmood Chairman, Amity University Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; former
member, National Minorities Commission and former member, Law Commission
of India.
Moshe Idel Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Abdulkader Tayob Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa
William Desmond   Full Professor of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Adjunct
Honorary Professor of Philosophy, National University of Ireland Maynooth,
Ireland
Xinjian Shang Professor of Philosophy, Peking University, China
Kevin Hart   Edwin B Kyle, Prof of Christian Studies and Chair of Religious Studies,
University of Virginia, U.S.A.; Professor Of Philosophy, Australia Catholic
University, Australia
Murray Rae Professor of Theology and Head of the Department of Theology and Religion,
University of Otago, New Zealand
Asghar Ali Engineer Founding Chairman of Asian Muslim Action Network; Head of Center for Study
of  Society and Secularism, Mumbai, India
Remi Brague   Chair of the Study of Religion, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,
Germany
A. Rashied Omar   Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding, University of Notre
Dame, U.S.A.; Imam at Claremont Main Road Mosque, Cape Town, South AfricaJoshua Cho President and Professor of Christian Thought, Hong Kong Baptist Theological
Seminary, Hong Kong.
Douglas Pratt   Professor of Religious Studies, Waikato University, New Zealand
Ashok Vohra Professor of Philosophy, Delhi University, India; Indian Council of Philosophical
Research.
Carver Yu President and Professor of Christian Thought, China Graduate School of
Theology, Hong Kong
Laurie Zoloth   Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, Professor of Religious Studies,
Northwestern University, U.S.A.
Pilgrim W.K. LO Professor of Systematic Theology, Chairman of Institute for Luther Studies in the
Asian Context, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong
Philip Goodchild   Professor of Religion and Philosophy, University of Nottingham, U.K.
Paul Morris Professor of Religious Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
James E. Faulconer   Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding, Brigham Young University,
U.S.A.
Rod Benson   Ethicist and Public Theologian, Tinsley Institute, Morling College, Australia
Hassan Mwakimako Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Pwani University College, Kenya
Yunus Dumbe Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Islamic University College, Ghana
Joseph Cohen    University Lecturer in Philosophy, University College Dublin, Ireland
Adam Miller    Professor of Philosophy, Collin College, Texas, U.S.A.
Elaine Wainwright Professor of Theology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Raphael Zagury-Orly  Head of the MFA Program, Bezalel School of Design and Fine Arts, Israel
Felix Ó Murchadha Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, National University of Ireland Galway, Ir eland
Na’eem Jeenah Associate Lecturer of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand;
Coordinator of Masjidul Islam in Johannesburg, South Africa
Kathleen Flake   Associate Professor of American Religious History, Vanderbilt Divinity School,
U.S.A.
Rabbi Aryeh Cohen   Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature, American Jewish University, U.S.A.
Jeffrey Bloechel    Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston College, U.S.A.
William Hackett           Research Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy, Australian Catholic University,
Australia
Rabbi Akiba Lerner   Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, Santa Clara University, U.S.A.
Nathan Oman    Assistant Professor of Law, William and Mary School of Law, U.S.A

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

________________________________________
UNESCO chief inaugurates square for tolerance and peace in Haifa
Posted: 03 Sep 2011 09:17 PM PDT
While the Baha’is in Iran are facing severe persecution as direct result of prejudice and intolerance in Iran, the Baha’i International Community participates in inauguration of special space in Haifa dedicated to tolerance and peace, knowing well that the road to a peaceful world is abolishment of prejudice due to ignorance and true eduction of each and every child, junior youth, youth, young adults and women and men of the World.
Editor
—
[BWNS, 30 May 2011] HAIFA, Israel — In the Middle East, Haifa is known as one of the region’s most ethnically and religiously diverse cities, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze and Baha’is among its residents.
And so it was fitting that on her first visit to the Baha’i gardens here, the Director General of UNESCO spoke of the challenges facing multi-cultural societies.
“Managing diversity raises some of the most difficult questions of this 21st century – inside our societies and outside, with our neighbours and globally,” said Irina Bokova, formerly the Foreign Affairs Minister for Bulgaria.
Ms. Bokova was speaking at a special ceremony held in the Baha’i gardens to inaugurate the UNESCO for Tolerance and Peace Square, situated at the point where Haifa’s historic German Templer colony meets the terraced gardens of the Shrine of the Bab.
The newly-named square in Haifa will “stand for the tolerance and the peace that we seek to build and to deepen – in this region, and across the world,” she remarked.
“I am more than convinced that the only ways to build a more peaceful and equitable world are through education and dialogue – to deepen understanding, to strengthen mutual respect and to prepare the ground for reconciliation…” said Ms. Bokova who, in October 2009, became the first woman to head the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
“If wars start in the minds of men; it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed,” she said, citing the UNESCO manifesto.
The ceremony also coincided with the 10th anniversary of the official opening in May 2001 of the garden terraces of the Shrine of the Bab. In 2008, a UNESCO committee meeting held in Quebec, Canada – at which Ms. Bokova was present – decided to inscribe the Shrine and terraces, along with the Shrine of Baha’u'llah near Acre, on the World Heritage list, as sites of “outstanding universal value.”
Future development plans for the UNESCO for Tolerance and Peace Square include upgraded stonework and decorative floral plantings in the centre of its traffic circle, establishing a symbolic bridge between the German Templer colony and the Baha’i gardens.
Secretary General of the Baha’i International Community, Albert Lincoln, welcomed Ms. Bokova to the ceremony, along with other invited guests including the Mayor of Haifa, Advocate Yona Yahav; the Most Reverend Dr. Elias Chacour, Archbishop Metropolitan of the Melkite Catholic Church for Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee; and other representatives of Haifa’s Arab and Jewish communities.
“Haifa really is a city of peace and a living example of how the Middle East could and should be,” said Dr. Lincoln, describing as “normality” the wide variety of religious, ethnic and cultural groups who live and work side by side in the city.
“Normality need not explain itself, but perhaps we do need to remind ourselves and others from time to time of its essential foundations,” said Dr. Lincoln.
“The human race, with all its diversity, is one family…” he said. “But even in the city of peace, normality cannot be taken for granted. It needs nurturing and defence.”
Thanking Ms. Bokova and her staff for their work, Dr. Lincoln concluded, “UNESCO plays a leading role in the critical work of nurturing and defending this kind of normality all around the world by promoting peace, education and the recognition of the universal values in the infinite diversity of the world’s cultures.”
—
Source: http://news.bahai.org/story/828

New reports of human rights violations highlight situation of Iran's Baha'is


GENEVA, 23 August 2011 (BWNS) – Iran's treatment of its Baha'i citizens has been identified as a major area of concern in three important new surveys carried out by international human rights organizations.

The reports have recently been issued by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and Amnesty International.

The highlighting of the situation of Iranian Baha'is within the broader framework of international human rights violations has been welcomed by the Baha'i International Community.

"Each of these reports surveys a major issue area – minorities, women prisoners, or the Middle East in general – and each accordingly places the ongoing persecution of Baha'is in that context, demonstrating the interconnected and interrelated nature of rights violations," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"We likewise express our grave concern about human rights violations directed at other groups in Iran, such as women, journalists, and human rights defenders, as well as ordinary citizens seeking the right to freedom of expression," said Ms. Ala'i.


"Release all women prisoners of conscience"

In its report on women prisoners, Paris-based FIDH called on Iran to "release all women prisoners of conscience unconditionally and immediately."

Iran is currently unjustly holding at least 47 such women prisoners, wrote FIDH on 13 August.

Six Baha'i women are listed by FIDH, including Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, both serving 20 year sentences for their membership of a national-level ad hoc group that helped attend to the needs of Iran's 300,000-strong Baha'i community. Last year, they were unjustly convicted of espionage and other trumped-up charges that were wholly related to their practice of the Baha'i Faith.

Also included in the report is Nasrin Sotoudeh, the lawyer who has represented numerous victims of human rights abuses including Baha'is and prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. In January this year, authorities sentenced Ms. Sotoudeh to 11 years in prison for charges that include "activities against national security" and "propaganda against the regime." Additionally, she has been barred from practicing law and from leaving Iran for 20 years.

Other cases highlighted by FIDH include those of women's rights supporter Mahboubeh Karami, serving a three-year prison term; journalist Hengameh Shahidi, jailed for six years; student activist Bahareh Hedayat, sentenced to nine and a half years; and film actress Marzieh Vafammehr, who is being arbitrarily detained.

"The international community should express full support for the Iranian women's movement and its fight for the establishment of basic freedoms, equal rights and respect for human rights in Iran," said Karim Lahidji, vice-president of FIDH and President of the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI).


Situation for Baha'is "remained dire"

In MRG's annual survey of minority populations around the world, published in London last month, the spotlight falls upon problems facing women from minority and indigenous communities.

They are often targeted for rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and killings – specifically because of their ethnic, religious or indigenous identity.

"The situation for Baha'is in Iran remained dire in 2010," said the report's section on Iran, highlighting that the trial and sentencing of Iran's seven Baha'i leaders took place without "independent observers."

It also reported that Iranian Baha'is face restrictions on access to education and employment and the "arbitrary destruction of their homes, arrests, and confiscation and destruction of property."

Amnesty International – in a special supplement to its Wire magazine on the theme "50 Years of Defending Rights in the Middle East and North Africa" – observed that Baha'is are among the many religious minorities that populate the Middle East "sometimes regarded with deep-seated suspicion and hostility that make them vulnerable to abuses of their human rights."





To read the article online and access links, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/846

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

In new affront, authorities say they will bury an Iranian Baha'i as a Muslim

GENEVA, 10 August 2011 (BWNS) – In an outrageous new incident of religious discrimination, authorities in the city of Tabriz, Iran, have refused to allow Baha'is to bury a relative in accordance with Baha'i law – and instead have promised to entomb the deceased woman without a coffin under Muslim rites. 

"To anyone who understands the culture of the Middle East, the idea that the government would force a family to bury their loved one according to the rites of another religion is beyond the pale," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

She noted that according to Baha'i rites of burial, the deceased must be interred in a coffin, whereas under Muslim law, no coffin is used. 

"This incident demonstrates the almost unbelievable length to which Iranian authorities are willing to go to express their prejudice and animosity against Baha'is," she said.

The incident began on Monday when authorities in Tabriz told the family of Mrs. Fatemeh-Soltan Zaeri that they would be unable to bury her in the local cemetery according to Baha'i law. Instead, they said, she would have to be interred according to Muslim customs.

The family objected, noting that the cemetery has always been accessible to members of all religions in the area to bury their dead as they wished.

In response to this protest, authorities demanded that Mrs. Zaeri be buried without a coffin – and they withheld her body for 48 hours, preventing them from taking her body somewhere else. 

Yesterday, when the family member contacted cemetery authorities again, pleading that her body be released so they could bury her elsewhere, they were advised that she would be buried on Thursday anyway, without a coffin, in a Muslim ceremony – and that only her husband would be allowed to be present.

This is but the most recent incident in a long history of problems facing Baha'is over the proper burial of their dead. In many cities in Iran, Baha'is have long been blocked from using Muslim cemeteries – but have instead been allowed to create their own.

However, these Baha'i cemeteries have been frequently vandalized and desecrated. 

In the past year or so, Baha'i cemeteries in Tehran, Ghaemshahr, Marvdasht, Semnan, Sari, and Isfahan have been defaced, bulldozed, or in some way blocked to the Baha'i community. In late April, a small Baha'i cemetery in Gilavand with only four graves was desecrated by intruders using a tractor; all four tombs were destroyed. Earlier, in March, a Baha'i family in Najafabad was prevented from burying a loved one in the Baha'i cemetery there, despite their having secured a permit to do so.

"Iranian officials repeatedly deny that their government persecutes Baha'is on account of their religion. Harassment over Baha'i burials and the desecration of cemeteries are clear indications that the persecution is based solely on religion and not the result of any threat posed by Baha'is," said Ms. Ala'i.

To read the article online, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/845

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

Iran: Baha'is educating their youth is a "conspiracy" against the state


GENEVA, 27 July 2011 (BWNS) – Some nine weeks after they were arrested, 11 Iranian Baha'is – associated with an initiative offering higher education to young community members barred from university – are now reportedly facing charges.

The Baha'i International Community has learned that, by establishing the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education, the 11 are accused of "conspiracy against national security" and "conspiracy against the Islamic Republic of Iran."

"What could possibly motivate the Islamic Republic to make such a charge?" asks Diane Ala'i, representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

A widespread international outcry has followed the latest attack on the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), in which some 39 homes were raided at the end of May. Of the 19 BIHE staff or faculty members who were originally detained in connection with the raids, 11 remain in prison.


"Callous action"

The recent targeting of the BIHE is the latest attempt in an ongoing policy to keep Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority on the margins of society. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, young Baha'is have been systematically deprived of higher education. With nowhere else to go to, the community initiated its own educational programme. This, in turn, has come under attack on numerous occasions by the Iranian authorities who have now declared it "illegal."

"This callous action is all part of a systematic plan to impoverish the Baha'is of Iran," explains Ms. Ala'i. "The authorities are clearly determined to drive Baha'i youth, who long to contribute to their society, out of their homeland.

"Baha'is have been banned from higher education for three decades. And now, their own peaceful initiative – to meet a need created by the government's own actions – is branded a conspiracy against the state.

"Iran's actions are being closely scrutinized at home, and around the world by governments, organizations and fair-minded individuals. It's time for the international community to vigorously challenge the Iranian government on this matter," she says.


Families' fears

The families of the 11 prisoners are fearful that their loved ones will be held for a prolonged period.

"We know that in the case of the seven Iranian Baha'i leaders, they should have been released within two months; the court had not brought forward any evidence to justify their continued imprisonment," says Ms. Ala'i.

"When the attorneys for the defendants objected to this detention, the court made up new charges against them to justify keeping them in custody. They were illegally held for almost two years under the original writ for their detention."


Worldwide condemnation

The outcry against the latest attack on the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education has spanned the world, from Australia to Zambia.

Universities Australia – representing all 39 of the country's universities – raised the issue on 28 June with the Director-General of UNESCO. "Australian universities are united in their strong support for facilitating access to education for all, irrespective of religious faith," the organization wrote.

In a statement on 1 June, Austria's Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger described the restriction of access to education for young Baha'is as "unacceptable."

Congressman Luiz Couto, former president of Brazil's Human Rights and Minorities Commission, told the Brazilian National Congress on 2 June, "The action of the authorities towards individuals associated with the BIHE demonstrate the clear intention of Iranian government to carry out their policy of the elimination of the Baha'i community."

Senator Mobina Jaffer – the first Muslim woman appointed to Canada's upper house – informed the Canadian Senate on 21 June that the attacks are "not only on the students and the faculty of the Baha'i education institute, but on the cherished idea that education is the birthright of all."

In Chile, on 15 June, the Senate unanimously asked President Sebastian Pinera to "strongly condemn" Iran for its "rigorous and systematic persecution of Baha'is." The resolution specifically mentioned the arrests of BIHE faculty and staff, objecting to the "unjust detention of those individuals."

Professors from Oxford, Cambridge and other leading universities in England wrote an open letter on 11 June, calling for academics, students and politicians to support the right of Baha'is to access higher education in Iran. "The authorities must be taught that human rights are universal," they wrote to The Guardian newspaper. "Barring Baha'is from university exposes the government's own ignorance."

Thousands of postcards have been dispatched in all regions of France and the Netherlands, describing the situation. Radio features about the postcard campaign were broadcast on French radio stations.

On 9 June, Christoph Strasser, Member of Germany's Parliament and spokesperson on human rights of the Social Democrats, addressed a letter of protest to the Iranian ambassador to Germany. "All humans have the right to education," wrote Mr. Strasser. "With Baha'is being prohibited from studying at universities, your government is injuring fundamental human rights."

Condemning the raids and arrests, New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully, described the denial of higher education to the Baha'is in Iran as "reprehensible."

Some 80 prominent citizens of India signed a petition to the Iranian Government calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the prisoners. "The consequences of this policy of disallowing the Baha'i youth to have access to higher education will be detrimental not only for the Baha'i community of Iran, but also for the nation as a whole," they wrote.

The Chairman of  Ireland's Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, along with members of the Committee – which includes Members of Parliament and Senators – met with Iran's Ambassador to Ireland and raised the matter with him, requesting that the Ambassador convey their concerns to his authorities in Tehran. The Ambassador undertook to do so.

The Al Seyassah newspaper in Kuwait published an article on 24 May reporting the attack against BIHE.

Students at the University of Zambia launched a two-week long postcard campaign "in support of BIHE and the right to education." The postcard depicted Zambian students on one side and – on the other – a message for Iran's minister of science, research and technology stating "Baha'is should be able to enter universities as faculty and staff and as students who can get a degree."

"We continue to call upon governments, organizations and people everywhere to urge Iran to allow Baha'is their fundamental human right to education and to release these prisoners immediately," says Diane Ala'i.




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