Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

---

• 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

Read more by this author Print Save as PDF Email

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.”

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=202759&ref=nf#ixzz10kVZjyVv
Only 25% of a given NOW Lebanon article can be republished. For information on republishing rights from NOW Lebanon: http://www.nowlebanon.com/Sub.aspx?ID=125478 

• 
  
  • e
• Text

Questions for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Do democracy, freedom and human rights have a place in Islamic theology? Is Iran holding two American hikers hostage?

By KARIM SADJADPOUR

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is visiting the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week. Here are some questions that journalists should ask him:

• One of your closest spiritual advisers, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, recently said that democracy, freedom and human rights have no place in Islamic theology. Do you agree with Mr. Yazdi?

• According to human-rights organizations including Amnesty International, executions have increased four-fold since you became president in 2005, and Iran now executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. Iran also lifted its moratorium on stoning since you became president. And according to Reporters Without Borders, Iran is now the world's "biggest prison for journalists." Do you take pride in your record?

Columnist Bret Stephens broke bread this week with Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

• The prominent human-rights activist Mehrangiz Kar has reported that last August five young men in the city of Hamadan had their hands chopped off as a punishment for theft. Do you agree with such a draconian punishment?

• Two days after the June 12, 2009, presidential election, you declared that Iran is "the most stable country in the world." But the next day nearly three million people, according to the mayor of Tehran, took to the streets to protest the election results. Given your confidence in your popular support, would you grant the opposition a permit to protest, and would you guarantee their safety?

• According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran has one of the highest rates of brain drain in the world, with as many as 100,000 people leaving annually in search of greater economic dignity and political freedom. Economists estimate that the brain drain has accelerated during your presidency. How much does it bother you that many of Iran's top minds are forced to reside abroad?

• Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly issued an edict earlier this year demanding that all Muslims obey him as the earthly deputy of both the Prophet Muhammad and the Twelfth Imam (whom Shiite Muslims consider a messianic figure). Do you believe that Mr. Khamenei is the representative of these prophets on Earth?

• When you first ran for president, you declared that the government has more important business to worry about than policing people's hairstyles and enforcing the veiling of women. Yet the hijab remains obligatory and the government has recently issued officially mandated hairstyles for men. Will the hijab ever not be obligatory in the Islamic Republic?

• Why does the Islamic Republic persecute Iranians of the Bahai faith? Bahais are not allowed to practice their religion and their gravesites are regularly destroyed. When you say that Iran is free and fair, do you believe that this applies to the Bahais?

• You have declared that the U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran are a gift from God. Yet you have vowed revenge against those countries that supported them. Why should you be upset with them if the sanctions were a gift from God? And since the sanctions have brought economic hardship on your population, isn't it irresponsible to refer to them as a divine gift?

• You have called for a U.N.-monitored referendum among Palestinians and Israelis to resolve the conflict in the Holy Land. Would you agree to an U.N.-monitored referendum among Iranians to determine their political future?

• When President Obama was campaigning, you said that a black man would never be allowed to be president of the United States. More recently you argued that Mr. Obama is not really in charge, and Zionists are manipulating him. Are you confident that you fully understand America and American politics?

• Muhammad Javad Larijani, one of your senior colleagues and an adviser to the supreme leader, this year referred to Mr. Obama as "kaka sia," a racist term akin to "nigger." Do you condemn Mr. Larijani's words?

• How did you react when your longtime ally Fidel Castro recently implored you to stop slandering the Jews, and argued that Iran's religious dogmatism makes a nuclear compromise less likely?

• Three senior Iranian diplomats have recently defected in Europe, denouncing your government's illegitimacy and seeking political asylum. This is unprecedented in Iran's modern history. Is it a sign of wider disaffection within your regime?

• It was considered a foreign policy victory for you when Brazil voted against a recent U.N. sanctions resolution. But Brazil has recently announced that it will adhere to the sanctions, and that regarding Iran it shares the aims (if not the tactics) of the U.S. How do you answer critics who say that, under your leadership, Iran has created dozens of adversaries but very few allies?

• For 14 months Iran has imprisoned two American hikers for entering Iranian territory illegally, but the regime has brought no evidence against them. You recently intimated that you'd exchange the two hikers for Iranians held in American custody and accused of trading illicit arms. Are you holding these two young Americans hostage?

Mr. Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

NEW YORK, 16 September (BWNS) — The 20-year prison sentences received by Iran's seven Baha'i leaders have reportedly been reduced.

The Baha'i International Community has learned that the lawyers representing the seven were informed orally yesterday that the 20-year jail terms have now been changed to 10 years.

The seven - Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm - were all members of a national-level group that, with the Iranian government's knowledge, helped see to the minimum spiritual needs of Iran's 300,000-strong Baha'i community.

The trial of the seven consisted of six brief court appearances which began on 12 January this year after they had been incarcerated without charge for 20 months. They were allowed barely one hour's access to their legal counsel during that time. The trial ended on 14 June.

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

The seven were moved from Evin Prison after receiving their sentence to Gohardasht prison in Karaj.

Reports of the 20-year sentence provoked a chorus of condemnation from governments around the world - including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.A. 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.


To view this article online, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/793

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

Support for Iran's seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders spreads worldwide

GENEVA, 16 September (BWNS) — The call to release seven Iranian Baha'i leaders - whose prison sentences have reportedly been reduced to 10-years each - is spreading around the world. 

Prominent figures in India, medical professionals in Austria, a Muslim leader in El Salvador and human rights activists in Germany have added their voices to the concern already expressed by numerous governments and non-governmental organizations who have publicly condemned the sentences. 

In an open letter, 31 leading figures from India's religious communities, judiciary, civil society organizations and academia, wrote that the "only crime that these seven individuals - two women and five men, the oldest among them being 77 years old - have committed is that they are Baha'is. They are peace-loving and obedient to the law of their land and have worked for the betterment of Iranian society."

The letter, dated 31 August, was sent by Maja Daruwala, the Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, to the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to India. 

"India and Iran have had historic ties of language, poetry, architecture, music and religion," the letter said. "In the name of these ancient ties that bind our two nations, we call on the Government of Iran to act according to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it has ratified. These provisions mandate the upholding of the principles of justice and freedom - principles cherished by all great religions of the world and all nations."

"In speaking up for these seven Baha'i leaders we are therefore also standing up for the 300,000 Iranian Baha'is, who constitute that country's largest religious minority, whose lives have been blighted and whose progress has been crippled by the injustices that have so systematically and remorselessly been visited upon them," they wrote.

Medical Professionals for Human Rights in Iran

In Austria, a group called Medical Professionals for Human Rights in Iran have also issued an open letter, addressed to Iran's Head of Judiciary, Sadeq Larijani.

The letter - signed by Dr. Ali Gushih, Professor Dr. Sirus Mirza'i and Professor Dr. Mihrdad Baghistaniyan - calls for the "seven leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran" to be released as soon as possible. 

Among other requests, the letter asks that the human rights of all Iranian citizens be respected and for a stop to arbitrary arrests and raids on people's homes.

Day of action in Berlin

The sentencing of the seven was also protested at a large gathering held on 12 September in Berlin, Germany, which included participation by some 400 people, including numerous human rights advocates. 

In front of the city's historic Brandenburg Gate, Markus Loning, Human Rights Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany, stressed that the continuous flouting of human rights in Iran cannot be tolerated: "We will not tolerate how in Iran, with its civilization and culture, human rights are still disregarded and trampled upon." 

Claudia Roth, chair of Germany's Green Party, called the arrest and conviction of the seven Baha'is, "an act of sheer arbitrariness and nothing else". 

Freedom of faith and religion are not acts of "mercy of those in power" or "governmental clemency", said Ms. Roth, but a "cornerstone of the human rights conventions of the present." 

Frauke Seidensticker, deputy director of the German Institute for Human Rights, stressed the obligation of the Iranian government to honor its commitments to article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "The Baha'i community is distinguished by speaking out for the human rights not only of its own members but also for others whose human rights are violated. Therefore they deserve our solidarity and our deepest respect," she said.

The event, organised by the human rights network United4Iran, included the display of messages of solidarity, spelled out in one meter high letters. 

Other action

Sheikh Abderrahman Agdaou of El Salvador's Muslim community has also spoken up for the seven prisoners. In a message posted on 9 August on a personal, online social network page, Sheikh Abderrahman wrote of his hope that the seven would be freed, and that the Iranian authorities would be illumined "so that these persons may live free as God created them."

In Australia, the Australian Partnership of Religious Organizations (APRO) added its support to "deep concern" already expressed by the Australian government at the sentencing of the Baha'i leaders. 

"We call on the Iranian government to respect and protect the right of all Iranians, including Baha'is and other religious minorities, to profess and practise the religion of their choice," APRO wrote on 8 September.

There has also been extensive press coverage of the sentence around the world.

An opinion piece published on 29 August in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal, titled "Why Iran's Bahai Matter", said: "For more than three decades, the Bahai have formed the ground zero for repression in Iran. Rights groups say there is no evidence for the charges against the Bahai leaders, though Tehran's accusations should tell you all you need to know about who they are. The followers of this 19th-century religion hold unity among peoples as their main tenet. That, combined with their spiritual base in Israel, has made them the heretics that ayatollahs love to hate."

An article by American journalist Roxana Saberi - who was charged and imprisoned after allegations of espionage in Iran - praised the courage and spirit of the two women among the jailed Baha'i leaders. Ms. Saberi shared a cell with Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi in Tehran's Evin Prison early last year.

"I came to see them as my sisters, women whose only crimes were to peacefully practice their religion and resist pressure from their captors to compromise their principles," wrote Ms. Saberi. 

"They felt it their duty to serve not only Bahais but all Iranians...," wrote Ms. Saberi in The Washington Post on 28 August . "I know that despite what they have been through and what lies ahead, these women feel no hatred in their hearts. When I struggled not to despise my interrogators and the judge, Mahvash and Fariba told me they do not hate anyone, not even their captors."

The seven Baha'i leaders - Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm - denied all the allegations made against them which included espionage, propaganda against the Islamic republic and the establishment of an illegal administration. 

They are now incarcerated in Gohardasht prison in Karaj, some 20 kilometers west of Tehran. 

To view this article online and read more go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/794

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

Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

---

• New wave of attacks on Baha’is of Semnan
• Baha’is In Iran Await Justice For Demolished Homes, Graves
• Baha’i leaders under pressure in the new prison.
• 31 Eminent Indians Call on the Iranian Government for Immediate Release of the seven Baha’i leaders

New wave of attacks on Baha’is of Semnan Posted: 11 Sep 2010 04:04 PM PDT September 10th, 2010 — 16 Shahrivar, 1389 Semnan, Iran HRANA News – Following provocative speeches against Baha’is which recently took place in some mosques in Semnan, a new wave of attacks and pressure against the Baha’is of Semnan has started. As reported by HRANA reporters, on the morning of Friday the twelfth of Shahrivar [6 Sept] a number of hooligans attacked the home of a Baha’i named Yahya Hedayati, then ran away after breaking the windows in his home. That same evening another group smashed the storefront sign of Akbar Pourhoseini’s store and broke the windows of Peyman Shadman’s car (two other Baha’is) . As usual, security officers arrived and, after writing a report, stated that they could not take any steps to identify the perpetrators and arrest them. — Source: http://hra-news.org/1389-01-27-05-24-07/3840-1.html and http://www.iranpresswatch.org/fa/post/1192 For the special case of Semnan, please see: Semnan, Iran: The small city is a fertile breeding ground for anti-Baha’i activities.

Baha’is In Iran Await Justice For Demolished Homes, Graves Posted: 11 Sep 2010 03:38 PM PDT Ferdosieh Nikoumanesh (9 Sep 2010 – Radio Free Europe) Ferdosieh Nikoumanesh remembers a time when she and her family couldlive in peace as practicing Baha’is in the Iranian city of Ivel, where more than 50 Baha’i homes were demolished in June. Her childhood home, her grandparents’ home, and her grandfather’s store were among the many properties burned to the ground. Nikoumanesh and her husband now live in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Nikoumanesh spent many of her childhood summers in Ivel, northeast of Tehran in Mazandaran Province, visiting her grandparents, who lived in the village until 1983. She left Ivel when she was a little girl but still holds many memories of living alongside practicing Ivel, Mazandaran, Iran Muslims. Baha’is have resided in Ivel for more than 160 years and once made up more than half of the population — building schools, a hospital, and stores. While her family’s homes and shop were destroyed this summer, her memories remain alive. “The best part of the summer was with my grandparents. The feelings I have toward the land [in Ivel] are because of how my grandparents took us there and showed us how to experience its generosity,” she said. She recalled raising livestock, picking flowers in the rich landscape, and having candlelit dinners over storytelling. The current Iranian government made no apparent efforts to prevent the destruction of the Baha’i homes last June, nor has an investigation been launched into who orchestrated the demolition, despite efforts by the Baha’i community to seek justice. On August 12, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued her strongest statement yet in support of the Baha’i community and in opposition to Iran’s repression of religious minorities. “The United States is deeply concerned with the Iranian government’s continued persecution of Baha’is and other religious minority communities in Iran,” Clinton said in a statement. “The United States is committed to defending religious freedom around the world, and we have not forgotten the Baha’i community in Iran.” While the United States may have stepped up its criticism, the people of Ivel have yet to find justice for the loss of their homes. The home, since destroyed, of the grandparents of Ferdosieh Nikoumanesh. "The best part of the summer was with my grandparents," says Ferdosieh Nikoumanesh. “Two Baha’i men from Ivel — Faramarz Rohani and Mahmood Piri — sent letters and complained to the courts in Saari, Kia Sar, and Telma Dare. None of them gave the right response,” said Nikoumanesh. “They even said since this order was from the higher courts, nothing could be done.” While the international community has spread awareness of the issue and many Muslims in the country oppose the destruction of Baha’i property, the government has done little to respond. “Recently, there have been many attacks on Baha’i homes, cemeteries dug up, and sites of worship destroyed,” said Shastri Purushotma, the human rights representative for the U.S. Baha’i community. “But how can 50 houses be demolished without some prior arrangement to do that level of demolition? We don’t have documents showing the government was behind it, but all of these things need planning, heavy equipment, and government support.” Nikoumanesh hopes to one day return to Ivel but knows the dangers she would face if she visited anytime soon. She and many members of the Iranian Baha’i diaspora continue to push for accountability in acts of vandalism toward Baha’is. “My grandparents have passed, but we children still have faith in being able to return to Ivel and re-experience good moments of our childhood we had there,” she says. She then recited a poem written by Ali Ahmadi on the destruction of homes in Ivel: “Oh, home, you are still alive even if it’s not within your walls within our hearts you are.” – Ladan Nekoomaram & Sarvazad Katouzian Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/Bahais_In_Iran_Await_Justice_for_Demolished_Homes_Graves/2153322.html

Baha’i leaders under pressure in the new prison. Posted: 11 Sep 2010 03:11 PM PDT Both Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran (http://hrdai.blogspot.com/2010/08/4-6.html) and Iran Press News (http://www.iranpressnews.com/source/081070.htm) are reporting on the arrival of the former Yaran at their new Raja’i Prison facility in the Gohardasht district [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gohardasht] of Karaj. According to these reports, on Tuesday, August 10, 2010, four (4) of the Yaran were transferred to room 17 in Section 6 of this notorious prison. One of the four has been identified as Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli. Based on these reports, in order to humiliate the Baha’is and put them under further psychological pressure, the Mafia-like gangs incarcerated in the same facility have began to refer to the Yaran as “infidels”. They have also tried to pressure other prisoners to insult and belittle the newly-arrived Baha’is, but it appears that most other prisoners have so far refused to comply with this suggestion. In fact, it is reported that most other prisoners are showing considerable respect to the Baha’is and try to be hospitable. Section 6 is infamous in human rights circles, and the fact that some of the Yaran have been transferred there is deeply worrying. Often this section is a scene of bloody fighting among prisoners, and it is considered extremely dangerous. It is where certain political prisoners are sent to vanish. In the most recent clash among the prisoners in this section, 40 prisoners were injured, 10 of them so badly that they had to be transferred to outside hospitals for treatment. Since the sentencing of the 20 years of imprisonment for these 7 Baha’is, the Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, many Governments of the world, United Nations, European Community, many international humanitarian organizations, religious leaders, well-known individuals and people around the world have strongly denounced the manifestly inhumane treatment of the seven Baha’i prisoners, the unjust sentence against them and condemned their banishment to Raja’i prison in Gohardasht (see Iran Press Watch for complete listings of the said announcements). Editor, Iran Press Watch.

31 Eminent Indians Call on the Iranian Government for Immediate Release of the seven Baha’i leaders Posted: 11 Sep 2010 12:26 PM PDT New Delhi, August 31, 2010 – Deeply distressed by the sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, for the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, on patently false and unjustifiable charges, 31 prominent Indians have issued an open letter appealing to the Iranian government to release the seven immediately and to ensure a fair and open appeal process in accordance to international standards of jurisprudence. Signatories include prominent leaders from religious communities as well as leaders in various fields of endeavour: judiciary,  civil society organisations and academia. Justice Krishna Iyer, Mr. Fali Nariman, Mr. Soli Sorabjee, religious leaders – Archbishop Vincent Concesso, and Swami Agnivesh, as well as champions of human rights groups such as Miloon Kothari, Maja Daruwala, Suhas Chakma, and other civil society organizations, Rajesh Tandon, Ashok Khosla, George Verghese, Ajay Mehta,  and  the academia such as Prof. R. B. Singh, Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Prof. Tahir Mahmood,  have jointly expressed, “ India and Iran have had historic ties of language, poetry, architecture, music and religion. In the name of these ancient ties that bind our two nations, we call on the Government of Iran to act according to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it has ratified. These provisions mandate the upholding of the principles of justice and freedom-principles cherished by all great religions of the world and all nations.” Maja Daruwala, Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, on behalf of all the signatories sent the open letter to the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The letter says, “truth is that the only crime that these seven individuals – two women and five men, the oldest among them being 77 years old – have committed is that they are Baha’is. They are peace – loving and obedient to the law of their land and have worked for the betterment of Iranian society.” “In speaking up for these seven Bahá’í leaders we are therefore also standing up for the 300,000 Iranian Baha’is, who constitute that country’s largest religious minority, whose lives have been blighted and whose progress has been crippled by the injustices that have so systematically and remorselessly been visited upon them.” UN agencies, governments, parliaments, NGOs and prominent individuals across the globe – including an increasing number of Iranians – have raised their voice against this unjust verdict and the systematic persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. United States, UK, Netherland, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and the European Union have issued statements condemning this sentence. Amnesty International, Human Watch and the International Commission for Religious Freedom, amongst others have issues statements. In this open letter, these concerned citizens of India have also called on the Indian government to use its good offices with Iran to see that these detainees are immediately released and they be given a fair hearing. Source: http://www.bahai.in/news/national-news-of-the-bahais-of-india/31-eminent-indians-call-on-the-iranian-government-for-immediate-release-of-the-seven-bahai-leaders.html