Iran Press Watch: The Baha'i Community

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Baha’i Holocaust: Why, How, and To What Extent? Posted: 09 Jun 2014 12:07 AM PDT 05 June 2014, by Majid Mohammadi   After three decades of atrocities against Baha’is, Khamenei put an official government stamp on this oppression: “All believers should confront the trickeries of the misguided Baha’i sect… and avoid any sort of interactions with this deviant sect.” According to the HRANA (Human Rights Activists in Iran) website on Monday 2 June, Mashhad Intelligence Officers attended a worship meeting of the Baha’is, and after shutting it down, began to search the house and confiscate the religious books. Upon leaving the premises, agents arrested three Baha’is, then proceeded to the homes of the detained and spent most of the night inspecting their homes.  They left after confiscating computers, books and religious pictures.  Such actions against Baha’is in Iran have continued over the past 35 years. About 200 Baha’is have been executed in Iran in the past 35 years, and the seven informal Baha’i leaders (Yaran ˗ “Friends” of Iran) have been imprisoned for an extended period of time. Authorizing Oppression After three decades of atrocities against Baha’is, Khamenei put an official government stamp on this oppression.  In response to several questions, he defined the official stand of the Islamic Republic and the seat of the Shi’ite clergy as such: “All the members of the deviant Baha’i Sect are infidels and unclean (1), all should avoid food or other items that have been touched by them. It is incumbent upon the believers to combat the deception and fraud of this misguided sect… In case they have come into contact with anything, the proper cleansing process must be observed… All believers should confront the trickeries of the misguided Baha’i sect and prevent others from becoming misguided and joining them… any sort of interaction with this deviant sect should be avoided.” First of all, such provisions are not only the view of Khamenei alone.  Other Shi’ite clerics (with the exception of very few individuals like Ali Montazeri (2) and some of his students) have similar views towards Baha’is and Baha’i Faith. They have also held the same views in previous eras.   During the time that the Qajar Kings supported them, they were intent upon murdering Baha’is, and during the Pahlavi Era, which, from the point of view of religious tolerance, was a shining era in the history of Iran, they were forced to refrain from physical harm against Baha’is and their belongings, however they continued with their ideological combat, and their views were and are exactly like Khamenei’s comments today.  Combating Baha’is has always been such a serious task for the Shi’ite clergy that one of the most important Shi’ite religious institutions in the twentieth century, the Hojjatieh Society (3), was founded strictly to combat Baha’ism. Second, views such as “combating the deception and fraud of this sect”, were not issued by a powerless cleric in one of the small towns within the country, but by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, who has its entire coercive forces under his command.  Naturally he expects his followers to follow his commands, and they also obey him in order to please their high ranking official.  Therefore any oppression against Baha’is is an order that has already been  green lighted.  The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic is directly responsible for these attacks. Finally, the definitions of such words is filled with hatred and hostility.  Such terms as “diversion”, “misguided”, “cunning”, “deception”, “infidel”, “excrement” and “sect” are all nothing but firing the first bullet in the elimination of the Baha’is and whatever is ascribed to them.  The regime has gone to the extremes of mass murder and of detaining up to tens of thousands of individuals, against those who had not been described by such attributes (such as some of the Shi’ite clerics or reformists during the time of the Green Movement); it is quite clear how much farther it will go with such phrases. Why Violence Against Baha’is? Muslims, proudly and without any rational basis, consider their religion to be the last religion.  In the religion market, there has always been a rivalry.  Religions have always considered themselves to be the best and the final religion. The claim of the seal of prophecy in this market, however, is like a pizza place claiming to be the last pizza shop. This vain pride and self-righteousness has caused them to view any new religion as the manifestation of corruption, falsehood and deception. That is precisely why the Shi’ites accuse the Baha’i Faith using such charges as having been created by foreign powers, or offering a license to incestuous marriage.  In their eyes, any action to discredit the competition is legitimate. Every single religion offers certain aspects in the field of competition.  Each of these claim to offer the best goods, and to the extent that one side does not resort to force and the sword, they see themselves as having every right to continue in this rivalry.  But from the perspective of an observer who has all of them under watch, they are sales people who are trying to gain a larger market share. Accusations and lies towards one another in this market is actually fair game, and done merely to disrupt the competition. Another aspect of acts of oppression and abuse against Baha’is in contemporary Iran is the severe weakness felt by Shi’ites and their religious leaders against new thoughts and fresh points of view.  From this perspective the root cause of oppression, abuse and persecution against Baha’is is the same as that against Jews, Christians, Dervishes, Dissidents, Afghans, Kurds, and women.  Islamists see themselves as the losers in the ideology wars, and can only hold their religious and political rivals back through bullying, oppression, and force. How Do They Conduct their Harassment? The rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with former members of the Hojjatieh Society and a majority of Shi’ite clerics resort to harassment and repression of Baha’is in  the following five ways: Building cases against active Baha’is (those who work against human rights violations, and are the voice of those whose rights have been violated, or those who insist on their rights and refuse to leave the country)  with such accusations as acting against the regime, acting against national security or working with foreigners.  Such fabricated cases have caused hundreds of Baha’is to be murdered, thousands imprisoned, and thousands of Baha’i properties to be seized by the judicial system. Terror:  Baha’is who are active, but difficult to fabricate a case against, have been eliminated through assassination techniques. The murder of Ataollah Rezvani (4), a former member of the three-member group of the Khademeen – “Servants” – the local Baha’i community leaders of Bandar Abbas, which took place on the night of 24 August, 2013 by shooting him from behind, is an example of this type of terror. Prior to this Mi’ad Afshar and Iraj Maydani, prominent Baha’is in Bandar Abbas, were injured by stabbing from behind, by elements close to the Bandar Abbas Friday prayer leader.  Iraj Mehdinezhad, another Baha’i from Bandar Abbas, was also murdered several years ago by multiple stab wounds, according to a family member of Mr. Rezvani in an interview with Radio Zamaneh on 25 August 2013. Eliminating job opportunities: Baha’is who live in Iran today can only be employed in small private companies, because their employment in the public sector and government is impossible. Additionally they cannot work in the private sector as entrepreneurs or establish large companies. Baha’is can only make a minimal living, but the government is not able to stop them from making just enough to survive. Stifle growth opportunities: Blocking the enrollment of Baha’is in universities and expelling them from the universities, depriving them of employment in various organizations, including the military, universities, social and political offices, is in a way a form of social elimination.  According to the Ministry of Intelligence Act and the mandate of the High Council of the Cultural Revolution “Baha’is are unable to enroll in universities and centers of higher education. So if such an event is observed, the matter should be reported and their registration should be diligently avoided, and in the case of enrollment, they should be expelled.” (5) Destruction of Inheritance:  Those who are opposed to Baha’is intend to operate in such a way that there remains no trace of Baha’is in any of the towns and cities of Iran, so the Iranian people may forget that there ever were, in the history of Iran, a group by the name of Baha’i who lived among them. This began with the destruction of the Baha’i temples in the early years of the Islamic Republic, and in recent years has escalated to destroying their homes and cemeteries. Of course, some of the destroyed graves belong to teens who were executed by false accusations of the Islamic Republic.  The destruction of these tombs is in fact the elimination of evidence of criminal acts. These acts are very similar to actions of the Nazi government against the Jews of Europe. The Ultimate Goal The purpose of the persecution and oppression of Baha’is in Iran is to cleansing Iranian society of all their signs and memories. The government and its security forces and military and paramilitary forces have been trying to make Baha’is choose between two options: being charged with apostasy (which has a potential sentence of death) or leave Iran. To this end, in reality fighting against the Baha’i religion within the Islamic Republic is a form of gradual Holocaust. When Khamenei regards Baha’is as unclean and the rule of religion leads to the elimination of uncleanliness, then obviously the government’s policy is religious cleansing of Baha’is. This purge has been in progress for the past 35 years that resulted in the killing of hundreds, and the migration of tens of thousands of Baha’is.     1. Najis, or “ritually unclean”. For a contrasting view, see the summons to sweep away ritual uncleanness of people by Mohammad Nourizad here: http://iranpresswatch.org/post/9369/ 2. Hussein-Ali Montazeri – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein-Ali_Montazeri. 3. Hojjatieh Society: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hojjatieh. 4. For an obituary of Mr. Rezvani, see http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2013/10/bahai-murder/. 5. Under “Educational and Cultural Studies in the following document: http://news.bahai.org/human-rights/iran/education/feature-articles/secret-blueprint   — Translation by Iran Press Watch Source: https://khodnevis.org/article/58064

Rights Advocate Recounts How Iranians Tried To Hack Her E-Mail With Help Of 'John Bolton'

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One the case? The Iran Cyberpolice booth at an international digital media fair in Tehran in 2012

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May 30, 2014

ISight Partners, a Texas-based cyberintelligence firm, reported on May 29 that Iranian hackers have conducted a hacking campaign to spy on political and military figures in the United States using fake social media accounts in the past three years. The firm has not released the names of those targeted.

The methods they use match a hacking attempt made on Kit Bigelow, the former director of the Baha'i National Center in Washington, who first spoke about it to "The Daily Beast." RFE/RL's Golnaz Esfandiari spoke to Bigelow on May 30.

RFE/RL: In the beginning of April, you became the target of a failed hacking attempt on your e-mail that came apparently from Iran. How did it happen?

Kit Bigelow: In February 2014, I received a LinkedIn request from a profile purporting to be [former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations] John Bolton. Because I had worked with the ambassador over a number of years on the case of the protection and defense of Baha'is, I was surprised to receive the invitation but it was not completely unexpected of former colleagues to reach out.

Over the period of several weeks, communication began between the individual purporting to be Ambassador Bolton and me through LinkedIn communication function. He asked me if I would be willing to review material he was preparing on human rights in Iran, and particularly to verify aspects [of it that] dealt with the persecution of Baha'is in Iran....

At the beginning of April, he indicated that the material that he had prepared was ready for my review and that his assistant would be sending to me login information to a website that was not yet live online. And I received the login information -- this is all the first week of April -- and I logged in, and I put in -- as requested -- I put in my e-mail address and then put in my password. It did take me to a website and it was a website all about Ambassador Bolton. So even as I entered the website, it was not evident to me that it was not real.

RFE/RL: So there was nothing to alert you? Did it all seem legitimate to you? 

Bigelow: It did. And because it was about him I thought maybe he's intending to run for public office, because it was about his accomplishments and had lots of articles and news stories, and things like that.

RFE/RL: What was the name of the website? 

Bigelow: It had the URL of Johnboltonoffice.com, and I have no idea whether it still exists. I have not gone back to it because it requires a special coding to get in, at least it did at that time, if in fact it still exists.

RFE/RL: When did the hacking attempt take place? After you logged in? 

Bigelow: I had logged in in the evening and I went to sleep that evening, and had not given it another thought. I awoke early the next morning and had received from Google -- because I had done this through my Gmail account -- I received from Google a notification that there had been an attempt to access my account from Tehran, Iran.

At that point, everything fell into place. I knew exactly how that attempt could have taken place -- because of course the evening before I had put in a password. And Google had wonderful analytics and I was able to find that there had been two attempts from the United States during the middle of the night, and they had not alerted Google because the origin of the access had been here in the United States.

But it was the attempt from Tehran, which was still early morning, that had caused Google to raise the alarm and to block whoever was attempting to access my account. Luckily I had awakened to this at 6 a.m., so I was able to jump on this immediately and change my password and minimize any damage.

It was also at that point that the profile and everything that had transpired over the previous two months had been a ruse, had been a scam to draw me in, to [lead me to believe] it was he, Ambassador Bolton, in order to try to capture my Gmail account for whatever purposes the perpetrators of this scam might have wished.

RFE/RL: Were there further attempts to hack into your e-mail? 

Bigelow: There were no further attempts. But what did continue to happen was that I was targeted through Facebook and LinkedIn and continue to this day to be targeted by several clearly fake individuals and profiles.

RFE/RL: You've worked for many years to highlight the plight of Baha'is in Iran who face state persecution. Do you think this is somehow connected to your work? 

Bigelow: I think that it is connected to the work that I did do on behalf of the Baha'is for 25 years here in Washington, D.C. I think only that the desire to appropriate my e-mail address would have been to use my address and to send out some kind of information in my name that could have been harmful, either to the Baha'is or others.

Shiraz cemetery demolition continues by the Revolutionary Guards

8 May 2014

NEW YORK — Despite a worldwide outcry, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is continuing to destroy a historic Baha'i cemetery in Shiraz, Iran.

The ongoing demolition – which is understood to be taking place without a permit from municipal authorities – continues unabated. Ironically, President Hassan Rouhani's advisor on religious and ethnic minorities spoke last Friday in a synagogue in Shiraz and called on Iranians to respect the rights of religious minorities. All the while, the revolutionary guards were carrying out the ongoing destruction in another part of the city.

"Baha'is around the world have been moved by the overwhelming expressions of outrage in the media and particularly from Iranians both inside and outside of Iran who condemn this deplorable act," said Ms. Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

Many Iranians have responded with anger, registering their concern online.

"I'm a Shiite Muslim and now my religion is placing a great burden on me because it is destroying the cemetery of another religion," wrote someone in response to a story on Radio Farda, an Iranian news website. "Mr. Rouhani, please wake up from your sleep."

On Facebook, on a Persian-language page dedicated to promoting the spirit of citizenship, an individual posted an article about the Shiraz cemetery's destruction, saying that whether someone was pro-government or against it, religious or atheist, how could one imagine supporting such an action. "Which one of you supports this act committed against our Baha'i compatriots by the Islamic Republic?"

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  Photos of the destruction of a historic Baha’i cemetery in Shiraz by the Revolutionary Guards.

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Ms. Dugal added: "Given the historic character of this ground, where some 950 Baha'is are buried, including ten women who were hanged in 1983 for their refusal to recant their Baha'i belief, this continuing action is not only illegal but morally outrageous."

Noting that the news has been widely discussed in the news media and online, Ms. Dugal called on the international community to continue to raise its voice against the Guards' action, in the hope that it will motivate the authorities in Iran to press harder for them to stop the demolition.

"Given that his own advisor has been travelling the country calling for respect for religious minorities, we would hope that President Rouhani himself would step in and get the Revolutionary Guards to stop this desecration," she said.

Word of the cemetery's demolition emerged on 1 May after the Baha'i International Community learned that Revolutionary Guards had in late April dug up an area of some 200 square meters and lined up some 40 to 50 trucks for continuing excavation.

It has since been learned that the appropriate municipal authorities had not issued a permit for the excavation, a legal procedure required for any such work. The Guards, who took ownership of the site three years ago and announced plans to build a new cultural and sports building there, ignored the legal requirement.

Ali Younesi, the special advisor to President Hassan Rouhani for ethnic and religious minorities, who issued a call for religious tolerance while visiting a synagogue in Shiraz, is reported to have said: "Iran belongs to all Iranians from every minority group and they all have the right to live with peace among other people." He added: "No one has the right to violate the rights of any minorities."

Ms. Dugal said Mr. Younesi's remarks seemed to make a mockery of the government's ability to control the Revolutionary Guards.

"Here we have a top presidential advisor to Hassan Rouhani calling for Iranians to respect the rights of religious minorities, in a talk given at a Jewish holy place no less, while the revolutionary guards are hard at work in another part of the city destroying the holy ground of another religious group," said Ms. Dugal. "The irony, let alone the injustice, is incredible."

Related Stories

http://news.bahai.org/story/994

New post on Sen's daily

Another Bahai student expelled from Birjand University by Sen HRANA, April 10, 2014 Mazyar Malaki (مازیار ملاکی), a student studying machine manufacturing at Birjand University, has been expelled because of his Bahai beliefs. He was summoned by the University's security office and asked to sign a statement that he would not participate in Bahai activities or follow the directions of the Universal House of Justice. When he refused to sign this, he was told that he was barred from the university until further notice, and that the final decision would be communicated to him. Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-1YB Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here. Sen | April 11, 2014 at 00:03 | Tags: Bahai Faith, Birjand, Human rights in Iran, religious persecution, students, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, بیرجند | Categories: Bahai rights, Educational discrimination | URL: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-1YB

http://news.persian-bahai.org/story/987

خواهان هم‌زیستی دینی در آن کشور شد

     

http://news.persian-bahai.org/story/987

در اقدامی نهادین و بی‌سابقه، آیت‌الله عبدالحمید معصومی تهرانی، یکی از روحانیون برجستۀ ایران امروز اعلام کرد که آیه‌ای از آثار حضرت بهاءالله بنیان‌گذار آیین بهائی را خطّاطی و   تذهیب و به بهائیان جهان اهدا نموده است

آیت‌الله تهرانی این هدیۀ نفیس را به بهائیان جهان و علی‌الخصوص به بهائیان ایران که "به شکل‌های مختلف از تعصّبات کور مذهبی آسیب دیده‌اند" تقدیم کرده و می‌گوید که این اقدام  "از طرف خود و تمامی هم‌میهنان آزاداندیشم" می‌باشد.

استاد در حال نوشتن آیه کتاب اسمانی بهاییان (کتاب اقدس) بر روی تابلو

همدردی آیت‌الله معصومی تهرانی با بهاییان ایران.

آیت‌الله معصومی تهرانی با ارسال هدیه‌ای به مرکز جهانی بهایی، ضمن اعتراض به نقض حقوق بهاییان در ایران با آنان همدردی کرد. آیت‌الله معصومی تهرانی یک آیه از کتاب اقدس بهاییان را خوشنویسی و تذهیب کرده و در آستانه سال نوی شمسی به مرکز جهانی بهاییان در حیفا فرستاده است.

وبسایت آیت‌الله معصومی تهرانی:

http://www.amasumi.net/154-دست-در-دست-هم-نهيم-به-مهر

متن نامه  :

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

ايرانيان - نسبت به اقوام مجاور خود - سابقه‌ی عداوت، كشتار و نقض حقوق انسانی برادران قومی خود را در پيشينه تاريخی خود نداشته‌اند و چه بسا شاهديم كه بارها يكرنگی و هم‌رأيی ايشان از دوران باستان تا سده‌های امروز، اين سرزمين را از بلايای انسانی چون فساد و ظلم با اميد سديد و مجاهدت وثيق و بهره گيری از ايمانی منيب نجات داده است. همچنين بود وقتی كه در اين سرزمين، فرقه‌های مذهبی و اديان مختلف در مسلك‌ها و آيين‌های گوناگون در معاشرتهای اجتماعی و همزيستی مسالمت‌آميز، راه رشد و تلاش خويش را می‌پيمودند و به يكديگر منفعتی زندگی‌بخش می‌رساندند كه همانا انسان در بستر جامعه خويش انسانيت خود را شكوفا می‌كند.

اما چه شد كه امروزه آن فرهنگ كهن ترك گفته شده و آن آيين و سنت مهرورزی و همنوع‌دوستی در دل‌ها خاموش گشته و جان و مال و آبرو و كرامت انسان بی‌ارزش گرديده؟؛ آن طور كه نه تنها می‌بينيم احكام جاهلانه مرزهای انسانيت را خدشه‌دار كرده‌اند، بلكه فرهنگ انسان‌دوستی و آدميت چنان به مغاك ضلالت درافتاده‌ كه از طرفی مردمانی برای تماشای جان دادن يك انسان محكوم به اعدام همچون بدويان قرون گذشته در انتظار طلوع فجر می‌ايستند و از طرف ديگر هموطنی، هموطن خويش را به گروگان می‌گيرد و به ظلم حلق‌آويز می‌كند و خانواده‌ی برادر خود را در ايام شادی عزادار می‌نمايد!!. تكمله‌ی "ارزش انسانيت" و حق "انسان بودگی" را چه كسانی خط كشيدند و بر جايش آيات انسان‌ستيزی و دشمن‌انگاری حك نمودند ؟

آن هنگام كه خداوند حكيم بر انسانيت خلقت خود احسنت فرمود، وی را نه در شاكله‌ بلكه به جهت قداست جان و روح انسانيتی كه در آدمی دميده شد ارج نهاد و حق حيات اعطا كرد. چنين حقی كه هر انسان آزاده برای حيات در سرزمين خود دارد تا از امكانات اجتماعی آن بهره‌برداری كند را هرگز نمی‌توان بواسطه ايده‌ها يا عقيده‌ها و احكامی كه فرض اساسی كرامت انسان را مخدوش می‌كند، ناحق جلوه داد و محدود نمود؛ چه رسد كه اينچنين بر صفحه تاريخ معاصر يك ملت، رنگ آپارتايد عقيدتی خودنمايی نمايد و دروغ و تزوير و ريا و نفرت و توهين و افترا، ناموس انسانيت اين مرز و بوم را به دريدن بكشاند و برادر را در مقابل برادر قرار دهد. امروزه جامعه‌ی ايران – بخصوص نسل جوان – دچار افسردگی و عصبيتی پس خانمان‌سوز است. برادری و دوستی، صداقت و راستگويی، امانت‌داری و حفظ حرمتها، نيك‌انديشی و نوع‌دوستی، شفقت و همياری، صفا و صميميت، ايثار و از خودگذشتگی، غم‌خواری و دستگيری همنوع، افتادگی و جوانمردی در ميانمان كم رنگ، و به يك شعار و ژست توخالی تبديل شده؛ و جايش را به اختلاف و افتراق، كذب و دروغ‌گويی، خيانت و تجاوز، دورويی و رياكاری، ظاهرنمايی و بی‌اعتمادی، بی‌رحمی و بی‌حرمتی و ضعيف كشی و استثمار سپرده است. واقعيت اين است كه شانه‌های فرهنگ و اخلاق مردمان ما آن روزی بر خاك ذلالت افتاد كه عده‌ای از عالمان و مروجين اخلاقش، انسانيت و شرافت و دين را گردآلود دروغ، تزوير، ريا، ظلم و اعمال ناصالح و گفتگوهای بی حاصل و وعده‌های باطل در جهت منافع دنيوی خود نمودند.

اين كمترين از تورات آموختم : "همنوعت را چون خودت دوست بدار"[1]؛ از انجيل آموختم:"همسايه‌ات را چون نفس خود دوست بدار و به دشمن و لعن كننده‌ی خود نيز احسان كن و دعای خير نما"[2] و از قرآن كريم آموختم: "با هر آن كسی كه با شما نجنگيده و يا ظلم نكرده‌ با نيكی و عدالت رفتار كنيد و همچنين: گرامی‌ترين شما در نزد خدا با تقواترين (= انسان‌ترين) شماست"[3] و از فرهنگ غنی و كهن ايرانی آموختم: "بنی‌ آدم اعضا يك پيكرند // كه در آفرينش ز يك گوهرند..... تو كز محنت ديگران بی‌غمی // نشايد كه نامت نهند آدمی[4].

بنابراين برپايه‌ی احساس نياز به يك اقدام عملی و نمادين ديگر به منظور تذكر و يادآوری بر ارج نهادن به انسانيت انسان، همزيستی مسالمت‌آميز، همياری و همدلی و پرهيز از كينه‌ورزی، عصبيت و تعصبات كور مذهبی؛ آيه‌ای از "كتاب اقدس" بهائيان را در قالب تابلویی خوشنويسی و تذهيب نمودم تا سندی نمادين و ماندگار از احترام به كرامت ذاتی انسان، نوع‌ دوستی و همزيستی مسالمت‌آميز بدون توجه به تعلقات دينی، مذهبی و عقيدتی باشد. اين اثر نمادين ارزشمند را در آستانه‌ی آغاز سال 1393خورشيدی از طرف خود و تمامی هم‌ميهنان آزاد‌انديشم كه برای انسان به جهت انسانيتش ارج و احترام قايلند -نه بخاطر دين يا نوع عبادتش- به همه‌ی بهائیان جهان، بخصوص هموطنان بهائيم كه به شكلهای مختلف از تعصبات كور مذهبی آسيب ديده‌اند به منظور دلجویی و همدردی تقديم می‌كنم.

اگرچه قلبا خواستار آن بودم تا "كتاب اقدس" را همچون كتب "قرآن كريم"، "تورات"، "زبور"، "انجيل" و "عزرا" خوشنويسی و تذهيب نمايم، اما متاسفانه توانايی‌ جسمی و مالی‌ام اجازه نمی‌داد. اميدوارم اين اثر كوچك ولی ارزشمند معنوی –كه در بيت‌العدل اعظم نگهداری خواهد شد- تذكاری بر فرهنگ غنی و كهن مهروزی و همزيستی ايرانيان باشد و عيب‌های فراوان هنری‌اش به ديده‌ی اغماض نگريسته شود.

اين كمترين مشفقانه و برادرانه مردم عزيز ميهن خويش -با هر دين و مذهب و مسلكی- كه سخنم بدو می‌رسد را به مهر و محبت، دوستی و شفقت، رحم و مروت، گذشت و رأفت، همدلی و همبستگی، ياری و حمايت؛ و ستايش جان و مال و آبروی يكديگر فرامی‌خوانم. اينك كه در آغاز بهار قرار داريم، پسنديده است تا در افكار خويش تفكر كنيم و زنگار از نگرش‌های كليشه‌ای خود نسبت به يكديگر بشوييم و دست محبت و ياری به سوی انسانيت يكديگر پيش آريم و از نعمت همبستگی و همزيستی پرخير و بركت و روحيه بخش زندگی در قالب تفكر شهروند-زيست بهره‌هايی جاويدان به خود و آيندگان برسانيم، و دست رد بر سينه صاحبان زر و زور و تزوير كه می‌خواهند به شكلهای گوناگون دشمن يكديگر باشيم و به جان، مال و آبروی همدگر تعدی نماييم بزنيم.

اين كمترين خرسندانه ايمان دارم حركت‌های عملی و گسترده می‌تواند زمينه برچيدن فرهنگ خصمانه را از ميان جامعه ما برداشته و محبت و مهر و انسان‌دوستی و همبستگی را كه احتياج روزافزون جامعه‌ی فرو برده شده در تاريكی افتراق و كينه‌ها است، برافراشته گرداند.

و السـلام على من اتـبع الهـدى
تهران
الراجي؛ عبدالحميد معصومی تهرانی.

"Baha'i World News Service"  In an unprecedented symbolic act senior Cleric calls for religious co-existence in Iran

 D'après le Communiqué de "B.W.N.S.",  New York, 7 April 2014, (BWNS)

Acte symbolique sans précédent d’un haut Dignitaire religieux iranien.

Un éminent ecclésiastique musulman en Iran, l’Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid MASSOUMI-TEHRANI, offre aux Bahá’ís du monde un paragraphe calligraphié et enluminé des Écrits de Bahá’u’lláh, le Prophète fondateur de la Foi Bahá'ie.

L’Ayatollah TEHRANI déclare sur son site web (cf. www.amasumi.net) qu’il a préparé la calligraphie du verset comme une « action symbolique afin de rappeler l’importance de la valeur des êtres humains, de la coexistence pacifique, de la coopération et du soutien mutuel, et du rejet de la haine, de l’inimitié et des préjudices religieux aveugles ».

L’Ayatollah TEHRANI offre ce présent raffiné aux Bahá’ís du monde, en particulier aux Bahá’ís d’Iran qui, selon lui, « ont souffert de multiples façons à cause de préjugés religieux aveugles ». Il déclare également que cet acte est « une expression de compassion et d’empathie de ma part et de la part de tous mes compatriotes exempts de préjugés ». L’espoir de l’Ayatollah TEHRANI est que ce cadeau « servira de rappel de la riche et ancienne tradition iranienne d’amitié et de sa culture de la coexistence ».

Ce geste s’inscrit dans la lignée de plusieurs déclarations récentes faites par des intellectuels religieux du monde musulman qui ont proposé des interprétations alternatives des enseignements de l’islam dans lesquelles la tolérance envers toutes les religions est, en fait, inscrite dans le saint Coran.

En réponse, Mme DUGAL déclare que « les Bahá’is sont profondément touchés par ce geste de grande noblesse et par les sentiments de tolérance religieuse et de respect pour la dignité humaine qui l’ont motivé ».

Cette œuvre d’art artisanal de très haute qualité représente en son centre un symbole connu des Bahá’ís comme "Le Plus Grand Nom" ˗ une représentation calligraphiée de la relation conceptuelle entre Dieu, ses Messagers et le monde de la création. Le cadeau mesure environ 60 X 70 cm et est enluminé dans un style classique. La citation que l’Ayatollah Tehrani a choisi est tirée du Kitab-i-Aqdas – le "Livre le plus Saint", de Bahá’u’lláh qui affirme « Fréquentez toutes les religions dans l’amitié et la concorde, afin qu’elles puissent inhaler sur vous les doux parfums de Dieu. Veillez à ce que, parmi les hommes, la flamme de l’ignorance stupide ne vous domine. Toutes les choses procèdent de Dieu et retournent à Lui. Il est la Source de toutes choses et, en lui, toutes choses finissent ».

Les autres œuvres de l’Ayatollah TEHRANI comprennent des enluminures du Coran, de la Torah, des Psaumes, du Nouveau Testament, et du Livre d’Ezra. Ses enluminures des Psaumes se trouvent actuellement à la Bibliothèque du Congrès des États-Unis.

« Cette action courageuse par un haut dignitaire musulman dans l’Iran contemporain est sans précédent », précise Mme Sophie MÉNARD, porte-parole des Bahá’ís de France. « C’est remarquable à la lumière de la persécution continue et systématique de la Communauté Bahá'ie dans ce pays par le gouvernement islamique ».

Précédemment, l’Ayatollah TEHRANI a fait preuve d’un grand courage en exprimant en public ses inquiétudes à propos de la persécution continue et grave des minorités religieuses, dont les Bahá'is d’Iran. Depuis la Révolution islamique de 1979, des centaines de Bahá’ís ont été tués et des milliers ont été emprisonnés. Il y a actuellement 115 Bahá’ís en prison uniquement sur la base de leurs convictions religieuses. Les Bahá'is en Iran se voient refuser tout accès à l’enseignement supérieur, sont empêchés de gagner leur vie et d’enterrer leurs morts selon leurs propres rites funéraires et leurs cimetières font l’objet de démolition, de profanation et d’expropriation, tout cela à cause de leur conviction religieuse.

           To read the article online, view photographs and access links: http://news.bahai.org/story/987

Iran Press Watch

Official Makes Rare Admission of Bahá’ís Equal Rights in Domestic Media

by editor · April 11, 2014

Due to intense international attention to the situation of human rights in Iran, Javad Larijani made a rare statement to the domestic media, acknowledging Baha’is are entitled to equal rights under the constitution.

In a rare statement to the Iranian media on April 6, 2014, Javad Larijani, Head of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights Council, admitted Baha’is in Iran are entitled to full and equal constitutional rights.

Iranian officials, most notably Javad Larijani, have often made similar statements to foreign audiences, claiming that the persecution and prosecution of Baha’is is not due to their faith. However, inside the country, they typically refer to the Baha’is in degrading and inflammatory terms, calling them a cult and accusing them of being agents of foreign powers. They infer that Baha’is should not enjoy equal constitutional protections.

The acknowledgment to their domestic audience that Baha’is are entitled to equal rights is evidence of a new level of domestic accountability, and a clear indication that Iranian hardliners, particularly in the Judiciary, have come under increased pressure to justify their rights violations due to therecent international focus on the human rights situation in Iran.

In an interview with the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), Larijani said: “The authorities never target Baha’is just because they are followers of this faith, because according to the Constitution, all Iranian citizens are entitled to certain rights and cannot be deprived of rights stipulated in the constitution.”

Since the 1979 Revolution, the Baha’is have been one of the most egregiously persecuted minorities in Iran. The debate surrounding the citizenship rights of Baha’is reached a critical stage in December 2009 when the dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Montazeri issued an unprecedented fatwaacknowledging the full citizenship rights of Baha’is living in Iran, on par with all other citizens. Up to that point, no major Shi’a cleric had recognized the equal rights of Baha’is as Iranian citizens.

Although Larijani acknowledged the constitutional rights of Baha’is, he continued to falsely claim that no Baha’is are prosecuted and imprisoned due to their faith, and that Baha’i students are not barred from access to higher education.

Yet Larijani’s claims are in direct contradiction to the well-documented situation of Baha’is in Iran. “At least 734 Baha’is have reportedly been arrested since 2004 and 136 are currently detained; another 289 have been arrested, released on bail, and are awaiting trial; while another 150 have been sentenced, but are awaiting appeals or summons to serve,” the UN expert, Ahmed Shaheed, reportedMarch 2014 to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

In addition, seven Baha’i leaders prosecuted in 2008 and sentenced to twenty years in prison remain behind bars and Baha’i students are routinely denied access to higher education, as documented in the Campaign report, “Punishing Stars: Systematic Discrimination and Exclusion in Iranian Higher Education.”

The Campaign welcomes this step forward in domestic accountability in Iran, and urges the international community to maintain its productive focus on the situation of human rights in Iran in general, and on the situation of Baha’is in particular. Over the past few weeks, the UN Secretary General and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran have issued their latest reports, the UN Human Rights Council has debated the situation, and the EU Parliament has adopted a resolution urging Iran-EU relations to address human rights concerns.

—

Source: http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2014/04/larijani-bahais/

 

The True face of Iran

Professor Ehsan YARSHATER  [and Roxana SABERI, journalist].

 

 

"The True Face of Iran"

By  Nassrine AZIMI

 

Published: September 27, 2013.

 

HIROSHIMA — Ehsan YARSHATER, for 50 years the face of Iran at Columbia University, was born in the ancient capital of Ekbatan, today’s Hamadan, at the foot of Mount Alvand in western Iran. Orphaned at a young age but brilliant and thirsting for knowledge, Yarshater grew up to become one of the foremost scholars of the Persian language.

 

His contributions to the field of Iranian studies are impressive, but it is to his life’s work — the monumental "Encyclopaedia Iranica" — that Yarshater has dedicated the most of his erudition. As general editor and the heart and soul of a massive project involving over 1,300 international scholars, he has kept the work alive against all odds for more than four decades. In an interview, the 93-year-old scholar was once asked whether he missed his homeland. He responded that his every waking hour was spent studying the real Iran, so how could he ever miss it ?

 

As President Hassan ROUHANI attends the U.N. General Assembly opening in New York — to present, as he has announced, the “true face of Iran” at meetings, events and interviews — one must hope he will aptly convey the diversity of the land and its peoples, including the close to four million worldwide who form the Iranian diaspora.

I am one of those millions. Many of us have not returned to the land of our birth since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

We are Zoroastrian, Jewish and Armenian, Muslim, Bahai and agnostic. We have embraced new citizenships — becoming American (a majority) and Canadian, Swiss and Swede, Italian and Australian, Turk and Malaysian. We form one of the world’s best-educated and better-integrated diaspora. Diversity is part and parcel of our lives — on a global scale. Families like mine, which includes Norwegian public servants, Swedish physicians, British teachers, and American business owners and engineers — are quite the norm.

Most of us have also experienced the bitterness of exile and separation, and anxiety for our loved ones in Iran. We have dealt with foreign ignorance, fear or pity, at times hung our head in despair watching Iran’s rulers trample basic human rights, and cringed throughout the eight years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s miserable presidency.

And it has always been clear to us, too, that the ills afflicting our ancient homeland went beyond it. The region that was once the cradle of civilization has been absent from the great march of humanity in recent decades — absent in scientific innovations, in literary and artistic achievements, in space discovery, in medical breakthroughs, in the realm of competitive sports or industrial patents. It has too few Nobel Prize winners, and too few foreign students competing for its universities.

From Iraq to Libya, from Syria to Afghanistan, from Egypt to Pakistan — too many nations in our region have paid dearly for their rejection of diversity and of intellectual discord, of the equating of identity with mere religion. Too many of our leaders have been self-anointed or incompetent tyrants who mismanaged our economies. Even when and where oil has brought great wealth, it has been for just a few, and has come with conflict and corruption.

When I travel around Japan I frequently hear the question, “Where are you from?” When I say I was born in Iran, people look vague. Few have ever been there. Yet the moment I mention my Swiss background, studies or citizenship, people are suddenly talkative: “Ah, Switzerland — so peaceful — my daughter just visited ... ”.

 

Why is it so hard to imagine hearing someone someday exclaiming: “Ah, Baghdad! Ah, Tehran! Aleppo! Kabul! Lahore! Damascus! Such ancient gems, so beautiful, so peaceful ... ”

Iraq, where in 2003 all of the American-led delusion and Middle Eastern collusion came to a head, is in its broken, violent state today a reminder of where so much small-mindedness can lead to: Shiite fighting Sunni; neighborhood fighting neighborhood. And what to do, but helplessly watch the suffering and the disintegration of Syria?

In 2005, Ghanim al-Jumaily, the Iraqi ambassador to Japan and now its envoy to Saudi Arabia, attended a conference on governance and reconstruction that my office had organized in Hiroshima. An elegant man and accomplished scientist, with patents in the field of optical communications, he said that Iraq’s salvation could come from seeking commonalities, embracing its vast, long civilization in its fullness, instead of focusing on the smaller print — its religious differences. The ambassador’s insights ring ever more true today.

Walking the corridors of the United Nations in New York, Rouhani may pause in front of the glass container where a replica of the Cyrus Cylinder is being shown. A small clay tablet engraved in the 6th century B.C., it talks of tolerance, respect and diversity. The original is now touring the United States, on loan from the British Museum. The Persian Empire’s great King Cyrus already knew that inclusiveness, compromise and pragmatism bond nations and assure loyalties far better than brute force and ideology.

Rouhani’s statements suggest that he understands the stakes. Iran’s destiny is tied to whole Middle East: Either there will be shared prosperity, or no prosperity. He represents the majority view — in Iran and elsewhere. We can but hope that he will be able to convince the zealots in Tehran and Jerusalem, Riyadh and Washington, of the justness and the urgency of his cause.

 

Nassrine AZIMI is a senior adviser at the "United Nations Institute for Training and Research" ("Unitar") in Hiroshima.