Supplementary memorandum from the Bahá'í
Community of the United Kingdom
The Situation of the Bahá'í
Community in Iran
SUMMARY
1. The Bahá'í faith is a monotheistic
religion with over six million followers in over 200 nations and
territories throughout the globe. It started in Iran in the mid-nineteenth
century, the birthplace of two religious teachers whom all Bahá'ís
revere as messengers or prophets with a divinely ordained mission.
The first of these, the Ba«b was executed by the government
of the time and the other, Baha«'u'lla«h, was imprisoned,
tortured and exiled to Syrian Palestine in what is now Israel.
2. From the earliest days of the Bahá'í
community in Iran it's members have faced violent oppression.
Whilst Iranian Bahá'ís have always endured persecution
in the land of their birth, conditions for them deteriorated markedly
after the 1979 Revolution. It has been the policy of the Iranian
government since the revolution to treat the Bahá'ís
as "unprotected infidels" and to deny them fundamental
rights. The Iranian state's treatment of this community has included
executions, torture, imprisonment, arbitrary detention and the
denial of a great number of rights including, the right to education
and the right to organise as a peaceful religion. Legal rights,
property rights, and pension rights are regularly denied to Bahá'ís
and access to employment and travel documents are also often blocked.
A concerted campaign of propaganda has been waged by Iran's government
to vilify the Bahá'ís and to misrepresent and grossly
distort the Bahá'í beliefs and practices to the
population at large.
3. Violence and repression of the Bahá'í
community became so serious that in 1985 the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights made specific mention of the issue in a resolution
that condemned Iran for human rights abuses. Resolutions at the
Commission and also at the General Assembly continued to raise
the plight of the Bahá'ís until 2002 when a resolution
at the Commission was narrowly defeated. In the period since then
the situation for the Bahá'ís in Iran has deteriorated.
The government of Iran is known to have an official policy that
is aimed at blocking the progress of the Bahá'ís,
and makes provision for continuous pressure on the viability of
this community. Incidents of discriminatory behaviour towards
Bahá'ís are on the increase and the hopes for better
human rights for all of Iran's people that have been held out
by the reformists in Iranian politics have failed to materialise.
The Bahá'ís of Iran—the current
situation
4. Outwardly, it would seem that the situation
has improved somewhat in recent years There has been a shift away
from long-term imprisonment, although four Bahá'ís
remain imprisoned on grounds of their beliefs. Since 1998 however
the authorities have developed a widespread pattern of short-term
detention for Bahá'ís. This practice is more difficult
to monitor and report to the international community, but serves
well as an effective means of constant harassment.
5. Other hopeful signs include measures
that enable Bahá'í couples to register their marriages,
and the greater ease with which Bahá'ís are now
able to obtain passports. There have been several encouraging
statements by Iranian representatives in international fora, including
comments on new laws on the right to citizenship.
6. We welcome these statements, but we have
yet to see any evidence that "the right to citizenship"
legislation is being implemented. The following patterns of persecution
persist:
— Bahá'ís are still incarcerated
because of their religious beliefs, two of them sentenced to life
in prison.
— Bahá'ís are subject
to arbitrary detention and all Bahá'ís suffer from
discrimination in social, economic, legal and educational matters.
— Confiscated Bahá'í
property has not been returned, and Bahá'í property
continues to be confiscated.
— The Bahá'í community
has for over 20 years been denied the right to elect its administrative
institutions, around which the communal, spiritual and social
activities of Bahá'ís revolve.
7. Iranian representatives have spoken in
encouraging terms about improving rights for religious minorities.
It is imperative to understand that any language concerning religious
minorities probably does not apply to the Bahá'ís.
The Bahá'ís are labelled as a "mislead sect"
or a political movement of some kind and therefore are consistently
not recognised as a religious minority.
8. Persecution of the Iranian Bahá'í
community is ongoing and current. On January 7 2003 we learned
of the case of a Bahá'í, who has had his appeal
for the return of his confiscated property rejected by the Islamic
Revolutionary Court. A lower court confiscated his property on
the grounds that he held Bahá'í classes in this
home and that over 900 Bahá'í books were found there.
The court upheld the previous ruling.
9. The policy of denying Bahá'ís
access to education also continues. On July 19 2002 the Bahá'í
Institute for Higher Education was holding examinations in several
locations across the country. In the city of Shiraz Revolutionary
Guards entered three separate premises and undertook to video
the proceedings, interviewed several of the students and confiscated
the examination papers of 25 students. In the city of Mashad five
locations were raided in similar fashion and all examination papers
were confiscated, together with Bahá'í books. The
government clearly maintains a close level of scrutiny on Bahá'ís
seeking to educate themselves.
10. In November of last year Iran's Parliament
approved a bill granting equal compensation in "blood money"
to the recognised minorities of Iran. Bahá'ís are
not recognised as such. In March of 2002 Mr Javad Bagshani was
found guilty of two acts of involuntary manslaughter, killing
Mr Zuhuru'llah Hidayati and Mr Mihdi Fana'iyan, also injuring
three others, in a driving accident. Court documents reveal that
Mr Bagshani admitted negligence and was subsequently sentenced
to three years of discretionary imprisonment. However, the document
also notes that the victims, both dead and injured, were Bahá'ís
and as such blood money is not applicable to them. The language
in the provisional translation of the court documents refers to
the "Bahá'í sect" and concludes that ".
. . from the perspective of human rights, and as to the issue
of blood money, (the court has) decided to acquit the accused
and clear him of any obligation." Human Rights Watch's Elahé
Sharifpour-Hicks has commented on the inequality of the blood
money legislation in a recent interview with Radio Farda.
Developments since the Iranian revolution
11. With the establishment of the Islamic
Republic in 1979, a new chapter in the persecution of the Bahá'ís
of Iran was opened. The new constitution recognised Christians,
Jews and Zoroastrians as religious minorities, thus leaving out
the Bahá'ís.
12. What this has come to mean in practice
is that the Bahá'í were to enjoy no rights of any
sort, and that they could be attacked and persecuted with impunity.
Just one example of this occurred near the city of Rasht on 6
July 1997 when Shahram Reza'i, a young army conscript, was shot
in the head and killed by his superior officer, allegedly in error.
Once it was determined that the dead soldier was a Bahá'í
the officer was released, and a court excused him from paying
blood money. A total of seven Bahá'ís have been
killed by officers and fellow soldiers whilst serving compulsory
military service.
13. Courts in Iran have denied Bahá'ís
the right of legal redress or protection from assault and killings.
Citizens who kill or injure Bahá'ís are not liable
for damages because their victims are "unprotected infidels".
The Bahá'ís have also found themselves without legal
protection in a matters such as the expropriation of their property,
denial of pensions and other civil rights.
14. The full extent of persecution of Bahá'ís
in Iran from 1979 to present day cannot be fully captured in a
document of this length. The assault on the Bahá'í
community has been extensive and varied in its form, employing
methods of outright brutality but also more nuanced and subtle
ways of undermining the viability of the Bahá'ís.
The Iranian state has waged a campaign against a religious minority
of its own citizens that has been characterised by physical, spiritual,
psychological and economic means.
15. The major hall marks of this campaign
can be summarised as follows:
— Over 200 Bahá'ís have
been executed, assassinated or have died in other violent circumstances.
A further number have disappeared and are presumed dead.
— Bahá'ís are arrested
and imprisoned or detained on grounds of their beliefs.
— The right of the Bahá'í
community to assemble and maintain its democratically elected
governing bodies has been denied. These institutions, known as
assemblies, perform many of the functions assumed by clergy in
other religions.
— An entire generation of Bahá'ís
has been systematically barred from higher education unless they
recant their faith. The community has established its own higher
education programme, the Bahá'í Institute for Higher
Education, to offer degree level education to some of their young
people. In September of 1998 officers of the Ministry of Information
raided a number of homes that were involved in this programme,
arresting faculty members, seizing text books and computers.
— Bahá'í cemeteries,
holy places, historical sites, administrative centres and other
assets were seized after the Revolution. None have been returned
and many have been destroyed.
— The property rights of individual
Bahá'ís have been generally disregarded. Large numbers
of private and business properties belonging to Bahá'ís
have been arbitrarily confiscated.
— More than 10,000 Bahá'ís
have been dismissed from their positions in government and educational
institutions because of their religious beliefs. Recently we have
seen the government put pressure on private employers to dismiss
Bahá'í employees. The authorities also attempt to
block Bahá'ís who try to start a private business.
Pensions have been terminated on religious grounds and some Bahá'ís
have even been required to return salaries and pensions paid to
them before dismissal.
— The right to inheritance is denied
to Bahá'ís.
The official policy of Iran
16. In 1993 UN Special Representative, Reynaldo
Galindo Pohl uncovered a secret government memorandum aimed at
establishing policy on "the Bahá'í question".
The document had been drawn up in 1991 by the Supreme Revolutionary
Cultural Council and is signed personally by Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Khamenei. The document specifically calls for Bahá'ís
to be treated in such a way "that their progress and development
shall be blocked", providing conclusive evidence that the
campaign against the Bahá'ís is directed from central
government.
17. Its provisions appear to grant a measure
of protection to Bahá'ís, but its overall aim is
to create an environment where the Bahá'í community
of Iran will be quietly eliminated. It is clear from the summary
of recommendations that the Government aims to keep the Bahá'ís
illiterate and uneducated, living at subsistence level and fearful
of imprisonment.
18. This document is vital to any true understanding
of the plight of the Iranian Bahá'í community for
several reasons. It demonstrates that persecution of the Bahá'ís
comes from the very highest level of Iran's leadership. It also
reflects the more sophisticated approach Iran is taking in suffocating
the Bahá'í community by means of less high profile
abuses of rights.
This policy has never been disavowed by any
representative of Iran's government, including the reformist camp,
headed by President Khatami.
International response
19. The international community has responded
to the persecution of the Bahá'í with overwhelming
sympathy, expressing concern for the Bahá'ís and
condemnation of the Iranian government. Britain has been robust
and consistent in defence of the Iranian Bahá'ís.
The Bahá'í community world-wide believes that these
outpourings have been a strong force in restraining the Iranian
government, preventing a pogrom on a much greater scale.
20. The United Nations General Assembly
and the Commission on Human Rights both approved annual resolutions
on Iran from 1985-02, when the resolution fell after a tight vote.
Each resolution contained language, specifically mentioning the
Bahá'ís. Following a report on Iran by the UN Special
Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Professor Abdelfattah Amor
in 1997 resolutions began to call for the emancipation of the
Bahá'í community.
21. In addition to their capacity to censure
Iran for denying human rights to many of its citizens, including
Bahá'ís, the resolutions passed at the Commission
on Human Rights had the salient feature of mandating a Special
Representative on Iran. The Special Representative prepared an
extensive report on the human rights situation in Iran. These
detailed reports had the value of being independent and lent unimpeachable
credibility to the Bahá'í case.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also
stated its concerns about the treatment of the Bahá'ís
in its annual human rights reports.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
22. The Bahá'í faith has faced
persecution since its inception in Iran in the mid 1800s. Early
followers faced violent opposition from both the Islamic religious
authorities and succeeding dynasties of Iran's rulers. It has
been estimated that some 20,000 persons perished in a series of
pogroms during the nineteenth century for their allegiance to
the Ba«b and Baha«'u'lla«h, the two figures whom
Bahá'ís revere as the bearers of a new revelation
from God for this age of history.
23. The reasons for anti-Bahá'í
prejudices that have remained strong within Iran can be classified
as having two major impetuses, one of theological origin and one
of social origin. Bahá'ís regard the young Iranian
merchant, known to history as the Ba«b and the Persian nobleman
known as Baha«'u'lla«h as being the authors of a divinely
revealed religion. Orthodox Shia Islam interprets a critical surih
in the Qu'ran, describing Mohammed as the Seal of the Prophets,
as meaning that there can be no messengers from God after him.
Bahá'ís therefore have been regarded as apostates
for subscribing to a post-Mohammedan religion. Some of the Bahá'ís
that have been imprisoned and executed since the Iranian Revolution
have been charged with the crime of apostasy.
24. Other aspects of the Bahá'í
teachings also arouse opposition among some elements of Iranian
society. Baha«'u'lla«h advocated a series of highly
progressive social principles, including; the elimination of all
forms of prejudice, equality between the sexes, recognition of
the essential oneness of the world's great religions; the elimination
of extremes of wealth and poverty and universal education. Some
fundamentalist Muslims view the progressive nature of these teachings,
such as the equality of men and women, and the absence of a clergy,
as antithetical to the traditions of Islam.
25. It should be stressed that the overwhelming
majority of Iranian Bahá'ís cannot be distinguished
from their fellow countrymen in terms of racial, tribal, linguistic
or cultural background and they can be drawn from all classes
of society. Their persecution cannot therefore be linked to any
underlying issue of an ethnic or political dimension. The Bahá'ís
are repressed because of their religious affiliation.
26. Throughout their history the Bahá'í
community has suffered from a highly distorted public imagine
within Iran. Clerical and government bodies have consistently
and systematically misrepresented the beliefs and practices of
the Bahá'ís to the wider public. In the nineteenth
century Bahá'í s were accused of being agents of
both the Russian and British empires. More recently this has given
way to accusations of spying for Israel. Often when individuals
have been arrested in the interest of national security and charged
with extremely serious crimes, it is instructive in the real motives
behind their arrest to learn that they have been questioned extensively
about their membership of the Bahá'í faith and offered
freedom if they recant their faith and declare allegiance to Islam.
CONCLUSION
27. In recent years there has been encouraging
rhetoric from Tehran on issues such as human rights and religious
freedoms. The Bahá'í community can only judge the
government of Iran on its actions towards our co-religionists
in that state, the birthplace of our faith. No high level representative
of the Iranian government has ever made a statement that specifically
supports giving any rights to the Iranian Bahá'ís.
28. The Bahá'ís of Iran continues
to survive and maintain their identity in spite of relentless
oppression. The pressure of public opinion and expressions of
solidarity from other governments and Parliaments particularly
add to their strength and determination. Since the fall of the
UN resolution at the Commission on Human Rights, which kept Iran's
treatment of many minorities, including the Bahá'ís,
under international scrutiny, our community can only report that
the situation for the Iranian Bahá'ís has continued
to deteriorate.
It is not the actions of the Bahá'ís
but the circumstances of Iranian history that have conspired to
make the Bahá'í case a litmus test for the sincerity
of Iranian public figures who represent themselves as voices of
reform or progress.
Bahá'í Community of the United Kingdom
February 2003
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