Briefing Note from the Bahái'i
Community of the UK on situation of Bahái'is in Iran
The Bahái'i community are believed to
be the largest non-Islamic religious minority within Iran, numbering
at least 300,000 people. They have faced a history of persecution
since the inception of their faith 160 years ago. Persecution
became systematic and a matter of state policy with the advent
of the revolution of 1979. In the last few years we have witnessed
an increase in state repression of the Bahái'is coupled
with a disturbing rise in vigilante attacks on Bahái'is
and their property and an increased trend in anti-Bahái'i
propaganda emanating from state and private media channels that
promote hatred against Bahái'is within the population at
large.
We are gravely concerned at the continuing detention
of seven Bahái'is who constitute a de facto leadership
council, known as the Friends. Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin
Khanjani, Mr Afif Naeimi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Ms Mahvash Sabet, Mr
Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr Vahid Tizfahm have been detained since
May of 2008 and are being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison
and have no access to legal counsel. We have learned that the
male detainees are being incarcerated in the same cell, which
is only 10 metres square, and with no beds provided.
We also remain concerned for the date of Miss
Haleh Roohi, Miss Raha Sabet and Mr Sasan Taqva, three Bahái'is
imprisoned in Shiraz. These three individuals were arrested whilst
working on a humanitarian project with deprived children, and
convicted on spurious charges of "indirect teaching"
of the Bahái'i faith. They continue to serve jail sentences
of four years despite the publication of a confidential report,
uncovered by Human Rights Activists of Iran, that details the
finding of one inspector Rustami, a legal advisor to the Supreme
Leader, that completely exonerates the three Bahá'i«s
of any wrong-doing.
Reports of more arbitrary arrests and detentions
of Bahái'is are reaching our offices with greater frequency.
The latest confirmed cases occurred on January 14 when officials
from the Ministry of Information raided the homes of 12 Bahái'is
in Tehran. Five individuals were arrested and detained: Mr Shahrokh
Taef, Ms Jinous Sobhani, Mr Didar Raoufi, Mr Aziz Samandari and
Mr Payam Aghsani. Ms Sobhani worked at the Defenders of Human
Rights Centre founded by nobel laureate, Shirin Ebadi, which was
raided and shut down in December 2008. Over 20 other Bahái'is
were arrested or interrogated from mid-October 2008 to early January
2009.
Patterns of violence and intimidation against
Bahái'is by unknown actors are increasing. Bahái'is
in Rafsanjan have received anonymous phone calls threatening them
with death or the very specific threat of having acid thrown at
their children. In Daryoon, the Friday Imam gave a sermon in which
he announced that the burning of Bahái'i homes is permissible.
On October 23 2008, unknown individuals used a bulldozer to cause
extensive damage to the Bahái'i cemetery there, and in
the town of Rafsanjan an ambulance driver refused to transport
the body of a deceased Bahái'i to a cemetery on the instruction
of the Deputy Minister of the Municipality. It would seem that
even dead Bahái'is are deemed a threat to the Iranian authorities.
Bahái'is continue to face widespread
and systematic attacks on their social and economic rights. Iranian
businesses are being pressured into dismissing Bahái'i
employees, and Bahái'is in private business are having
their work permits cancelled and their premises sealed by the
Public Places Supervision Office. Bahái'is face exclusion
from higher education as a matter of established government policy.
We are now receiving regular reports of incidents involving the
harassment or intimidation targeting Bahái'i children and
adolescents in Iranian primary and high schools.
The wide-ranging policies of persecution and
intimidation against the Bahái'is that are occurring across
Iran as a whole have been accompanied by a determined campaign
of incitement to hatred against them based on religion or belief.
This has included the publication of an anti-Bahái'i book
that was announced by the Islamic Republic News Agency, official
mouthpiece of the Iranian government. The ultra-Conservative,
state-sanctioned newspaper, Kayhan, has run a series of 40 articles
that slander and misrepresent the Bahái'i beliefs in a
fashion that are intended to provoke animosity in the Muslim populace
of Iran.
27 January 2009
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