Baha'i International Community sends letter to Iran's chief prosecutor

6 March 2009

NEW YORK —

The Baha'i International Community has issued an open letter to Iran's prosecutor general outlining the tragic history of the persecution of Baha'is in that country, explaining their innocence in the face of accusations made by the government, and asking for fairness in any upcoming trial of seven Baha'i prisoners.

Sent late yesterday by email to Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, the letter also suggests that the government's continued oppression of Baha'is will ultimately have a wide impact on Iranian society as a whole.

"Your Honor, the decisions to be taken by the judiciary in Iran in the coming days will have implications that extend well beyond the Baha'i community in that land - what is at stake is the very cause of the freedom of conscience for all the peoples of your nation," said the six-page letter, dated 4 March 2009.
"It is our hope that, for the sanctity of Islam and the honor of Iran, the judiciary will be fair in its judgment."

The letter comes after a series of statements from Ayatollah Najafabadi quoted in the Iranian news media leveling charges at the Baha'is and stating that the ad hoc arrangements that tend to the spiritual and social affairs of the Baha'i community of Iran are illegal.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not allow any movement to harm the national security through illegal and unauthorized organizational activities," he said, referring specifically to Baha'is, according to an account published by the Islamic Republic News Agency.

The seven members of the group that had been coordinating the affairs of the Baha'is at the national level and who have been in prison for some 10 months, responded to the declaration from their prison cell. They stated that if the current arrangements for administering the affairs of the Baha'i community are no longer acceptable to the government, to bring them to a close would not present a major obstacle. They said this is now being done, to further demonstrate the goodwill that the Baha'is have consistently shown to the government for the past 30 years.

The letter, which was also sent to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations and published late yesterday on the Web site of the United Nations office of the Baha'i International Community, carefully outlines the facts of the oppression of the Iranian Baha'i community since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

"While the harassment and ill-treatment of Baha'is continued uninterrupted during this period, they have been taken to new levels of intensity in recent years as certain elements that have historically been bent on the destruction of the Baha'i community have assumed growing influence in the affairs of the country," says the Baha'i International Community in the communication.
It notes that it was only in response to that persecution that small ad hoc groups were set up to "tend to the spiritual and social needs" of Iran's 300,000 Baha'is - and that for more than 20 years the government has worked with those structures.

At the national level, the group was known as the "Yaran," which means "Friends" in Persian. The "Khademin," or "Those Who Serve," performed a similar function at the local level.

"Then last year the seven members of the Yaran were imprisoned, one of them in March and the remaining six in May. ... The conditions of their incarceration have varied in degree of severity over the course of the past several months, with the five male members confined at one time to a cell no more than ten square meters in size, with no bed," the Baha'i International Community points out.

The seven are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad.

"Finally," the letter continues, "after some nine months of imprisonment, during which time not a shred of evidence could be found linking the members of the Yaran to any wrongdoing, they were accused of 'espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic,' and it has been announced that their case will soon be submitted to court with a request for indictment.

"This announcement was followed almost immediately by news reports which indicated that you had written to the Minister of Intelligence stating that the existence of the Yaran and the Khademin in Iran is illegal, while at the same time raising the question of the constitutional right of Iranian citizens to freedom of belief. You then made an official announcement to this effect.

"Your Honor, the events of recent years and the nature of the accusations made raise questions in the mind of every unbiased observer as to the intent behind the systematic perpetration of injustice against the Baha'is of Iran. Even if there might have been some misunderstandings about the motives of the Baha'i community during the early turbulent days of the revolution, how can such suspicions persist today? Can it be that any member of the esteemed government of Iran truly believes the false accusations which have been perpetuated about the Baha'is in that country?"

Read more at

Baha'i International Community sends letter to Iran's chief prosecutor

FYI--
World Focus online radio program on the Baha’i Faith in Iran airing March 17
01:47 pm on Mar 13th 2009 admin

World Focus, PBS’s nightly international news program, will air a live online radio program on Tuesday, March 17, that will explore the Baha’i Faith and the situation of Baha’is in Iran. The program will be hosted by World Focus anchor Martin Savidge and will feature a panel of guests.

Questions can be submitted in advance at:
Q&A: Ask your questions on Baha'i faith and Iran | Worldfocus

You can tune into the live online show on Tuesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. EST at:
News internet radio shows and International News internet radio by Worldfocus | BlogTalkRadio

Man, seems those folks are in quite a predictment there aren't they? Do they not have any outside help from some other country or something?

Not really.. You see the allegations are that they are supposed to be spying for Israel or Britain and those who are prosecuting them would just love to be able to say they have "outside help from some other country.."

Truth is they're citizens of a country that will not allow them to practise freedom of their beliefs and is attempting to crush the Baha'is in the country of it's origins.

- Art

Australian MP speaks in support of Yaran
March 22, 2009

Editor’s Note: In the ongoing struggle for civil and human rights of the Baha’is in Iran, Australian Member of Parliament Andrew Robb delivered a speech calling on the Australian government to urge the release of the now-dissolved Yaran and to implore the Iranian government to allow Baha’is the right to ‘freedom of thought, conscience and religion’. The speech was delivered in the House of Parliament on the 12th of March, 2009. Readers may note that Australian MP Luke Simpkins had raised the same issue at the end of February, also in the House of Representatives.

The Baha’i community acknowledged the speeches: “We appreciate that these MPs have spoken out so strongly on this shameful abuse of human rights in Iran,” said Tessa Scrine, a spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community. “The whole world, and the Iranian authorities themselves, know the charges are false”. Three of the Baha’is falsely charged with offences in Iran have close relatives in Australia.

To the House of Representatives

I rise to speak on the persecution of people of the Baha’i faith in Iran-in particular, the seven believers who have been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison for eight months. Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion …

Here in Australia, section 116 of our Constitution prohibits the government controlling or mandating a particular religion. However, such is not the case in Iran. On 18 February this year, I met with two representatives of the Bayside and Glen Eira Baha’i communities, Mr Murray Davies and Ms Niloufar Zamani. Mr Davies and Ms Zamani shared with me what they called ‘the continuing abuse of the fundamental human rights of the Iranian Baha’i community’ and what they saw as ‘a renewed wave of persecution and control similar to that which occurred in the 1930s in Nazi Germany’.

Founded in 1844, the Baha’i faith is the youngest of the world’s independent religions. Today the faith has more than five million believers. The largest population of Baha’is live in India, numbering around 2.2 million. The next largest population exists in Iran, at roughly 350,000 people. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the Baha’i community has suffered the effects of a systematic campaign orchestrated by the Iranian government. The government’s aim is to eliminate the Baha’i community as a viable entity in Iran, despite Iran being the birthplace of the faith. To begin, the Iranian constitution does not recognise the religion. Baha’is are not permitted to meet, to hold religious ceremonies or to practise their religion communally. Holy places, shrines and cemeteries have been confiscated and demolished. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of Baha’is have been executed for refusing to recant their faith and embrace Islam. Since the election of President Ahmadinejad in 2005, dozens more have been arrested.

Amongst those who have been recently arrested are seven leaders of the Baha’i organisation known as Friends of Iran. The organisation is believed to have served as an ad hoc coordinating body representative of Baha’is in Iran, apparently to the full knowledge of the Iranian government. Recently, however, the government labelled the organisation illegal and arrested its seven leaders-one in March 2008 and the other six in May 2008. They are expected to go on trial shortly on charges of espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the system. Amnesty International considers the charges to be politically motivated and those held to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely because of their conscientiously held beliefs or their peaceful activities on behalf of the Baha’i community.

The accusation of spying has been used as a pretext to persecute Baha’is for more than 75 years. They have been accused of being tools of Russian imperialism, British colonialism, American expansionism and, most recently, Zionism. The seven imprisoned leaders are being held in section 209 of Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, run by the Iranian ministry of intelligence. After eight months, no evidence has been brought to light by the prosecutors. The five male detainees are said to be held together in one cell of about 10 metres squared without any beds. All have been permitted access to relatives but none has been granted access to their lawyer. The lawyer is said to have been harassed, intimidated and threatened since taking on the case. The trial is expected to take place shortly in the Iranian revolutionary court. If convicted, the seven will face lengthy prison terms or even the death penalty.

This is not the first time the plight of the Baha’i community in Iran has been raised in this House. In 2006, the members for Macmillan, Boothby and Stirling, with strong support from the other side of the House, spoke with heavy hearts as they recounted stories of persecution passed on to them from their local communities. As they did then, I today call on the Australian government to continue to raise this matter with the Iranian embassy and urge the immediate and unconditional release of the seven prisoners. I appeal to authorities to ensure that the seven prisoners are protected from torture and other ill treatment and to ensure that they are given regular access to their relatives and lawyer. Finally, I implore the Iranian government to stop persecuting the Baha’i people and allow their citizens the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

[Source: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/...sard_frag.pdf]

What makes the Iranian goverment believe they are spies? What reason do they have?

I don't think anyone in authority sincerely believes the allegations.

The international headquarters of the Baha'i Faith is in Haifa, Israel.. actually because Baha'u'llah was exiled to the prison fortress of Akka around 1868 and because Baha'is have been around there since.. All Baha'is around the world send representatives to the world center and are in touch with it. Since the Baha'is in Iran are oppressed no reps are sent anyway.

But Iran has sworn enmity for Israel hence for them the allegation of spying is made on the Baha'is it also carries with it a death sentence. But to direct their blind hostility for the Faith as well as Israel they do this..

- Art

Is Iran where the largest population of Baha'is exist? I believe I read somewhere where it was the second largest independent religion in the world. I had at one time considered the faith its just the thing that turns me off is I cannot say the names.

Doubter

Is Iran where the largest population of Baha'is exist?

My reply:

No..Iran and Iraq are the areas where the Baha'i Faith originated. India has the largest population of Baha'is with somewhere around a few million believers. With the Faith oppressed in Iran for the past seventy years or so there are still about three to four hundred thousand believers so it is the largest religious minority in Iran.

Doubter:

I believe I read somewhere where it was the second largest independent religion in the world.

My reply:

Not exactly... what you probably read was that it is the second most wide spread religion after Christianity.. meaning it is widespread..albeit thinly but widespread..

Doubter:

I had at one time considered the faith its just the thing that turns me off is I cannot say the names.

My reply:

Don't worry.. about the names.. Many Baha'is I've known had that problem but it's what inside that matters most!

- Art

Got it. Thanks Art.