By Mark Browne
Esquimalt News
Jun 23 2006


She was seven years old when the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stormed into her family's house.

It was 1982, a time when the regime in Iran had stepped up its oppression against members of the Baha'i faith in that country.

"When they attacked, my mom asked them what is the purpose for invading our house," says the Esquimalt resident who's name is being withheld to protect relatives still living in Iran.

A Revolutionary Guard responded to her mother's question by kicking her in the stomach. Her mother had just given birth 15 days earlier.

"They slapped my father next in the face," she recalls.

The men who entered her family's home then proceeded to collect family photos, Baha'i literature, rugs, her mother's jewelry and other valuable items.

"They took away my father. The whole family was in shock," she says.

While the woman is learning English, she chose to speak through an interpreter during the interview because of the difficulty of articulating her painful past in her new language.

Her father had been arrested simply because he was an elected member of the local Baha'i assembly.

Her mother contacted legal authorities in Iran in an attempt to learn about her husband's whereabouts. Nine months later the family learned that he was being held in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

Her mother was given permission to visit her husband in the prison. The visit took place over a phone behind glass. What her mother encountered came as a shock as her husband had lost weight, had long hair and looked several years older.

"She didn't even recognize him in the first place due to the torture," she says.

During the third and final visit to the prison her mother didn't see her husband but learned some devastating news.

"They told my mother, 'we have killed your husband - he's been executed,'" she says, noting that her family was forced to pay for the bullets expelled during the execution.

The family visited a mass graveyard where she says Baha'is, political prisoners and other "infidels" were buried after being executed by Iranian authorities.

The family was randomly given a grave number and a row where their father was supposed to be buried. But there was no way of knowing where his body was really located. And to this day, the family doesn't know where his body was buried in the graveyard.

The Baha'i faith was established in 1844 in Persia, or what is now Iran, and has since spread around the world. There are about five million members of the faith worldwide and about 30,000 in Canada.

The Baha'i faith is a progressive religion as members believe that religious history is an evolving educational process, and that all religions are essentially the same in terms of their universal spiritual message of the oneness of humanity.

Baha'is have been persecuted in Iran since the faith was first established. Much like the Nazi persecution of the Jews in the 1930s in Germany, members of the faith are not permitted to work for the government and many companies won't hire them, she says.

"A lot of Baha'is are unemployed because they try to restrict your income," she says.

As well, Baha'is are not allowed to attend Iranian universities and it's common for them to have their telephone lines tapped by authorities.

Her father's imprisonment and subsequent execution was only the beginning.

"Since that time we were constantly harassed at school," she recalls.

Her brother was expelled in the seventh grade because he was a Baha'i.

"Even for myself the teacher would tell other students to 'stay away from her - they are dirty people,'" she says.

When she was 15 she and a group of Baha'i youth were arrested by Iranian authorities at a gathering where they were holding prayers, meditation and discussing Baha'i community activities. The youths were then blindfolded and taken to a prison reserved for murderers.

She and the other youths were interrogated individually and she recalls being asked what she was doing in the prison.

"I said 'I don't know - you guys brought us here,'" she says.

Each youth was placed in a cell with no window and two dirty blankets.

"We had no concept of time and constantly we were hearing screams and voices from the hallways," she recalls. "I thought I'd never see my mother again."

Four days later, the young Baha'is were released without any explanation. They were taken to a separate location where their parents picked them up and took them home.

The ordeal of being in an Iranian prison continued to haunt the young teen.

"I was always scared when I left home because I always thought that someone was following me - the nightmare continued," she says.

For more information see:

http://www.esquimaltnews.com/portals...d=675320&more=

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

NEW YORK, United States, 27 June 2006 (BWNS) --

Baha'is arrested and imprisoned in recent weeks without charge in Shiraz and Hamadan, Iran, have been released, most on the basis of some collateral, the Baha'i International Community has learned. Trial dates for nearly 130 Baha'is across Iran have yet to be announced.

"We are concerned that this pattern of arrest and release is being used increasingly as another form of harassment of the Baha'is," said Bani Dugal, the Baha'i International Community's principal representative to the United Nations. "Holding on to the assets of people who have not been charged with any crime and whose trial date is unknown are part of the larger strategy of intimidation to deny the community's rights and opportunities."

In Hamadan, meanwhile, three other Baha'is were arrested on 18 June, jailed for three days and released. They were arrested after government officials searched their homes and confiscated computers, books and Baha'i documents.

Earlier, the last three of the group of 54 Baha'is, mostly young people arrested on 18 May in Shiraz, were released on 14 June. The group was the largest number of Baha'is arrested at one time since the 1980's.

Although the judge originally demanded a bond equivalent to $54,000, the three in Shiraz were released without bail on the promise that they would return for a later court appearance. No formal charges have been made against them. However, in most cases, some form of bail, such as deeds of property, were demanded before release.

Currently, two Baha'is, arrested in Tehran and Sanandaj, still remain in prison.

For more information on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran , please go here: http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran

For more information, visit
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org.

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

IRAN CONFISCATES BAHA'IS' PROPERTIES, SAYS UN

GENEVA, 2 July 2006 (BWNS) --

Baha'is in Iran face discriminatory housing policies, including "the abusive use of property confiscation," said a United Nations report released at a news conference last week.

At least 640 Baha'i properties have been seized since 1980, according to Miloon Kothari, the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, who wrote the report and presented it to the news media on 29 June 2006.

"The properties listed included houses and agricultural land, but also Baha'i sacred places such as cemeteries and shrines," said Mr. Kothari. "The affected owners have allegedly not been given an opportunity to participate or receive prior information related to ongoing confiscation procedures."

He said, for example, many of the confiscations were made by Iranian Revolutionary Courts, and that some of the verdicts he examined declared that "the confiscation of the property of 'the evil sect of the Baha'i' [were] legally and religiously justifiable."

In rural areas, he said, such confiscations were often accompanied by threats and physical violence before and during related forced evictions.

Mr. Kothari said he was "concerned at the clear evidence of discriminatory conduct with respect to Baha'i property, including housing."

At the news conference, Mr. Kothari said he continues to receive reports about Baha'is who have had their land confiscated.

"In the last two years, there has been an increase in the number of Baha'i leaders or prominent people who have been arrested without any charge and then released with very high bail," Mr. Kothari said, according to the Voice of America. "And, the only way in which they can post this bail is to put their property as a guarantee. This seems to be another method of expropriation."


The annual report, which was written as part of a six-year mandate to consider housing policies around the world in relation to the right to an adequate standard of living, focused this year on issues of discrimination in housing, and drew extensively on visits by Mr. Kothari in 2005 to Iran and Cambodia.

The report was set to be released in March, during the Commission on Human Rights, but in the changeover to the new Human Rights Council, its official release by Kothari to the public was delayed until last week.

Diane Alai, the Baha'i International Community's representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said the report served to confirm that property confiscations have been used as part of Iran's systematic persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

"Unfortunately, what Mr. Kothari has been able to document has been an on-going problem for Iranian Baha'is," said Ms. Alai. "Property confiscation, along with a ban on access to higher education, discrimination in the workplace, and the outright ban on organized religious activity by Baha'is, reflect the Iranian government's wholesale campaign to slowly strangle the Baha'i community in Iran while seeking to evade international condemnation."

To read the full report click here: http://info.bahai.org/pdf/un_29-06-06.pdf

To learn more about the situation of the Baha'is in Iran click here: http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran


For more information, visit
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org.

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

4 May 2006 News Article from "Elaf”
Thursday, 4 May 2006

A bill to criminalize embracing the Bahá’í Faith in Egypt

A government, “Moslem Brotherhood” campaign of hatred against its followers.
By Nabíl Sharafi’d-Dín from Cairo:

In one of the few issues that are consistent with the Egyptian government and the “Muslim Brotherhood”, the Egyptian parliament has witnessed a race between the deputies of the governing party and the deputy group in proposing actions to victimize the followers of the Bahá’í Faith and launching what could be described as a campaign of hatred against the Bahá’ís, following the effects of this ruling issued by the Administrative Judiciary Court in Alexandria last April, which obliged the Ministry of the Interior to issue personal ID cards for Egyptian Bahá’ís where “Bahá’í” is written in the entry for religion. While the Minister of Religious Endowments in Egypt declared that the government decided to appeal to the appellate court, deputies of the “Moslem Brotherhood” described the Bahá’ís as “infidels and traitors” and demanded that the Parliament issue an Act to criminalize embracing the Bahá’í Faith. The deputies of the group, which has 88 seats in parliament, also accused the Bahá’í believers of being “agents for Israel and the West powers”. The Minister of Religious Endowments quoted the Sheikh of Al-Azhar as saying that “the Bahá’í Faith is not one of the three acknowledged Divine religions; that it deviates from the religion of the people of the Book; that this is the opinion of all the people of jurisprudence; and that the Supreme Constitutional Court decided in a ruling in 1975 that even if the freedom to profess religions is absolute, it is limited to monotheistic religions. The Bahá’í religion is not one of the recognized religions”.

The ruling was issued by the Administrative Judiciary Court in Alexandria on a lawsuit lodged by a couple, who asked to have “Bahá’í” written in their ID cards and in the documents of members of their family. This ruling was welcomed by several civil associations as a victory for the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution in theory, but which the government imposes restrictions on the ground.

Draft by the “Brotherhood”

For his part, MP Akram A’sh-Shá‘ir of the “Muslim Brotherhood” said that the Bahá’í Faith is not a faction of Islam; they are “infidels”. He added, “This is the opinion of a number of senior Shaykhs of Islam, such as Sheikh Al-Qaraḍáwí, Sheikh A’sh-Sha‘ráwí, in addition to Al-Azhar. If this is the case, how could they be allowed to be recognized? Furthermore, the Islamic Sharia is the main source of legislation, which criminalizes this deviant belief”.

A’sh-Shá‘ir continued saying “Bahá’ís are supported from abroad, specifically by Russia and Britain, which protected them from exposure to cases of executions in Iran.” He added that “the United States is putting pressure on Egypt and the Arab States through human rights that Bahá’ís should have a presence and a recognized status. We affirm the impossibility of this happening in Egypt; the Parliament cannot allow a law to recognize them, in as much as they are supporters of the Zionists”, so far as the allegations go.

Then MP Mr. ‘Askar said that he had decided to go ahead with a bill to criminalize the Bahá’í Faith and its believers, adding that the judicial laws have the means to appeal it.

‘Askar wondered saying that the ruling was issued about a month ago, so where were those in charge all during this period? Why did they not move to appeal against the ruling, when there exists a judgement by the Constitutional Court criminalizing Bahá’í ideology?”

MP Zaynab Riḍwán, deputy speaker, demonstrated her support for the Bahá’í religion to be recorded on ID cards. She added, “The Bahá’í ideology is deviant and extremist, but in the public interest it is required that Bahá’ís be registered in the official certificates and cards, because their names are similar to Moslem names.” She went on saying that it is “good that they be known and not unknown so that they do not succeed in infiltrating the ranks of society and spreading extremist and deviant thoughts”.

As for Fatḥí Surúr, President of the People’s Assembly (parliament) of Egypt, he clarified saying: “The judicial ruling presents a legal problem with a religious aspect; it is clear that the Bahá’í religion is not a Divine religion; hence, the ruling is inconsistent with what has been said by Moslem Jurisprudence”.

Hate campaigns

Since the 1980s, the Departments of Civil Registry in Egypt refrained from issuing identification cards for Bahá’ís, so they [the Bahá’ís] resorted to the Supreme Administrative Court, which stated in its ruling issued on the 29th of January 1983 that “the civil registry’s refusal to provide personal ID cards to the believers in the Bahá’í Faith is an administrative decision contrary to the law; the civil registry should not refrain from issuing personal ID cards to the followers of the Bahá’í Faith and should not neglect mentioning this religion on the cards of those who embrace it.”

However, in practice, the majority of the departments of the Civil Registry ignored applying this ruling; they continued issuing identity cards for the Bahá’ís and put a dash “–” in the entry for religion. The Bahá’ís accepted this solution, out of fear of escalation against them by the State agencies. However, in early February of 1985 the State Security Investigation Bureau in Cairo arrested a number of Bahá’ís, at the top of which was the plastic artist the late Husayn Bicar; he was released a few months later owing to old age in spite of the fact that he held fast to what he avowed in front of the investigating authorities that he is “Bahá’í and that the Bahá’í Faith is an independent religion just like Islam, Christianity and Judaism, and all other religions

Despite not involving the Bahá’ís in any new cases since then, the campaign of incitement and hatred against them in many newspapers and the government media continued, as well as the continuation of their dilemma with the official government departments they deal with.

In December 2003, the Islamic Research Academy of Al-Azhar issued a Fatwa stating that “Islam does not recognize any religion other than what the Qur’an has asked us to respect; there should not be, rather, it is forbidden for Egypt to have any religion other than Islam, Christianity and Judaism, in as much as any other religion is illegal and contrary to public order”. Then the Fatwa by Al-Azhar singled out the Bahá’í Faith saying “This Bahá’í creed and its likes are considered a type of intellectual deadly epidemic which the State must mobilise all its potential to combat and eradicate.”

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

"For the first time since 1988, a representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States was invited to testify before a Congressional committee on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran and, for the first time, on Egypt. The hearing was held on Friday, June 30, before the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

The topic of the hearing was "Can Religious Pluralism Survive in the Middle East: The Plight of Religious Minorities." Ms. Kit Bigelow, director of the Office of External Affairs of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, testified on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly, saying in part: "The Baha'i communities in Egypt and Iran are both threatened by deliberate, long-term and well-documented government strategies dedicated to their eventual destruction. In both cases, the threats have recently become more dire, and the situations more urgent."

A full transcript and video of the testimony can be accessed on the website of the U.S. House of RepresentativesCommittee on International Relations: http://wwwc.house.gov/international_...ons/afhear.htm (direct link to real audio video stream.) The testimony of the Baha'i representative begins at 2:48:00. The Baha'i situations in Egypt and Iran are also discussed at length in the testimony by Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom John Hanford and Ms. Nina Shea from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom."

__________________
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.

I've watched the video and it's a good review of lots of issues in lot's of places about lot's of accounts and conditions of oppression. I think it a good review for any multi-faith approach to the problems mentioned.

__________________
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.

I found this article and thought I would add it to thethread...there's a good picture of Farzad Kasiri....

Years after fleeing persecution in Iran, Bahais still know fear
Refugees recall retaliation, worry about relatives.

By Eileen E. Flynn

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, July 08, 2005

Face down on the ground outside a police station in southeastern Iran, blindfolded and with ankles bound, Farzad Kasiri raised his voice in an absurdly sincere attempt to reason with his tormentors.

"Why?" he bellowed. "Why are you doing this?"

The men, he says, stuffed a dirty rag in his mouth and continued to flog his bare feet. The answer is as clear to Kasiri now as it was 22 years ago in that police station parking lot. The Islamic revolutionaries who came to power in the late 1970s after deposing the Iranian monarch targeted thousands of people, he says, because they followed the Bahai faith, a religion that emerged in the 19th century with the belief that the world's major faiths are progressive revelations from God.

"They had a plan to kill us all," says Kasiri, 54, who is now an Austin shoe salesman.

A national spokeswoman for Bahais in the United States says the persecution has continued since the revolution.

"It is the policy of the Iranian government to do whatever it has to do . . . to eliminate the Bahai community," said Kit Bigelow, director of external relations for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.

Now, as the U.S. government keeps a close eye on Iran's newly elected president, religious conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian Bahai refugees are praying that conditions will not worsen for family members they left behind.

They have reason to worry, Bigelow said. In recent months, the situation has deteriorated for the country's estimated 350,000 Bahais, Iran's largest non-Muslim minority, with the destruction of holy sites and cemeteries and an increase in arrests of Bahais.

Since the 1978 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the establishment of a Shiite Muslim theocracy under Ayatollah Khomeini, Bigelow said, the government has executed more than 200 Bahais and forbidden Bahais from openly practicing their faith, attending college and receiving equal legal treatment.

The U.S. State Department's Web site chronicles the Iranian government's mistreatment of its Bahais, and American leaders, starting with President Reagan, and the United Nations have called on Iran to restore their rights.

Although the Iranian constitution recognizes Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity, all of which predate Islam, the government regards the Bahai Faith as heresy and does not officially acknowledge the religion, said Reza Afshari, professor of history and human rights at Pace University in New York.

"No one has suffered as much as the Bahais in the last 25 years," he said.

In the Northwest Austin apartment that he shares with his wife, Kasiri recounts the details of his interrogation, torture and three-month imprisonment. His strong features darken. He is silent for a few minutes, eyes watery and mouth slightly agape as he struggles to control the building anguish.

Kasiri says his captors beat him, threatened to execute him and at one point sent in a Muslim cleric in an effort to convert him. He was finally able to return home, he says, thanks to a sympathetic guard who told him, " 'I have a lot of Bahai friends. I love Bahais.' "

But even after his release, the situation was untenable. The government, he says, seized his family's 100-acre farm in Babolsar, near the Caspian Sea. He fled to Pakistan in 1984, obtained religious refugee status and moved to Austin a year later.

"What they have done to me is not acceptable," he says of the government, but he stops short of making what could be perceived as a political statement.

For many Bahais, even a quarter of a century after fleeing, even after finding safety and comfort in the U.S., fear of retribution persists. Two Austin Bahais asked not to be named for this article because they are afraid that the Iranian government would retaliate against their family members.

"The political situation is very unstable," said one man who recently traveled to Iran to visit relatives. "Nobody knows exactly what's going to happen six months to a year down the road in Iran."

Another Austin Bahai, a woman who said that her mother was imprisoned and father was executed within a year of the revolution, said she worries about what will happen to relatives in Iran. The damage done to her immediate family, she said, is immeasurable.

She was 13 in 1979 when she boarded the "last flight out of Tehran." The shah had just fled, and Khomeini was on his way back.

"You could feel it. It was like a storm that was coming," she said.

Months later, living in the United States, the woman received a call from her father, who urged her to look after her brother and pursue her education, she said. She "knew that something horrible was about to happen."

A short time later, she dreamed of her father's execution. But she could not confirm he was dead until three years later.

"While this was going on, the world just went on," she said. "That was the oddest thing. Why was the world not stopping and taking notice and helping?"


eflynn@statesman.com; 445-3812

Source:

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/...07/8bahai.html

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

Things are heating up in Egypt again.

You might recall that Egypt is in a modernization movement, where for example all citizens are to get identification papers. These papers are to list religious affiliation but the religious/cultural norms of the society allow for recognition only of Islam, Christianity, Judaism. Baha'is therefore would enter a legal no-man's land if they insist on recognition of their religion - and the thousands of Baha'is in Egypt, and the history entertwining Egypt and the Baha'i Faith would certainly enter a new era.

A couple seeking a marriage license had to get such identity papers and wanted their religion noted as Baha'i but were refused. They went to court and they agreed and it was appealed by the government. The matter became a subject of public debate in their Parliment, of a series of TV talk shows and newspaper coverages, and commentary among the blogs (both in arabic and english.)

There had been a scheduled hearing in Sept for the Supreme Court but it was postponed for a report reviewing the facts of the case to be made for consideration. The Court is scheduled to reconvene on the matter Nov 20th.

That report was released in 12 October.

It was entirely against the Bahá'ís as far as I can find...

A blog has covered the topic in depth. Baha'i Faith in Egypt but here's a summary:

it concluded that since the Baha'i Faith is not recognized in Egypt as a "divine religion," therefore its followers in that land have no rights whatsoever and that they simply do not exist! Consequently, they concluded that Egypt's Constitutional guarantees of freedom of belief and religion do not apply to the Baha'is. That Egypt is not bound to its commitment as a cosignatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and that the Baha'is, in Egypt, should not be under its protection--since, as far as they are concerned, Egypt should have no obligations towards them! That the Baha'i are apostates (whether or not they descended from an Islamic background). That they are a threat to the "general [public] order" of the State, and that all their marriages are null and void.... That "methods must be defined that would insure that Baha'is are identified, confronted and singled out so that they could be watched carefully, isolated and monitored in order to protect the rest of the population as well as Islam from their danger, influence and their teachings." The report also calls for the original plaintiffs (the Baha'i family that won the case) to be charged for all court costs!

- note the language reminiscent of the Iranian secret plan to track Bahá'ís (but also understand that Egypt is a Sunni-Moslem country while Iran is a Shi'a-Moslem one and they have little tolerance even for eachother.) It's specifically commented on by the Anti Defamantion League.

__________________
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.

Oct 19th President Mubarak made a speech about religious diverisity on the anniversary of the first night of the Revelation of God to Muhammad mentioned here with an open-ended call for core values of Islam for tolerance but did not mention any specifics:"Isn't it the time for a new religious discourse, that teaches people the correct things in their religion ... and promotes the values of tolerance against those of extremism and radicalism?"

Since then leading religious figures have continued to speak out against and for the Bahá'ís. Here's a report of an interview with a tolerant Muslim but also mentioning his extremist older brother.

__________________
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.

You might recall that the religious leadership in Iran, with formal authority within the government of Iran, had sent out a secret letter detailing that Baha'is should be kept track of in October 2005. This letter had been discovered by a UN official March 2006. The Anti-Defamation League said the orders issued in the 29 October letter were “reminiscent of the steps taken against Jews in Europe ".

Well there's a new letter. Dated August 16th, another secret letter was sent and leaked by November. It's far more detailed about what the Iranian government is to do with the "the perverse sect of Bahaism" - a copy of the cover letter can be read here.

This letter and it's survey asks provincial deputies of the Department of Politics and Security in Offices of the Governors’ General to order “relevant offices to cautiously and sensitively monitor and supervise” all Baha'i social activities about the circumstances and activities of local Baha'is, including their “financial status,” “social interactions,” and “association with foreign assemblies,” and asks for information on the ‘socio-political activities’ of Baha'is – even though it is well known to authorities that Baha'is are entirely non-political in their activities in every country, inasmuch as the Baha'i sacred writings stress the importance of non-involvement in partisan politics, as well as non-violence. The news is covered by the Baha'i UN representatives to the UN (who are one of many NGOs represented there.)

__________________
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.