http://bahai-library.com/?file=histories_abedi details an individual biographical account form the 1990's and his involvement in an institutional approach to this oppression.

A more recent account found out by a UN agency is reported, with supplimental information here http://news.bahai.org/story/432

an example of the journalistic and legal atmosphere Baha'is contend with in even "friendly" middle-east countries http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/794/eg6.htm

"A court ruling providing official recognition to Bahais has done little to ease the debate on this Israeli-based cult...."

An online account has more to say:

"CAIRO -- In April, Egypt's small community of Baha'is rejoiced that they had finally been granted full rights as Egyptians, despite deep-rooted differences in religious ideology. Just last week, however, the government put forward an appeal against the group in an attempt to maintain the status quo."

An an online blog struggles to wonder if Baha'is would go to war.

Here's an account of the debate in government circles: "Members of parliament attacked Baha'is as deviants and extremists....

Member of Parliament Gamal Akl, of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, said the Baha'is were infidels who should be killed on the grounds that they had changed their religion.

"The problem with the Baha'is is they are moved by Israeli fingers. We wish the Ministry of the Interior would not yield to the cheap blackmail of this deviant group," added another Muslim Brotherhood member, Mustafa Awadallah." These comments are echoed elsewhere.

An online account has more to say:

"CAIRO -- In April, Egypt's small community of Baha'is rejoiced that they had finally been granted full rights as Egyptians, despite deep-rooted differences in religious ideology. Just last week, however, the government put forward an appeal against the group in an attempt to maintain the status quo."

An an online blog struggles to wonder if Baha'is would go to war.

Here's an account of the debate in government circles: "Members of parliament attacked Baha'is as deviants and extremists....

Member of Parliament Gamal Akl, of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, said the Baha'is were infidels who should be killed on the grounds that they had changed their religion.

"The problem with the Baha'is is they are moved by Israeli fingers. We wish the Ministry of the Interior would not yield to the cheap blackmail of this deviant group," added another Muslim Brotherhood member, Mustafa Awadallah." These comments are echoed elsewhere.

Members of a family are reporting that several women were arrested a few days ago with a large group of youth and young adults who had been serving as tutors of math, science and English to poor children, a program that had been given the permission of the local government. As far as we know, their families have not been able to see them yet. The are pictured here.

NEW YORK, 24 May 2006 (BWNS) -- Iranian officials have arrested 54 Baha'is in the city of Shiraz, the Baha'i International Community has learned. They are mostly youth and were all engaged in humanitarian service when they were arrested. It is one of the largest number of Baha'is taken at once since the 1980s. The specific charges are not clear, though in the past, Baha'is have been arrested summarily on false charges.

The arrests occurred on Friday, 19 May, while the Baha'is, along with several other volunteers who were not Baha'is, were teaching classes to underprivileged children in a school as part of a UNICEF community service activity conducted by a local non-governmental organization. At the time of the arrests, they had in their possession a letter of permission from the Islamic Council of Shiraz. They also carried the letter of permission in each of their classes.

The nature of the charges against the Baha'is is unknown at this time. The day following the arrests, a judge told family members that the detainees would be freed soon. As of today, it appears that all of the non-Baha'is and one Baha'i junior youth have been released without having to post bail.

The arrests coincided with raids on six Baha'i homes during which notebooks, computers, books, and other documents were confiscated. In the last 14 months, 72 Baha'is across Iran have been arrested and held for up to several weeks.

"These new arrests in Shiraz, coming after more than a year of 'revolving door' detentions, bring the total number of Baha'is who have been arrested without cause to more than 125 since the beginning of 2005," said Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"Taken all together, this pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions amount to the purest form of religious persecution and reflect nothing less than a calculated effort by the Iranian government to keep the Baha'i community utterly off balance and in a state of terror,"
Ms. Dugal said.

The arrests come against a backdrop of increasing concern by international human rights monitors that the Iranian Government is escalating its 25-year-long campaign of persecution against the 300,000-member Baha'i community of Iran, the largest religious minority in that country.

In March, the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or belief released news of a secret 29 October 2005 letter from the Iranian military high command ordering police and Revolutionary Guard units to "identify" and "monitor" members of the Baha'i community of Iran, saying the existence of such a letter made her "highly concerned."

Moreover, since late 2005, more than 30 mostly negative and often defamatory articles about the Baha'is and their religion have appeared in "Kayhan," the official Tehran daily newspaper. Radio and television broadcasts have likewise increasingly condemned the Baha'is and their beliefs.

Since January, in addition to the 54 arrested in Shiraz last Friday, seven Baha'is have been arrested and held for periods of up to one month in Kermanshah, Isfahan, and Tehran.

Among those arrested in January was Mrs. Roya Habibi of Kermanshah, who has reported that she was interrogated for eight hours, with questions focused on her role as coordinator of a program to provide religious instruction in the Baha'i Faith.

In the court document that sets out the charges against her, Mrs. Habibi, who is currently out on bail, "is charged with teaching the Bahaism sect and acting in an insulting manner towards all that is holy in Islam."

"While it is often difficult to get details on the charges against Baha'is, there is no doubt that most of them -- like the case against Mrs. Habibi -- are motivated purely by religious intolerance and prejudice," said Ms. Dugal.

Last year, some 65 Baha'is were arrested and held for periods of time ranging from a few days to more than a month.

While most were held less than a week, others were jailed for up to three months. Some of the prisoners last year were held incommunicado, in unknown locations, while their families desperately searched for them. Last year also, government agents conducted prolonged searches of many of their homes, confiscating documents, books, computers, copiers and other belongings.

In the 1980s, some 200 Baha'is were killed or executed. Thousands were arrested and hundreds were imprisoned, many for long periods. In recent years, in the face of international monitoring, the executions and long-term imprisonments have stopped.

For more information go to: http://www.bahai.org/persecution/iran

--
8-bp-060524-1-SHIRAZARRESTS-450-S

I have a follow up article of the one last posted:

Update on arrests in Iran

NEW YORK, 26 May 2006 (BWNS) -- After their arrests on 19 May in Shiraz, Iran, three Baha'is remain in jail while 51 others have been released on bail. No indication has been given as to when the three will be released. None of those who had been released, nor the three who are still being detained, have been formally charged.
On the day of the arrests, one Baha'i, under the age of 15, was released without having to post bail. At that same time, several other young people who are not Baha'is and who had been arrested with the Baha'is, were also released without bail.

On Wednesday 24 May, five days after their summary arrests, 14 of the Baha'is were released, each having been required to provide deeds of property to the value of ten million tumans (approximately US$11,000) as collateral for release. The following day, Thursday 25 May, 36 Baha'is were released on the strength of either personal guarantees or the deposit of work licenses with the court as surety that they will appear when summoned to court.

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


BWC-BK-060526-1-UPDATE-451-N


You'll note that even the Baha'i youth that were released

"...14 of the Baha'is were released, each having been required to provide deeds of property to the value of ten million tumans (approximately US$11,000) as collateral for release. The following day, Thursday 25 May, 36 Baha'is were released on the strength of either personal guarantees or the deposit of work licenses with the court as surety that they will appear when summoned to court."

Are still require to appear in Court and submit work licenses and property deeds.

Three Baha'is are still detained AND there still have been "no formal charges"!

Since Baha'is have no legal staus in Iran they really can detained without warning and for no reason whatsoever.

- Art

A NYTimes article summarizes and extends some recent coverage. And it mentions

"The United States Congress is considering a resolution that would condemn the Iranian government for repressing Bahais and call on President Bush to make the abuse of Bahais a significant factor in United States foreign policy.

Representative Mark Steven Kirk, an Illinois Republican who co-sponsored the resolution with Representative Tom Lantos of California, said, "My fear is that if the regime leads the country into a confrontation with the West, it will be the cover for a great human rights crime, as happened before." "

some south african reframe apartheid with an eye on Iran....here. What would you do, having just worked for your freedom?

a Moslem prince wonders how we are all going to live with eachother.... "My question today is a simple one: "How Can We Live Together?" At a time when political and cultural conflicts threaten us like never before, with dangerous friction between religious communities and competition for resources, when we have witnessed horrific acts of indiscriminate violence, how do seven billion souls reach a civilized consensus on cohabiting a world so abundant and yet so fragile? How can we ensure that Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" does not turn into a nightmare in which billions are born into miserable lives of poverty, humiliation and retribution?

Well, first of all, as I address you today - Jews, Christians, Muslims, Baha'is, Hindus, Buddhists and Jains from 50 states and over 100 countries - this university itself is a testament to the ideal of unity in diversity. It is truly a world in microcosm, where all races, ages and religions meet to affirm the combined genius of humanity...."