#the persecution of baha'is in iran

[swiftsnowmane]

"This report, Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Baháʼís in the Islamic Republic of Iran, jointly produced by Abdorahhman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran and Eleos Justice (Faculty of Law, Monash University), examines the persecution of Bahá’ís through two frameworks: Johan Galtung’s theory of violence — direct, structural, and cultural — and international criminal law. Drawing on diverse sources, including over 50 interviews with Baháʼís, the report provides unprecedented insight into the mechanisms of persecution and calls for international awareness and accountability.

The Bahá’í faith, established in 1844, has faced continuous and intense persecution in Iran, marked by violence, discrimination, and a systematic denial of rights. Initially, Bahá’ís experienced mob violence and various forms of state-sanctioned oppression, which worsened after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The new regime viewed the Bahá’í community as a theological and ideological threat, reinforcing exclusionary policies under the doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih, which left no room for religious diversity.

State violence against Bahá’ís has ranged from executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and physical abuse, to the destruction of property, including homes, businesses, and cemeteries. Hundreds of Bahá’í properties have been confiscated, leaving families without recourse and with lingering trauma.

Apart from physical violence, Bahá’ís in Iran suffer structural and cultural discrimination. The constitution excludes Bahá’ís from recognized religious minorities, denying them basic rights to education, employment, and property. A 1991 memorandum further formalized policies aimed at limiting Bahá’í socioeconomic progress. Recently, Bahá’ís have been denied marriage registration, complicating legal matters around family and inheritance.

Culturally, the State perpetuates anti-Bahá’í sentiment through propaganda and misinformation, portraying Bahá’ís as foreign agents or morally corrupt. This narrative permeates educational materials, fostering discrimination among students and teachers. However, there is growing resistance among Iranians, with some expressing support for the Bahá’í community.

Under international law, these systematic actions against Bahá’ís constitute crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution, though they fall short of the legal definition of genocide. Despite Iran’s non-participation in the Rome Statute, the principle of universal jurisdiction allows for potential prosecution by other nations, marking an ongoing international concern for the Bahá’ís’ plight in Iran.

Read the full report in PDF format."

[salantami]

View of the Baha'i Temple and Haifa Port from Yaffe Nof Street, Haifa Israel

The Baháʼí World Centre is the name given to the spiritual and administrative centre of the Baháʼí Faith, representing sites in or near the cities of Acre and Haifa, Israel. The Baháʼí Faith is a monotheistic religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception. The religion is estimated to have approximately 8 million adherents (known as Baháʼís) as of 2024, spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories. Photo credit : Talia Grossfeld

#Baháʼí

[sethshead]

Members of the Baha'i Faith have long been persecuted in Iran, due to the Islamic prohibition on the emergence of new prophets. Accordingly Baha'is in the religion's homeland were murdered for apostasy. When they moved to Ottoman Syria, they were imprisoned in Ako, where the Baháʼu'lláh died.

The Baha'i experienced a reprieve during the secular nationalistic Pahlavi Era, but have again been subject to repression and execution under the Islamic Republic. In the 1980s, among his very many political victims, the "Butcher of Tehran", the late, lamented (by the UN, at any rate) President Ebrahim Raisi, also turned against innocent Baha'is. They were killed for crimes against Islam. Does this Iranian government sound like a place to turn for those who espouse the cause of human rights?

Yet our activists, academics, and NGO administrators have made a hero of Raisi and his hangman's noose.

[amagi2000]

Scholar Drops Truth Bomb on Ignorant, Protesting Students

Dr. Denis MacEoin was a British academic, scholar and writer with a focus on Persian, Arabic, and Islamic studies. He was an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

The following is an open letter of rebuttal that he wrote to The Edinburgh Student's Association who voted to boycott Israel based on a claim that  Israel is under an apartheid regime.

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel.

That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I'm speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of. 

Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran, the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren't your members boycotting Iran ? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa . They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.  On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid.

Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran , where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side.

Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument.

They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence.

It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely,

Denis MacEoin

[remove-the-veil]

The State-Sanctioned Persecution of Baha'is in Iran

Or, why Iran was not some kind of human rights paradise even before the Revolution

Recently, I encountered some discussion regarding images of Iranian women prior to the Revolution that are commonly shown in feminist circles to demonstrate how easily women's rights can be taken away by oppressive governments. The post was mainly about how showing images of 'liberated' women in pre-Revolution Iran (dressed either in miniskirts or western-style business suits) was not neccessarily an accurate representation of the majority of women in Iran at that time, and that it also carries different connotations for Iranians due to representing the Westernisation that accompanied US/UK interventionism in Iran during that era. A comment was made that before 1953, Iran had a democratically elected leader, and if there hadn't been a US- backed coup, the subsequent reactionary 1979 Revolution might not have happened, which is certainly a pertinent point.

That being said, as someone from an Iranian Baha'i background, I feel the need to comment on the Western/American assumption that pre-Revolution Iran was ever some kind of paradise for women and other minority groups in the first place. The interventionism certainly did not help and sometimes made things even worse, but it is absolutely not the sole cause or origin of oppression, discrimination, and human rights abuses in Iranian society. And just because Iran was an democracy at one point doesn't mean that everything was perfect and that everyone within that society was safe and protected:

The Iranian constitution that was drafted during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1906 set the groundwork for the institutionalized persecution of Baháʼís. While the constitution was modelled on Belgium's 1831 constitution, the provisions guaranteeing freedom of worship were omitted.  Subsequent legislation provided some recognition to Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians as equal citizens under state law, but it did not guarantee freedom of religion and "gave unprecedented institutional powers to the clerical establishment."

After all, the religious leaders still held great sway and were keen to exert their power whenever possible. And yes, Iranian people still followed them. 'Not all Iranians' of course, but enough. Honour killings still happened. People suspected of homosexuality could still be stoned to death in towns and villages. Mob violence could still be instigated at turns by the government and/or by the Islamic clerics against the religious minority group that has been their favourite scapegoat since the Qajar Dynasty...aka, the Baha'is. (Back in the Qajar era, at least 20,000 were killed by the Shah.) Baha'i women in particular faced (and still face) persecution on two fronts: religious persecution for being Baha'is, and of course, oppression as women. During the 1950s, there was a state-sanctioned campaign to terrorise the Baha'i community:

[The] approved and coordinated the anti-Baháʼí campaign to incite public passion against the Baháʼís started in 1955 and included the spreading of anti-Baháʼí propaganda in national radio stations and official newspapers.

During the month of Ramadan in 1955, Sheikh Mohammad Taqi Falsafi, a populist preacher, started one of the highest-profile anti-Baháʼí propaganda schemes. After receiving permission from the Shah to state anti-Baháʼí rhetoric in his sermons, he encouraged other clergy to discuss the Baháʼí issue in their sermons. These sermons caused mob violence against Baháʼís; Baháʼí properties were destroyed, Baháʼí centres were looted, Baháʼí cemeteries desecrated, Baháʼís were killed, some hacked to pieces, Baháʼí women were abducted and forced to marry Muslims, and Baháʼís were expelled and dismissed from schools and employment.

[As a personal sidenote, my father was a child at this time and has many terrifying stories of his family having to move from town to escape mob violence. He once had to save his little brother from being beaten to death by a mob of fellow children in their village who had been incited to hate Baha'is and to kill them on sight.]

All of this is not to deny that persecution of Baha'is intensified and became much worse after the Revolution. It absolutely did. Over 200 Baha'is were killed in the aftermath, and many more were driven out of Iran, either physically forced to flee or forced to the fringes of society due to severen and relentless persecution. (Persecution which is still happening to this day.) I just personally find it difficult to see retroactive Western romanticisation of Iranian government or society during the pre-Revolution era, due to my own personal background and family history. I grew up with stories of the brutality of the Shahs and Mullahs dating back to the mid-1800s, and personally knowing many people who fled Iran, both before and after the Revolution....my family members included. There is no 'golden era' to go back to, from my perspective. Only the faintest glimmers of hope for a possible future in which all Iranians can live free from state-sanctioned religious oppression and persecution.

For further background on this subject, see below:

From the wiki article on Baháʼí Faith in Iran

Since its inception the Baháʼí Faith has promoted democratically elected councils; the promotion of modern education as a priority within families (with emphasis on female education) and specific encouragement of women's equality with men. Iranian Baháʼís have created schools, agricultural cooperatives, and medical clinics across the country for themselves and others. Iran is also where the greatest persecution of Baháʼís has taken place—including the denial of education, arbitrary arrest, and killing. Iran's long history of state-sponsored persecution against Bábís and Baháʼís is well documented. The website "Archives of Baháʼí Persecution in Iran" has compiled thousands of documents, reports, testimonials, photos, and videos revealing proof of efforts to suppress and eliminate Baháʼís, particularly since the Iranian revolution of 1979.

From the wiki article on Persecution of Baháʼís

The Baháʼí Faith was established in 1863 by Baháʼu'lláh in Qajar Persia. Eighty-nine percent of Iranians adhere to the Twelver branch of Shiʻa Islam, which holds as a core doctrine the expected advent of a messianic figure known as the Qa'im or as the Imam Mahdi. The Báb claimed he was the Imam Mahdi and thus he had equal status to Muhammad with the power, which he exercised, to abrogate the final provisions of Islamic law. Baháʼu'lláh, a Bábí who claimed to be the one foretold by the Báb, claimed a similar station for himself in 1863 as a Manifestation of God and as the promised figure foretold in the sacred scriptures of the major religious traditions of the past and founded what later came to be known as the Baháʼí Faith. Concerning the historical context of the persecutions, Friedrich W. Affolter in "War Crimes, Genocide, & Crimes against Humanity" writes:

"Baháʼu'lláh's writings deal with a variety of themes that challenge long-cherished doctrines of Shí'i Islam. In addition to making the 'heretic'[sic] claim of being a 'Manifestation of God,' he suggested that school curricula should include 'Western Sciences,' that the nation states (Muslim and non-Muslim) should establish a world federal government, and that men and women were equal. Baháʼu'lláh also wrote that in this time and age, priests were no longer necessary for religious guidance. Humanity, he argued, had reached an age of maturity where it was incumbent upon every individual to search for God and truth independently. These principles did not only call into question the need for a priesthood, but also the entire Shí'i ecclesiastical structure and the vast system of endowments, benefices and fees that sustained it. No surprise then that in the following decades until the overthrow of the Qájár dynasty in 1925, it was the mullas who instigated attacks against the Baháʼís in cities or villages where the clerical establishment was particularly influential."

From the wiki article on Táhirih, THE great 'Remover of Veils' herself. An influential poet, women's rights activist and theologian of the Bábí faith (precursor to the Baha'i Faith) in Iran:

Táhirih was probably best remembered for unveiling herself in an assemblage of men during the Conference of Badasht. The unveiling caused much controversy, but Báha'u'lláh named her Tahirih "the Pure One" at that same Conference. After the historic Conference of Badasht, a number of those who attended were so amazed at the fearlessness and outspoken language of that heroine, that they felt it their duty to acquaint the Báb with the character of her startling and unprecedented behaviour. They strove to tarnish the purity of her name. To their accusations the Bab replied: "What am I to say regarding her whom the Tongue of Power and Glory has named Tahirih [the Pure One]?" These words proved sufficient to silence those who had endeavoured to undermine her position. From that time onwards she was designated by the believers as Tahirih. The Báb continued to highly praise Táhirih and in one of his later writings equates Táhirih's station as equal to that of the seventeen other male 'Letters of the Living' combined. She was soon arrested and placed under house arrest in Tehran. In mid-1852 she was executed in secret on account of her Bábí faith and her unveiling. Before her death she declared: "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women." Since her death, Bábí and Baháʼí literature venerated her to the level of martyr, being described as "the first woman suffrage martyr". As a prominent Bábí (she was the seventeenth disciple or "Letter of the Living" of the Báb) she is highly regarded by followers of the Baháʼí Faith and Azalis and often mentioned in Baháʼí literature as an example of courage in the struggle for women's rights.

Further Reading:

Baháʼí Faith in Iran

Persecution of Baháʼís

Táhirih

Our Story is One: Remebering 10 Baha'i women executed in Shiraz, Iran

Mona Mahmudnizhad

Archives of Baháʼí Persecution in Iran

Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Bahá'ís in the Islamic Republic of Iran

[spokanefavs]

Pete Haug further explains the religious persecution in Iran of Baha'is.

[awnowimsad]

Regarding Bahá'ís being accused of being nefarious Zionists - yeah, that's one of the excuses the Islamic Republic of Iran uses for persecuting them. The Iranian government calls the Bahá'í faith a "Zionist cult".

(emphasis mine)

[Gholam-Hossein] Elham said on Tuesday that the Baha'is were members of a group working together "against national interest."

"The group is an organized establishment linked to foreigners, the Zionists in particular," he said.

Source (CNN, 2008)

After Bábís continued to flock to Baghdad to see Bahá’u’lláh, Iran pressured the Ottoman government into removing him further from Iran. The region of Bahá’u’lláh’s exile is now part of Israel and this is seen as the cause of two of the major allegations against the Bahá’ís: first, that they are the same as Israelis and Zionists, and secondly, that their contributions to their World Center in Haifa support Zionist activities.

Source (Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, 2006)

In 2008 Iranian news channel IRINN aired a documentary called "The Secrets of Armageddon", which claimed that local Jewish and Bahá'í communities were conspiring to take over Iran (mixed more of the usual The Protocols of the Elders of Zion bullshit).

Source (Memri TV)

Some quotes from the documentary:

Iranian historian and political expert Dr. Sayyid Hamid Rouhani: Back then, Ayatollah Kashani said about the danger of the Bahais: "Oh people, you are oblivious to what is going. I wish you could read the telegrams I get from people in other towns. Look at the problems these Bahais cause the Muslims there. If they grow any stronger, they will annihilate all the Muslims, because the English plan is to oppose Islam. This way they want to destroy Islam." Ayatollah Kashani sounded this warning bell in an effort to inform the nations of the dangers of the Zionists, and their agents – the Bahais.

Iranian university lecturer Ali-Reza Karimi: Historical documents point to Historical documents point to a connection between the leaders of the Bahai sect and the Rothschild family, who financed and led the World Zionist Organization. [...] The Bahai way of thinking is very similar to that of the Zionist Jews. Just like the Zionists considered Palestine to be their promised land, the Bahais talked about Iran as the promised land. Out of their desire to take over the land and to destroy Islam and the Shia in Iran, they had many dreams and wrote many history books, but with the grace of Allah, none of those dreams have come true.

so that's that I guess...

Anyways, fromchaostocosmos wrote this about Blake Lively. It sounds like this isn't some white woman tears situation.

@spot-the-antisemitism literally what does zionism have to do with being a shitty man

[swiftsnowmane]

Informed sources told Radio Farda that ten Baha’i women sentenced to lengthy prison terms by the First Branch of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, presided over by Mohammadreza Tavakoli, endured various forms of “psychological torture” and “threats of physical torture” during their detention.

According to information received by Radio Farda, these women were threatened with “rape, sexual assault, fingernail pulling, sitting on an electric chair, and being scalded with boiling water” while being interrogated in the Intelligence Office building in Isfahan.

On October 23, 2023, Radio Farda reported that Yeganeh Aghahi, Yeganeh Rouhbakhsh, Negin Khademi, Shana Shoghi-Far, Mozhgan Shahrzaei, Parastoo Hakim, Arezoo Sobhaniyan, Neda Badakhsh, Neda Emadi, and Bahareh Lotfi had been detained by security forces in Isfahan and, after about two months, were released from the women’s prison in Isfahan.

The Isfahan Revolutionary Court’s First Branch sentenced eight of these women to ten years in prison and a fine of 100 million tomans, while two others received five years and a fine of 50 million tomans. Additionally, they all received two-year bans on leaving the country and using social media.

Torture and Threats of “Rape and Death” During Interrogation

Radio Farda’s information reveals that interrogators in Isfahan’s Intelligence Office used items such as “mobile phones and interrogation papers” to strike the women’s heads and faces to force them into making confessions against themselves, other detained women, and even family members and friends.

Based on the information received, interrogators from the Isfahan Intelligence Office, on multiple occasions, showed detainees boiling water and threatened to throw it on their faces. Instead, they splashed the contents of a bottle of ice-cold water on their faces.

In some cases, the interrogators placed an “electric chair” in front of these women, warning them that if they did not confess to “dictated statements,” they would be forced to sit in it and receive “electric shocks.”

The women were also reportedly subjected to hearing “sounds of other women being tortured,” with one instance designed to make a detainee believe another woman had died under torture.

According to these audio files, during the separate transfers of these women from the Isfahan Women’s Prison (Dolatabad) to the Intelligence Office building for interrogation, and in the interrogation rooms, no female officers were present. Instead, two or three male officers repeatedly threatened these women with “harassment and even sexual assault” through their behavior.

Based on information obtained by Radio Farda, “a male interrogator would sometimes get so close to these women that they could even feel his breath.”

Additionally, during the interrogations, which often lasted “over 12 hours,” if these Baha’i women requested to change their clothes due to temperature changes, the interrogators forced them to change their clothes in front of them.

Psychological Trauma Remains

Informed sources reported to Radio Farda that nearly ten months after their temporary release, some of these women are still grappling with psychological trauma from “torture threats and detention.” Some have developed “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD), experiencing anxiety, flashbacks, and nightmares triggered by daily sounds or events.

Accordingly, several of these women have developed “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD). They continue to experience flashbacks to the interrogation and detention scenes when they hear loud noises or encounter excitement in daily life, leading to restlessness and nightmares.

“Post-traumatic stress disorder” can occur after direct experiences of death, death threats, rape, sexual harassment, and similar events. Despite treatment, it may persist with the affected person for life.

Informed sources told Radio Farda that one of these women lost “more than five kilograms” after her release and began “medication treatment nine months later to help her return to a normal life.”

Additionally, the intensity of the “torture threats” and interrogations during detention has left one of these women “terrified of hearing her full name,” as it brings back interrogation images.

Moreover, due to the pressures experienced in detention, this woman has developed “memory issues,” struggling to recall certain events and retain some information long-term.

Confiscation of Property for the “Fund for Muslims”

The First Branch of the Revolutionary Court, in its ruling against these women, has ordered the confiscation of their mobile phones, laptops, all digital devices, any jewelry and gold they possess, as well as any amount of U.S. and Australian dollars they have, “for the benefit of the Fund for Muslims.”

The court has also sentenced eight of these women to pay a fine of 100 million tomans each, and the other two to pay a fine of 50 million tomans each.

Additionally, at the time of detention, any property deeds found in these women’s homes were also confiscated.

A few months after their detention, representatives from the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, which operates under Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, visited the family home of at least one of these women, whose deed had been seized, to inquire about the property’s ownership.

Ownership of many lands and properties confiscated from Baha’i citizens has been transferred to the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order Headquarters following confiscation by the Revolutionary Court.

Based on this, there is concern that, in addition to the seized assets, the Revolutionary Court is attempting to confiscate the homes of these citizens in favor of the mentioned Headquarters.

Last December, the Baha’i International Community reported that, two months prior, the Islamic Republic’s security forces had arrested “40 Baha’is” and searched the homes of “nearly one hundred Baha’i families” in various cities across Iran.

On August 1 of this year, 18 United Nations reporters and experts emphasized in a letter the intensifying persecution of Baha’i women in Iran, highlighting that they face double discrimination for being both “women and Baha’is.”

The authors of this letter described the Iranian government’s actions against Baha’i women as “systematic,” citing cases of arrests, summons for interrogation, disappearances, home searches of Baha’i women, property confiscations, travel restrictions, and extended detentions.

This past May, the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan sentenced an additional 15 Baha’i women to a total of 75 years in prison on charges of “promoting” Baha’i beliefs.

Despite the presence of 300,000 Baha’is in Iran, the Islamic Republic does not officially recognize the Baha’i faith. Iranian authorities have repeatedly labeled Baha’is as “spies and enemies,” issuing numerous rulings over the past four decades for executions, arrests, imprisonment, denial of education and business rights, and the destruction of homes and cemeteries of Baha’i followers.

[no-passaran]

Many members of the Baha'i religious minority have been arrested across Iran in recent weeks amid unabated nationwide protests. Some were detained at their homes while others were rounded up with other protesters in the streets. Like many of the arrested demonstrators, these Baha’is have been locked up behind bars without specific charges and haven’t been allowed to meet with their families. (...)

43 Years of Harassment and Persecution

Members of the Baha’i community are among the most persecuted groups in Iran. From the very first days following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, they have been violently harassed by the Islamic Republic and its lackeys. The properties and the homes of many Baha’is were confiscated, their cemeteries in all Iranian cities were seized and destroyed, and Baha’i villagers were driven out of their ancestral lands.

The homes and the livestock of many of these villagers were set on fire, and some of the elderly villagers were killed by setting them ablaze. Baha’is were expelled from all government positions, academics were kicked out of educational institutions, and students were banned from higher education.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Baha’is served in the military, just like their fellow Iranians. A large number of them were killed, sustained serious injuries or became prisoners of war, but the Islamic Republic has not recognized any of them as “martyr,” POW or war wounded soldier, and their names were removed from the lists of the Martyrs Foundation.

For more than a decade, Baha’is have been banned from leaving Iran and none of them have been given a passport. Over the past 43 years, more than 200 followers of the Baha’i faith have been murdered and executed by the Islamic Republic. Thousands of them have served prison time because of their faith.

During the ongoing protests, security agents of the Islamic Republic have killed a number of children, but for the Baha’is that’s not something new. Forty years ago, on June 18, 1983, Mona Mahmoudnejad, a 16-year-old Baha’i girl, was executed by hanging in the southern city of Shiraz just for refusing to convert to Islam. Babak Talebi and Payman Sobhani are among other Baha’i children who have been murdered in Iran.

Persecuting the Baha’is as a Mean to Silence Protests

Misleading public opinion is one of the methods that the Islamic Republic has consistently used whenever it has been challenged by protests. In the early days of the current wave of demonstrations, the Iranian government once again resorted to this tactic to mislead public opinion and sow divisions among protesters.

In a statement on September 30, the Intelligence Ministry claimed that Baha’is “have had an extensive presence on the scenes of unrest and riots,” using this fallacious excuse to arrest three Baha’i leaders and two members of their communication team.

To back its claim, the Intelligence Ministry created fake Twitter accounts and sent messages bearing the logo of the London-based, Persian-language Iran International TV channel. In these posts, Baha’is were supposedly calling on people to take to the streets on October 14 and 15. (...)

[ayearinfaith]

𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳𝟵: 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝗮́ʼ𝗶́ Baháʼí is a religion which developed primarily out of Shia Islam in what is now Iran in the late 19th century. Taxonomically, it is an Abrahamic faith, a sister of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, though it holds itself to be part of a grander worldwide tradition of faiths. The word “Baháʼí” became the title of the religion after its primary founder, Baháʼu'lláh, and means “glory” in Arabic. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮́𝗯 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝗮́ʼ𝘂'𝗹𝗹𝗮́𝗵 In 1844 a 25-year-old merchant would declare himself a messenger of the singular Abrahamic God and forerunner of the Messiah (a savior figure present to some extent in all Abrahamic faiths). He took the name “Báb”, Arabic for “gate”, as a reference to one of the titles traditionally given to the deputies of the Messiah in Shia Islam. Over the next 6 years the Báb spread his message and accrued a following estimated to be around 100,000 or so across modern-day Iran and Iraq. The Islamic authorities did not take kindly to the rise of what they saw as a heretical faith and, after years of persecution and exile, executed the Báb in 1850. Official records state that his body was left to be eaten by wild animals, though the Baháʼí claim that his remains were secretly smuggled out and now reside at the shrine of the Báb, a Baháʼí pilgrimage site in Haifa, Israel. This did not stop the religious movement, and thirteen years later, in 1863, Baháʼu'lláh made the claim that he was the figure foretold by the Báb. Baháʼu'lláh was a known figure in the religion and had already been influential in developing the doctrine as something distinct from Islam. His claim came with some controversy, though he was not the only person to make it after the Báb’s death. The Báb had given his incomplete writings to Subh-i-Azal, Baháʼu'lláh’s younger half-brother, so that he could complete them. This act was seen by many as a declaration that leadership of the religion fell to Subh-i-Azal. Baháʼu'lláh claimed that, as the foretold manifestation of God, he superseded that claim for leadership. This lead to an internal schism, causing the followers of Baháʼu'll��h to adopt the term “Baháʼí” for themselves, as distinct from other Bábís. Baháʼu'lláh convinced the majority of Baháʼí to his cause, and would further develop core Baháʼí concepts to their, more or less, modern understandings. Baháʼu'lláh passed leadership of the faith to his son, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, who would, in turn, pass it to his eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi. Shoghi Effendi is largely responsible for the increased globalization of the religion, translating its texts and building movements beyond Greater Iran and adjacent lands. After him, leadership remained within the Universal House of Justice, an organization of elected officials already founded by Baháʼu'lláh which acts as the source of Baháʼí canon and a center for global Baháʼí organization to this day. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 The core of Baháʼí and ultimate cause of its split with Islam is the concept of the progressive revelation. As a core religious concept, I should note that there is depth to this which I cannot convey in an article this brief, so the following is a severe simplification. The idea is twofold: the first part is that God has not given his truth to the world only once, or even only a few times, but many times over the course of millennia. The second is that each one of these revelations was given in a manner relevant to the people it was given to. Thus, Baháʼí believe that Jesus was a true messenger of God, as was Muhammad, Zoroaster, the Buddha, and others. The difference in their doctrines is that Jesus was given the revelation of God as was needed for first millennia Mediterranean peoples, Buddha the version appropriate for 5th century BCE peoples of Asia, and so on. Each doctrine is the absolute truth of God and, in the eyes of the Baháʼí, contain mostly similar messages. The distinctions between religions are due to the needs and understanding of distinct cultures across space and time. Each revelation builds upon the last and come every 1,000 years, with Baháʼí being the most recent. With this knowledge, Baháʼí see their faith and its beliefs as being very directly relevant and designed around the modern world we live in today, which contrasts to many other faiths who view their principles as eternally relevant. The unity of humanity is a core principle of Baháʼí, which is very specifically anti-racist and anti-colonialist, though in a purely social way as Baháʼí are discouraged from direct engagement in local politics. Other modern religious ideals include the push for worldwide compulsory education, the equality of the sexes, the elimination of wealth inequality, and the use of auxiliary languages for international communication (Baháʼu'lláh himself praised Esperanto). Image Credit: Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, taken by Michael Donahue in 2018.

[michaelgabrill]

Upcoming: H.Res. 744 Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as amended

H.Res. 744 Condemning the Government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as amended, sponsored by , is scheduled for a vote by the House of Representatives on the week of November 28th, 2022. https://ift.tt/elATYPd

[secular-jew]

An important letter (fact, not opinion) written by Dr. Denis MacEoin, a non-Jewish Scottish professor, senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly, and expert in Middle Eastern affairs: 

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSAmotion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel . That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I'm speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of. Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran, the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren't your members boycotting Iran? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres. In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid. Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai's... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side. Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument. They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence. It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely, Denis MacEoin

[spokanefavs]

Pete Haug, who has been a Baha'i for 6 decades, writes about the religious persecution of Baha'is in Iran, which is happening right now largely through property seizures

[keyvanstories]

My Mom Loves to Visit Our Garden. Nature Lifts her spirit. My mom will be 100 years old the 1st of January 2022. My husband Arsalan has been my best and foremost support in caring for her, specially in recent months when I myself have not been feeling well. This video is Arsalan and my birthday gift to her for her 100th year birthday. My mom was born in the city of Sanandaj in the province of Kordestan Iran in january 1922. Her mother and father were the first in their Jewish family to investigate, recognize and embrace the Baha'i Faith; the New Revelation from God and the fulfillment of the prophecy's of the Holy Scriptures of the past. Their family faced severe persecution by their extended Jewish family and endured much hardship for years. My mom is the oldest child out the 6th children. She served as a Baha'i pioneer for 7 years in Venezuela after leaving Iran as a result of Islamic Revolution in 1979. She learned to speak Spanish in Venezuela and loves to speak  Spanish every chance she gets.She loves to pray every day for all her loved ones. She enjoys reading Baha'i history, watching Baha'i history videos, coloring in her coloring book, watering the plants in the garden, visiting with her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and friends any chance she gets. She takes great joy from the fact that all her children are devoted Baha'is and serve humanity in all corners of the globe.Happy 100th birthday Maman Hamideh