Iran: More than 50 Bahá’ís get prison terms for talking about their faith

Islamic Tolerance Alert from the Islamic Republic: "More than 50 Bahá’ís get prison terms for talking about their faith," from Asia News (thanks to Insubria):

Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iran yesterday sentenced three Baha'i to four years in jail for security offences after being convicted of propaganda against the political system and proselytism in the southern city of Shiraz under the pretext of helping the poor. Another 51 were given a year in prison with suspended sentences handed condition they attend courses by state propaganda officials, judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said.
The Bahá’í faith is considered heretical by Iranian authorities and has been banned since the advent of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

More than 200 Bahá’ís have been executed or murdered since then; hundreds have ended up in jail, tens of thousands have been thrown out of their jobs, denied pensions or prevented from going into business.

All Bahá’í institutions have been closed—all their sacred places, cemeteries and properties have been seized by the government or destroyed (see in the photo the destruction of their shrine in Shiraz).

Many Bahá’ís have been sent to prison simply for teaching their children about their faith. Their youth have been denied the right to go to university unless they identify themselves as Muslims.

On 18 December 2007, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution expressing very “serious concern” for the systematic violations of human rights in Iran, which include the use of torture, flogging, amputation, stoning, public executions and repression of minorities, especially Bahá’ís.

The resolution calls on the Iranian government “to eliminate, in law and practice, all forms of discrimination and other human rights violations.”

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17 Comments

exsgtbrown | January 31, 2008 7:14 AM

...When Muslims begin building Mosques in your neighborhood, this could be the story of your religion, your people and your life...

Ban Muslim Immigration...

Godefroi | January 31, 2008 9:05 AM

And yet Israel is the only country with a permanent agenda item for the UNHRC.

tanstaafl | January 31, 2008 9:29 AM

Now Baha'i actually practice a religion of peace.

But as you know, according to the Qur'an there is only one religion of peace. You can't have too.

These folks (or any non-Muslims in an Islamic Republic) should be on the fast track for refugee status. There is no doubt that they are being presecuted for their faith.

waltc | January 31, 2008 12:03 PM

And why isn't Juan Cole screaming bloody murder about this? after all he's a Baha'i too.

Guess being a Islamic sympathizer means keeping quiet when Muslims abuse your people.

What a Dhimmi.

DrMack | January 31, 2008 12:21 PM

The Baha'i movement is perhaps the only hope that we in the dar al-harb have for a permanent neutralization of the doctrine of jihad. The Baha'i belief system proceeds from the 19th century Persian founder who asserted his authority to be equal to that of Muhammad. The Baha'i founder, Mirza Hussein Ali, more commonly known by the Arabic title, Baha'u'llah, explicitly abrogated the doctrine of jihad. It is the only Islamic reform movement to have ever done so and survive.

It may take several centuries for this movement to take hold but it does seem capable of even expanding within the Islamic world in spite of the severe state-sponsored pogroms that have occurred at regular intervals throughout its history.

In the meantime, all we in the non-Muslim world can do to contain the threat of jihad is to run around the edges of dar al-Islam with cannons as our ancestors did. This necessarily includes neutralizing the "stealth" jihad of propaganda, political lobbying, nuisance lawsuits, efforts to establish "separate but equal" social constructs within our own borders, and all other insidious and downright seditious assaults on our civil liberties.

SaracensAtTheGates | January 31, 2008 12:33 PM

And why isn't Juan Cole screaming bloody murder about this? after all he's a Baha'i too.

It is my understanding that several years ago Juan Cole was a registered member of the Bahai religion but that his views on the administrative structure of the Bahai community were at odds with the orthodoxy and he eventually withdrew his membership after a somewhat bitter disagreement with the leadership who imposed certain sanctions on him. It has been several years since I followed this story but I believe it had to do with postings that he made on a LISTSERV mailing list named Talisman in the 1990s.

Epiphyte | January 31, 2008 1:38 PM

This is one of the best articles I've read about the the Iranian regime's deliberate and official persecution of the Bahai:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/284idyfu.asp

I've used it several times - often when I'm confronted with someone who asserts that Islam is a tolerant and peaceful religion because jews and Christians are "protected peoples" - which they proclaim confidently without bothering to learn what was required of the dhimmi as part of that "covenant" or how quickly and frequently their overlords were wont to call an infraction. . .

The circumstances of the Bahai, as well as that of the hindus (to some extent) and the Buddhists of Afghanistan, demonstrate the "flip" side of dhimmi equation: those peoples who were mercilessly slaughtered and driven out because they didn't meet the initial qualifications for dhimmitude by being either a jew or a christian. . . As the article suggests and the current legal status of the Bahai in Iran confirms, those people are among the special class of religions that, under the Iran penal code, may be "murdered with impunity. . . "

ImNoDhimmi | January 31, 2008 2:41 PM

Anyone remember that song, "Mona with the Children"?

Mona Mahmudnizhad
From Wikipedia

Mona MahmudnizhadMona Mahmudnizhad (1965-June 18, 1983) was a Persian Bahá'í who, together with nine other Bahá'í women, was sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz because of her membership to the Bahá'í Faith.

Mona Mahmudnizhad was arrested and charged for teaching Bahá'í school classes to children. The Iranian authorities tried to make Mahmudnizhad, and the other arrested Bahá'í women, recant their religious beliefs through torture. However, when the women did not recant they were sentenced to death. At the time of their sentencing, the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, made a plea for clemency, but the women were hanged on June 18, 1983.

Mahmudnizhad's story is the subject of several art works; music artist Doug Cameron recreated Mahmudnizhad's story in a music video, Mona with the Children, which made the the pop charts in Canada (#14 for the week of October 19, 1985).The video was distributed throughout the music scene and was effective in bringing the human rights situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran to the attention of the public. More recently a play, A Dress for Mona has been produced and currently Jack Lenz is working on a movie called Mona's Dream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trailer for the movie, A Dress for Mona, can be found on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j968-A_SWTo

James Martel | January 31, 2008 3:21 PM

When will the so called champions of human rights (Europe) start imposing sanctions on Muslim countries for their arrogant persecution of minorities?

Alarmed Pig Farmer | January 31, 2008 4:10 PM

These now sanctioned Persian Baha'i musta perpetrated some egregious hate crimes. Maybe Tim Russert can throw this question up to Hillary and Barack Hussein in the next Dem Debate. They're both hate crime legislation boosters.

Ian | January 31, 2008 5:00 PM

hmmm, now how in tarnation are we going to blame the Jews for this?

Farid | February 1, 2008 7:44 AM

Iran is the leader of the Islamist left.
Saudi Arabia is the leader of Islamist right.
To stop these satanic leaders the west must find interests in other regions.
France & Russia should be persuaded to stop secret support for the evil regeims.
samir

Farid | February 1, 2008 7:44 AM

Farid | February 1, 2008 7:45 AM

Farid | February 1, 2008 7:48 AM

Sorry for the repitition , I had a problem with the modem.
samir

tanstaafl | February 1, 2008 8:22 AM

Farid - those pesky modems!

If Iran is on the left and Saudi Arabia on the right, I'm thinking that the spectrum is not that broad.

ThinkForYourself | February 1, 2008 10:37 PM

Heh. Baha'i topics on consecutive days...interesting. It is a tragedy whenever ANYONE is persecuted like this, regardless of religion, etc. You are right, Dr. Mack, Baha'u'llah explicitly declared Holy War forbidden. And as the Persians exiled him to the Ottoman empire, and as the Ottoman empire exiled him to the penal colony in Israel, this did nothing but help him spread his message far and wide. This religion really is a peaceful interpretation of the "religion of peace" heh.

But I would say the extremes of the left, and the extremes of the right, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, as implied above....that is, the two extremes generally fold back on each other, such that there is really not much of a difference between the two...or as we have been hearing from the candidates in the Republican and Democrat parties in the USA, it's really just a distinction without a difference.

What lies in between the two extremes in the Islamic world...I have no idea??? The moderate Muslims??? Beats me...

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