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A Faith Denied: the Persecution of the Bahá’Ís of Iran

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A Faith Denied: the Persecution of the Bahá’Ís of Iran Iran Human Rights Documentation Center The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) is an independent and nonpartisan scholarly undertaking to establish a comprehensive and objective historical record of the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 revolution. This evolving historical record includes the collection and analysis of a broad range of documents and testimonies in an archive that is accessible to the public for research and educational purposes. Based on the principle that accounting for past abuses is essential for future social progress and democratic transformation, the IHRDC encourages an informed dialogue on the human rights situation in Iran. The IHRDC collaborates with a wide range of scholars and experts in human rights documentation and various other disciplines and projects. IHRDC Mission To investigate and document human rights abuses in Iran; To raise international awareness of human rights violations in Iran and bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government to end these abuses; To raise local awareness of human rights violations and international human rights standards inside Iran; To establish an online archive of human rights documents that can one day be used to develop and support a reckoning process in Iran. Iran Human Rights Documentation Center 129 Church Street, Suite 304 New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA Tel: +1-(203)-772-2218 Fax: +1-(203)-772-1782 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.iranhrdc.org Photographs: Front cover photograph is of a Bahá’í cemetery in Yazd after its desecration. Its source is www.Iranian.com. The source for the portraits of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is www.leader.ir. The source for the portrait of Grand Ayatollah Abdul Karim Mousavi Ardebili is www.ardebili.com. All other pictures, including the back cover depicting (clockwise from top left) Mr. Abdul-Husayn Taslimi, Dr. Kambiz Sadiqzadih, Dr. Husayn Naji, Mr. Yusif Qadimi, Mr. Manuhir Qa’im Maqami, Mr. Hushang Mahmudi, Mrs. Bahiyyih Nadiri, Mr. Ata’u’llah Muqarrabi and Mr. Ibrahim Rahmani, are attributable to the Bahá’í International Community and originally published on the Web sites www.question.bahai.org and www.info.bahai.org. © 2006 All Rights Reserved. Iran Human Rights Documentation Center New Haven, Connecticut A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Bahá’ís of Iran Iran Human Rights Documentation Center December 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .....................................................................................................................................2 2. ABOUT THE BAHÁ’ÍS..........................................................................................................................................3 2.1. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY .............................................................................................................................3 2.2. SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES ......................................................................................................................................5 3. THE ROOTS OF MODERN ANTI-BAHÁ’ÍSM..................................................................................................6 3.1. 20TH CENTURY POLITICAL CHANGE ....................................................................................................................6 3.2. THE RAMADAN RIOTS OF 1955...........................................................................................................................7 3.3. TACKLING “THE BAHÁ’Í PROBLEM” .................................................................................................................10 3.4. THE RISE OF THE HOJJATIYEH...........................................................................................................................12 4. THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION AND THE BAHÁ’Í S.....................................................................................16 4.1. 1977: GENERAL UNREST AND MOB ATTACKS ..................................................................................................16 4.2. A REVOLUTION UNDERWAY.............................................................................................................................17 4.3. 1979 AND THE VICTORY OF THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION....................................................................................19 The Islamic Constitution and the Bahá’í Community of Iran ............................................................................20 Ramifications of Exclusion of the Bahá’ís from the Constitution ......................................................................22 5. POST-REVOLUTIONARY PERSECUTION OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF IRAN.................................................23 5.1. ARREST, TORTURE, AND EXECUTION OF BAHÁ’Í LEADERS...............................................................................23 First National Spiritual Assembly of Iran ..........................................................................................................23 Second National Spiritual Assembly of Iran ......................................................................................................24 Attacks on the Local Spiritual Assemblies .........................................................................................................27 Third National Spiritual Assembly of Iran.........................................................................................................33 5.2. CULTURAL AND SOCIAL REPRESSION ...............................................................................................................35 Destruction of Religious and Cultural Monuments............................................................................................36 Destruction of Bahá'í Community Property.......................................................................................................39 5.3. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL REPRESSION ...............................................................................................................40 Property .............................................................................................................................................................40 Ruling 59/70.......................................................................................................................................................41 Purging Committees...........................................................................................................................................42 Loss of Livelihood ..............................................................................................................................................43 The Denial of Education to Bahá’í Students......................................................................................................46 6. PRESENT CONDITIONS ....................................................................................................................................47 6.1. INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION .......................................................................................................................47 6.2. RENEWED FOCUS ON THE BAHÁ'Í QUESTION ....................................................................................................48 6.3. BAHÁ'Í INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION.....................................................................................................50 6.4. A NEW THREAT? ..............................................................................................................................................50 Hate Speech .......................................................................................................................................................50 Collecting Names ...............................................................................................................................................51 7. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................................53 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................54 1 1. Executive Summary The Bahá’í community of Iran has faced repeated cycles of persecution since the founding of the faith in the mid-nineteenth century. Today the Bahá’ís are not free to practice their religion, they suffer from economic and social exclusion, and they have been subjected to executions, arbitrary arrests and the destruction of their property - all carried out with the support of national judicial, administrative and law enforcement structures. Since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2005, there is evidence to suggest a new cycle of repression may be beginning. The report’s key findings are as follows: • The Shi’a clerical establishment in Iran has long regarded the Bahá’í faith as a heretical deviation from Islam. The Bahá’í community has suffered most severely when the clerical influence in national affairs has been strongest. This report seeks to demonstrate that the clerical establishment has consistently worked to undermine and ultimately extinguish the Bahá’í faith, a project that has been wholeheartedly embraced by the government of the Islamic Republic. • The 1950s saw organized anti-Bahá’í campaigns resulting in mob violence, the destruction of religious sites and the formation of private anti-Bahá’í organizations,
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