Bahá’í World/Volume 29/Current Situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran
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T he Bahá’í International C Olnmunity
presented this oral statement to the 5 7th session of the United Natians Commission
on Human Rights in Geneva, 29 March 200/.
CURRENT
SITUATION OF THE
BAHA’lS IN IRAN
t is with great regret that we must inform the Commission that Ithe relentless persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran is still a fact of life.
Although it would be correct to say that there have been some improvements since the last session of the Commissionsome prisoners have been released, two death sentences have been commuted, and measures were taken by the government which, by consequence, made it possible for married Bahá’í couples to be registered as husband and wife, and for their children to be registered—persecutions, deprivations, and sufferings remain the everyday lot of Bahá’ís, and this has been so for the past 21 years. Throughout those years this persecution has taken all possible forms, ranging from death sentences and imprisonment to a wide range of deprivations including the rights to work, to education and t0 inheritance, not to mention the right to profess one’s belief. All this is being perpetrated against the Bahá’ís purely on the basis of their religious beliefs.
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We also need to note that although the registration of marriages has had the effect of meeting some of the urgent needs of Bahá’í couples, it also allows the Iranian government to avoid the issue of recognition of Bahá’í marriages.
Furthermore, seven Bahá’ís are still in prison, and two of them are under sentence of death. The charges brought against all the prisoners are clearly and solely based on the fact that they are members of the Bahá’í community.
After his Visit to Iran in 1996, the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Mr. Abdelfattah Amer, specified a comprehensive set of measures that the government should take to remedy the situation of the Bahá’ís. Mr. Amor called on the government of Iran to grant the Bahá’ís the following:
- freedom to bury their dead - freedom of movement - n0 impediment to access to education or employment ° security of the person and physical integrity - civil rights and, in particular, the freedom to manifest their belief - the review and setting aside Of the death sentences - return of community properties and compensation for the destruction of places of worship - equal treatment by the judiciary ° equal rights for all, regardless of their beliefs or the community to which they belong - reestablishment Of Bahá’í institutions We would like to emphasize that reestablishment Of Bahá’í institutions is particularly critical, as they constitute the core around which Bahá’í community life revolves. Because the Bahá’í Faith has no clergy, the arbitrary dissolution of these institutions, ordered by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1983, was equivalent to abolishing cardinals, bishops, and parish priests in Christian communities. These institutions not only guide the community and nurture the individual members, but they perform such canonical functions as marriages and burials.
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B/LHA’lS IN IRAN
However, there has never been the political will nor any form of sustained commitment on the part of the government of the Islamic Republic to implement seriously and systematically the recommendations of the Special Representative on Iran and the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance.
In fact, the government refused the very simple gesture of issuing visas to members of the delegation of the Bahá’í International Community to the Asia Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Conference Against Racism, which was held in Iran. It should be noted that the delegation was composed of three indigenous members of our national affiliates from India, Korea, and Japan, and myself, a native of Eritrea. We had submitted all the documents needed well in advance and even complied with additional and non-necessary requests. All of this to no avail. N0 Visas were issued. This, when the subject of the meeting was combating racism and intolerance.
Thus we are compelled to conclude that, despite the promises made last year by representatives of the Islamic Republic in various UN fora, including this Commission, the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran has not improved, and Bahá’ís remain non-persons under the law. The above-mentioned new developments appear to be cosmetic steps taken by the government of the Islamic Republic in the hope of presenting a new face to the Commission, while in reality there has been no fundamental change in attitude towards the Bahá’ís.
In fact, the past year witnessed more examples that the policy of the government of Iran towards the Bahá’ís is Chronic and its aim, as formulated in the 1991 memorandum of the Iranian Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council on “the Bahá’í question,” is to destroy the Bahá’í community as a Viable entity. These Violations, some of which have been reported by the special representative, Maurice Copithorne, have been amply documented, and these documents are available for close examination.
Therefore, we regrettably have to reiterate that a systematic pattern of persecutions remains, which needs to be addressed, and that until the Bahá’í community, the largest religious minority in
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Tm; Bahá’í WORLD
Iran, is granted legal protection, its situation will remain precarious. Thus, continued monitoring by the UN, and especially by the Commission on Human Rights, constitutes a vitally important
source of protection for this community until it can finally be fully emancipated.
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