Baha’i cemeteries bulldozed in Iran - the persecution goes on and on

Yesterday the Baha’i World News Service posted a story about the latest horror suffered by the Baha’is in Iran.

Gravestones in the Baha’i cemetery near Najafabad, Iran, were left in a heap by a bulldozer that destroyed the burial ground some time between 9 September and 10 September 2007

The destruction of the Baha’i cemetery in Najafabad is clearly part of a systematic campaign by the Iranian authorities to intimidate, persecute and destroy the Baha’i community in the land of its birth. Najafabad is not the only Baha’i cemetery to have been destroyed. The Baha’i cemetery in Yazd was razed in July this year and the Baha’i cemetery in Tehran was destroyed some years ago. One can only imagine the distress caused to the relatives of those laid to rest in these cemeteries. Baha’is honour their dead and treat the bodies and resting places of the deceased with the greatest respect. Baha’i cemeteries should be beautiful places with trees and running water. But the Iranian authorities have forced Baha’is to bury their dead in waste ground without any facilities for laying out and washing the bodies. In some cases Baha’is haven’t even been allowed to mark the graves of their loved ones.

Some 30 Baha’i families in Najafabad received threatening letters a few days before the cemetery was destroyed.

The Baha’i cemetery in Yazd, Iran, was destroyed in July. The tracks left behind and the severity of the damage show that heavy equipment was used

To destroy graves and cemeteries is to show utter contempt. It is like spitting in someone’s face. But this is not the only thing that Iranian Baha’is are suffering in their native land.

Young Baha’is continue to be denied access to higher education. Baha’i children are subjected to bullying and intimidation by their teachers and school administrators; and they are forced to listen to utter falsehoods about the Baha’i Faith being taught as “fact”. Baha’is are suffering an increasing degree of economic strangulation - business licenses are revoked, repayment of salaries and pensions is demanded, employers are penalized for taking on Baha’is to work in their businesses. Baha’i properties are expropriated and Baha’is are made to pay for the forced legal transfer of ownership of their homes to the authorities.

Homes set on fire, anti-Baha’i graffiti, new arrests, a 70-year-old man sentenced to 70 lashes and a year in prison for “propagating and spreading Bahaism and the defamation of the pure Imams.” The horrors go on.

“Hezbollah is awake and despises the Baha’is” reads this piece of graffiti on a building in the city of Abadeh. Dozens of hateful anti-Baha’i slogans have been painted on homes, offices and cemetery buildings in various locations in Iran

Diane Ala’i, who represents the Baha’i International Community to the UN in Geneva says, “This should be a cause for concern among human rights activists everywhere.” She appealed to the world to hold the Iranian government accountable for its actions and to help prevent the situation from deteriorating into further violence. Baha’is in Iran number about 300,000 and represent the largest religious minority in the country.

Put in a historical context, these kinds of attacks too often have been a prelude to campaigns of oppression and violence that are far worse.

While some of these incidents may seem to be minor, the fact that such events are increasingly commonplace and reported as occurring in virtually every region of Iran shows that the persecution of Baha’is remains official government policy, and therefore is something for which Iran must be held accountable.

“The graffiti in Abadeh included slogans such as ‘Death to Baha’is, the mercenaries of America and England,’ ‘Hezbollah despises the Baha’is,’ ‘Baha’is - mercenaries of Israel’ and ‘Baha’is are unclean’ - phrases that relate directly to government propaganda that has been disseminated in Iranian news media in recent years.”

Of course, the Baha’is are not the only group to suffer human rights violations in Iran. In recent months, the Iranian authorities have been carrying out a widespread crackdown on civil society, targeting academics, women’s rights activists, students, and journalists.

The Baha’is in Iran are steadfast and dedicated to making their country a better place. I fear for their safety in the immediate future, but more and more Iranians outside Iran (who are not Baha’is) are shocked by what is going on and the treatment of the Baha’is in their native land. And they are deeply impressed by the calm, dignified and persistently positive response of the Baha’is to the attacks against them.

You can read the comments of a couple of Baha’i bloggers here and here. And you can read the Baha’i World News Service story here.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, persecution, human rights

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