Baha’i girls smile - and are expelled from school

What would you think if your daughter was permanently expelled from school for smiling during Assembly? And not only permanently expelled, but saddled with a criminal charge of “insulting the sacred”.

And what would you think if you complained about your daughter’s expulsion and you were charged with making “statements against the government for your pains? And not only charged but sentenced to jail?

Would it all seem like a bad dream?

Harsh reality for Iran’s Baha’is

Well, it is the harsh reality that Iran’s Bahá’í children and their parents face daily in their struggle against a grossly unjust state policy of preventing Baha’is from being educated.

And it’s what happened to Nasim Haqiqat, a Bahá’í high school student in Shiraz and her father, Enayatu’llah. Five other Bahá’í girls were also expelled from Hazrat Ma’sumih High School for smiling during morning prayer.

On appeal Enayatu’llah’s sentence was reduced to a one-year suspended sentence and a year’s probation. Lucky man!

Read the story

You can read the story at the end of Ahang Rabbani’s translation of the story about Mehran Bandi.

And you can read more about the rising tide of persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran here.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, Shiraz, high school, persecution, expulsion, education, human rights

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