{"id":456506,"date":"2021-03-11T17:18:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/?p=456506"},"modified":"2021-03-11T17:18:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:18:13","slug":"leaked-iranian-document-reveals-systematic-effort-to-monitor-and-suppress-bahais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/leaked-iranian-document-reveals-systematic-effort-to-monitor-and-suppress-bahais\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaked Iranian document reveals systematic effort to monitor and suppress Baha\u2019is"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Washington, D.C., March 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Baha’i International Community has announced that an official Iranian directive has come to light, which instructs local authorities in the city of Sari, in the northern province of Mazandaran, to \u201cconduct strict controls\u201d on the Baha\u2019is in the city by \u201cmonitoring their operations\u201d,\u00a0 and introduce measures to \u201cidentify Baha\u2019i students\u201d in order to \u201cbring them into Islam\u201d. The letter has just been revealed<\/a> by the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese measures reflect the Iranian government\u2019s intensifying persecution against followers of the Baha\u2019i faith\u201d, says LDDHI president and FIDH Honorary President Karim Lahidji. \u201cIn contravention of Iran\u2019s international legal obligations, the authorities consider them heretics, ban their religion, and view the practice of the Baha\u2019i faith as a subversive act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The directive, dated 21 September 2020, adopted a \u201cdetailed plan\u201d to ensure that the Baha\u2019i community is \u201crigorously controlled\u201d, including their \u201cpublic and private meetings\u201d as well as \u201ctheir other activities\u201d. The document was issued by the Commission on Ethnicities, Sects and Religions in Sari, which operates under the aegis of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, a body chaired by Iran\u2019s president and responsible for security matters.<\/p>\n

A previous document issued in 2016 by a similar commission<\/a> at the Mazandaran provincial level ordered a targeted economic attack on the Baha\u2019is, resulting in mass Baha\u2019i shop closures<\/a> across the province. The order was approved<\/a> by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati as chair of the Guardian Council\u2014Iran\u2019s top constitutional body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Diane Ala\u2019i, the Representative of the Baha\u2019i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, states \u201cWe can say with a high degree of certainty that, while the latest document is linked to a local body, it stems from national government entities at the highest levels and suggests that similar meetings and directives about the Baha\u2019is may be occurring across Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolfgang Kaleck, the General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, also expressed concern\u00a0<\/a>about the document: “This new document appears to show that at the provincial level, at least, far-reaching instructions have been issued on how to enforce the exclusion of Baha’is from public life.”<\/p>\n

Ms. Ala\u2019i added that: \u201cThis revelation is strikingly reminiscent of examples in history when governments have monitored minorities with draconian measures ahead of even more sinister actions. It is consistent with decades of laws and policies that have excluded Baha\u2019is from every aspect of public life. With this document it is clear that the government is now implementing measures that threaten the fundamental right of Baha\u2019is to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Education was ordered to \u201cincrease the level of alertness and awareness\u201d among school teachers and principals regarding \u201ctheir handling of Baha\u2019i students in order to bring them to Islam.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe measures with regards to children are particularly shocking,\u201d says Ms. Ala\u2019i. \u201cTo detail, in an official document, clear plans to change children\u2019s beliefs is a galling violation of human rights. It targets not only the practice of one\u2019s faith but interferes with the internal realm and is tantamount to religious coercion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Local and provincial police, the head of Sari\u2019s Intelligence Department, the commander of the local Basij paramilitary force, the head of Education, the Industry, Mining and Trade and the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism departments, and school and university officials, were all issued with the directive.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite constant claims from the government that Baha\u2019is are not persecuted for their beliefs, the Iranian authorities have once again exposed their true intentions in this document,\u201d says Ms. Ala\u2019i. \u201cThe Iranian government must immediately rescind this new directive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter four unsuccessful decades of laws and policies aimed at forcing Baha\u2019is to recant their faith, it is now time for Iran to live up to its international commitments and allow the Baha\u2019is their request: to live freely in Iran without having to deny their beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Background\u00a0<\/p>\n