رضا فانی یزدی

Baha’is as Precedents for Execution of Political Dissidents
By Reza Fani-Yazdi-July 18th, 2009




Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court will be holding the trial of the 7 informal [former] leaders of the Baha’i community of Iran [also known as the Yaran, or "Friends"]. This is the same branch that charged Roxana Saberi [an Iranian-American journalist] for espionage and sentenced her to 8 years of imprisonment. Subsequently the same court, obeying orders from above, convened for a mock appeals trial and exonerated her of the espionage charges!
It is worrisome that the Revolutionary Court is setting the stage for a large scale assault on those arrested during the recent demonstrations following the presidential election of Iran. Though our Baha’i countrymen are not involved in politics, persecution of the Baha’i community is often used to set the stage for a widespread attack on political opponents of the regime.

Members of the Yaran, who were responsible for the Baha’i community’s affairs in the absence of the dismantled National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran, are: Fariba Kamalabadi Taefi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm and Mahvash Sabet. Their court hearing was scheduled to start on July 11, 2009 [the trial date has since been put off for an unspecified time - translator]. The fact that their trial was set to proceed during the current civil unrest, and in the wake of the bloody hounding of demonstrators subsequent to the election of the tenth government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a cause of great concern.

From its inception over 150 years ago, members of the Baha’i community have always been like chickens, slaughtered at both weddings and funerals. Baha’is have been at the forefront of large scale executions.
Savage hounding of Babis [the forerunners of Baha'is] and the persecution and condemnation of Baha’is during the constitutional revolution soon gave way to the harassment and execution of countless broadminded, philanthropic, social and religious reformers in society at large.
To create horror and terror and to suppress any form of opposition, Qajar dictators forced followers of the newly established Babi community to walk in the streets while burning candles were inserted into holes cut in their flesh. In the history of our county, this may have been the first time that torture to this level of intensity was publicly displayed;, moreover, mobs of people were also encouraged to participate in such savage and inhumane treatment of the Babis.
The burned bodies of the Babis were then given to the incited mob to cut into pieces and to hang at the entrance gates of the cities or to throw into ditches as food for wild animals.

By publically displaying such horrific scenes, Qajar dictators were not only terrifying and encouraging the ignorant ungovernable mob to participate in these crimes, but were also setting the stage for hounding and persecution of the free-thinking constitutional revolutionists. In a country where hundreds and thousands of Babis were tortured and executed in the most horrible, unimaginable, inhumane ways, the execution of a few free-thinking individuals, spiritual leaders, social and religious reformers, would not cause the least sensitivity or reaction. Certainly, banning the publication of magazines and newspapers in such an atmosphere would not cause any objections at all.

After the revolution of February 1979, the same historical tragedy was repeated. Again Baha’is were the first victims of the revolution, followed by the subsequent victimization of other citizens.
Iranian society, rattled and destabilized by the revolution, did not show the least reaction or attention to the persecution and tyranny inflicted upon Baha’is, the largest religious minority of the country. The Islamic government executed all of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran, and then again put to death those who were subsequently elected as Assembly members. The members of the Local Spiritual Assemblies in many cities across the country were also arrested, and some were executed.

All followers of the Baha’i faith without exception were dismissed from their employment at government offices and agencies. They were banned from entering universities, were subjected to repeated harassment and oppression by government officials and inflamed mobs.
While free-thinking individuals and political and social activists remained apathetic and unmoved by the gross human rights violations against the Baha’is, their indifference would soon haunt them as the persecution engulfed them as well. A government that had up to that time justified the execution of Baha’is by accusing them of spying was easily able to justify the murder of other citizens based on the same unfounded imaginary charges.
Shortly after imprisoning, executing, harassing and marginalizing a large number of Baha’is, the wave of execution and torture spread to the thousands opposing the regime, all over the country, filling the prisons.

Graveyards for heretics, named Lanat-Abad, which at the beginning of the revolution were for dumping executed Baha’is, started accepting other condemned citizens of the country with open arms. For many years, Baha’is have been convicted and hanged as “spies for Israel” and dumped in anonymous plots in neglected corners of the cities. Today, thousands of young Iranian boys and girls, accused of spying for different countries in the West and the East, are being executed and buried in the same cemeteries.

When Ahmadinejad was elected President in the election of the 9th government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the mafia gang of Hojjatieh were on more solid ground, there began a new wave of executions and persecution of dissident political activists and free-thinkers. During his reign, persecutions again started with the harassment of a large number of Baha’is. The atrocities against them intensified, and finally the seven Baha’is, appointed to take care of the affairs of their community [with the full knowledge of the government of Iran -- see http://www.iranpresswatch.org/glossary under "Yaran"], were taken into custody, accused of spying, and have been languishing in prison for over a year.

Once again, as history bears witness, the persecution will not be limited to the Baha’is. We now see that many who were yesterday in the inner circle of the ruling authorities, have today been arrested, accused of spying and of paving the way for a velvet revolution. These detainees have been tortured, and based on the assertions of the authorities of the Islamic government, they voluntarily confess on televised interviews to spying and plotting to overthrow the regime. It is interesting to see that among the captives are those who held highly sensitive positions in top government offices, such as a deputy to the President, governing authorities, elected members of the Islamic Council, and advisors to Presidents of previous governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Trial of the Baha’i Leaders

It is worrisome that the revolutionary court proceeding for the Baha’i leaders, which is expected to convict them of serious charges, may go on to convict those arrested in the recent demonstrations. This time, the charges levied against Baha’is are not only for spying, but also for terrorism.
Yesterday, Tabnak [http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/pages/?cid=54684], the official website of Sardar Mohsen Rezaei – Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran – in a statement that resembles hallucinations leaking from the defective brain of Hosain Shariatmadari – Special Investigator and the Supreme Leader’s representative at the government-backed newspaper, Kayhan – for the first time portrayed the Yaran as “seven Baha’i terrorists”, convicted of terrorist activities including conspiracy and carrying out the bombing of Rahpouyan Hossaynieh in Shiraz [the Iranian government has never accused any Baha'i of complicity in this terrorist act] and spying for the occupying regime of Israel. It is interesting that in his shameless statement, the fabricated allegation of spying for Israel is again mentioned. Mohsen Rezaei claims that the arrested members “have never denied their association with the occupying regime of Israel; even the Baha’i world headquarters is located in Haifa”.
If Baha’is are guilty because their World Centre is in Haifa and are therefore spies, then all Muslims should be tried as spies for Saudi Arabia on the grounds that their focal headquarters of worship is in the heart of Saudi Arabia. It is the wish of every Muslim to go on pilgrimage to Mecca even if only once in a lifetime. No Muslim denies his yearning.

Documenting such allegations on government-backed websites, including Mohsen Rezaei’s Tabnak, is an indication of the severity and brutality of a catastrophe in the making.

With Respect,
Reza Fani Yazdi
July 9, 2009

Editor’s Note: Iran Press Watch is pleased to share the article below with its readers in translation. Reza Fani-Yazdi, an Iranian-American human rights activist and freelance writer, has published extensively on the plight of Iranians under the current regime in Iran.

[Published by Iran Emrooz, July 10, 2009, at http://www.iran-emrooz.net/index.php?/politic/more/18706/. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]