Human rights violations against the Bahá’ís in Iran

Summary Report

(August 2007 – March 2008)

(Note: Information concerning denial of the right to access post-secondary education and attacks on public school children and the imprisonment of three young Bahá’ís who participated in a community development project with under-privileged children - which occurred over the period of this report – has been provided in earlier reports.)

Context: intervention by the Ministry of Information (Intelligence)

An upsurge in violent attacks against members of the Bahá'í community of Iran, reported below, began after a coordinated intervention by Ministry of Information (Intelligence) officials throughout the country in August and September 2007. During those two months, this Ministry summoned representatives of the small groups that coordinate the affairs of the Bahá’í community on an ad hoc basis in 21 different localities , and unsuccessfully attempted to make them sign an undertaking with the following stipulations:

Any type of organized group activity which has an outward focus is considered by the Information [Ministry] organizations to be political, or institutionally based, and the legal, lawful, and public consequences for it will be the responsibility of the Bahá’í institutions.

Those in charge of Bahá’í institutions in Iran are to answer to the judicial authorities in the country for the legal, judicial, and public consequences of claims regarding human rights which are made outside the country by the Universal House of Justice and [Bahá’í] representatives.

Any organized institute in the Bahá’í community is prohibited. The Bahá’ís must not have any sports, artistic, or scientific activities.

Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Intelligence declared all types of Bahá’í activities illegal, including religious and social gatherings, children’s classes, youth groups and even memorial meetings. Officials told local Bahá'ís that there would be consequences for the Bahá’í community as a result of their refusal to sign the undertaking – stating in particular that: “The Ministry of Intelligence can no longer carry the responsibility of protecting the Bahá’í community against public forces, and your problem with religious forces rests upon you.”

It thus became clear that the authorities consider “any type of organized group activity which has an outward focus” to include activities of any kind, serving any purpose, that would in principle be open to non-Bahá'ís, and during which information (of any kind) about the Bahá'í Faith might be shared with them. “Teaching” is the other term used by the authorities in this all-inclusive manner, as reported in other sections, below.

There have since been indications that officials of the Intelligence Ministry incited “public” or “religious forces” to take action against the Bahá'ís. In Marvdasht, for example, the friend of a Bahá’í reported that the Intelligence Ministry had instructed the Basij , if they meet Bahá’ís who are “teaching” their Faith, to confront the individuals concerned and deal with them severely.

1. Torture/Ill treatment, physical assaults and intimidation

1.1 Torture/Ill treatment and other physical violence

During the months that followed the intervention described above, a series of violent incidents were reported.

Four cases involved ill treatment while in custody. It should be noted that three of these occurred in Shiraz:

In December 2007, officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards arrested Mrs.Mandana Kamali (Dana), the secretary of the local group that coordinates the affairs of the Bahá’í community in Shiraz on an ad hoc basis. She was subjected to ill-treatment during interrogation: on at least three occasions, the questioning began at night and continued until approximately five in the morning and, throughout, a high intensity light was shone into her face. The interrogation was filmed, and an officer recorded it in writing. Mrs.Kamali was released on bail on 10January 2008.
In another case a month earlier (in November 2007), Mr.Diyanat Haghighat was arrested, and then physically assaulted before his interrogation at a detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in Shiraz.
In September/October 2007, we received a report about a young Bahá'í who was physically assaulted by agents of the Intelligence Ministry after they had raided the office where he worked and taken him into custody In Shiraz. They instructed him not to report the incident to anyone.
Mr.Shahreza Abbasi, who had been detained for six days in 2006 and treated very harshly at that time, was arrested again on 13December 2007. He was summoned to the office of the Ministry of Intelligence in Hamadan, where he was incarcerated for two days in a 1.5 x 1.5 metre chamber in the Ministry’s detention centre. Then he was transferred to the jail at the local police station, but the police refused to accept him as a prisoner and sent him back to the Ministry’s detention centre. A few days later, he was again transferred, this time to the detention facilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, where he underwent another long interrogation.

More detailed information about these cases is provided in section 2 (on arrests and detentions), below.

More recently and also in Shiraz, a member of the Bahá'í community was violently and repeatedly attacked. Four men abducted Mr.Sepehr Sharifi while he was out walking on the afternoon of 31December 2007. They forced him into a car, covered his head and took him to an unknown place for interrogation. Mr.Sharifi was asked to identify the Bahá’ís in his community who are actively involved in “teaching” and the individuals being “taught” by Bahá’ís, as well as questions such as “Who defines your course of action and what are their names?” During the questioning, Mr.Sharifi did not disclose any information apart from his personal details. After three hours of interrogation, he was set free outside the city. Prior to this incident, Mr.Sharifi had received a number of anonymous phone calls threatening him with serious bodily harm and even death. Following the incident, he was subjected to further threatening phone calls and letters attempting to force him to cooperate with his abductors, which he refused to do. At noon on 20February 2008 while on his way to visit a friend, Mr.Sharifi was attacked by two masked men. After slashing his back with a knife and throwing a brick at him and injuring his leg, the two men fled. The following day, Mr.Sharifi was abducted once again on his way home from work. When he failed to return home, his parents immediately reported the matter to the authorities. On 23February 2008, Mr.Sharifi returned home in serious condition after having been tortured: his back, legs, and ribs had been badly injured, and he had been held without food for two days.

Another violent attack targeted a Bahá’í from Shahinshahr in Isfahan Province. Around midday on 13 February 2008, a man entered the photography studio of Mr.Misagh Sadeghi while he was getting ready to close. The man demanded to search the shop and to look though his computer. Mr.Sadeghi refused to allow this without a search warrant. Two other men then rushed into the shop and locked the door from the inside. They physically and verbally assaulted Mr.Sadeghi and then proceeded to search the premises. After finishing their search, they locked him inside his studio and left in a car with no licence plate. He reported the incident to the police, to the Ministry of Intelligence, and to the Public Places Police, all of which denied any involvement. Prior to this incident, Mr.Sadeghi had received threatening phone calls from people unknown to him.

Two young Bahá'ís (whose names will not be provided here for reasons of security) were attacked in Najafabad in late November 2007, after they had met, in a park, a woman who identified herself as a member of the Basij. These two Bahá'ís had spent time at local parks and had invited some of the people they met to participate in Bahá’í activities. The woman told them that she “had been warned that Bahá’ís meet people at parks in order to convert the Muslims”. She said that she had never met any Bahá’ís; they agreed to exchange telephone numbers and meet again. Shortly thereafter, this same woman appeared at three meetings arranged by these Bahá’ís and, in one case, by the mother of another young Bahá'í. After the last of these meetings, the two young Bahá’ís were physically assaulted by seven or eight women, and all of their belongings were taken, including their mobile phones. They were not able to identify any of the women (who were completely covered). The Bahá’ís immediately went to the police but were told that there was insufficient information upon which to act. In addition, the police asked them whether they had a permit to hold their classes and required that they sign a statement stipulating that they would have to obtain a permit each time they planned such an activity – otherwise, the authorities could not accept any responsibility if anything happened to them.

Finally, an assault is reported to have taken place on 14 August 2007, when a member of the community in Jiroft was beaten and insulted by two motorcycle riders. No further details are known at this time.

1.2 Efforts to drive Bahá’ís out of localities (attacks on homes, demolition and arson)

In some areas, Bahá’í families continue to face pressure to vacate their homes and leave the towns in which they have lived for many years. In ten localities , the severity of harassment by the populace has led the Iranian Bahá’ís to conclude that the intention is to make life so difficult for them that they will see no alternative but to leave. In addition, Bahá’ís who are questioned by government officials are often encouraged to leave the country.

Members of the community in Abadeh have been especially hard hit in recent months. Their homes have been defaced with insulting and provocative graffiti, their children threatened and intimidated in their classrooms at school, the populace warned against buying milk products produced at dairy farms owned by Bahá’ís, and individuals interrogated and detained by officials of the Ministry of Intelligence.

The experience of a Bahá’í family in that town illustrates the severity of the persecution. On 27 January 2008, members of the Basij closed the entrance leading to the house of the Bahrami family and drove a bulldozer into it, demolishing a wall. Twenty Basij personnel, whose faces were covered, raided the home. The women and children who were in the house fled in terror, taking refuge in the homes of neighbours. Mr. Bahrami arrived home in the midst of the attack and was handcuffed and held captive in his car while the Basijis completed the demolition of the wall. They ransacked the house, collecting all the books and other Bahá’í materials they could carry.

You will find in attachment a photograph (photo A) showing the destruction to the house as well as a copy of a warning that was dropped into the house during the night following these events (in the original Persian, together with a translation, see annexes 6a and 6b).

Many officials are doing everything possible to stir up the population against the Bahá’ís, as reported in other sections of this document. However, the Bahrami family did receive support from some Muslim officials and friends, who denounced the attackers. A staff member in the office of the governor said to Mr. Bahrami, “We are embarrassed; the matter is so complicated that the government authorities are also worried.” The official further noted that in a television broadcast about the matter “your representative spoke beautifully, and we were embarrassed.” A Muslim relative of the Bahrami family contacted the Imam who leads Friday prayers at the local mosque to protest, because there had been some speculation that the attack may have been perpetrated as a result of statements against the Bahá’ís made at Friday prayers. Neighbours and other townspeople visited the Bahrami home, expressing sympathy and even offering to compensate the family for the damage that had been caused.

As you may recall, there had previously been arson attacks against the homes of six Bahá’í families in the village of Ivel. A court hearing had been scheduled in this matter. While the son of the owner of one of the houses that had been set on fire was on his way to the hearing with another member of the Bahá'í community, they were set upon and beaten by a group of 30-40 people. As a result, it was necessary for the police to intervene and provide protection for the two Bahá’ís. In court, after hearing the remarks of the homeowner and several of those who had participated in the assault, the judge stated that the case had developed into a security issue and therefore referred it to the security court in Sari for handling. In another related incident, when a number of Bahá’ís arrived to repair one of the damaged homes in this village, they were attacked by a number of local people, most of whom were women.

There have been other cases involving arson, in particular in Ardestan. Sometime after midnight on 3August 2007, a wooden gate to the garden of one of the Bahá’ís was set on fire. On the morning of the same day, the fence around the farm of another Bahá’í was set alight.

It is reported that Bahá’í representatives met with two officials from the Farmer’s Association. They were told that, despite a court order in favour of the Bahá’ís, “the influential powers will secretly stop the process.” One of the officials offered a number of suggestions regarding steps that the Bahá’ís could take to seek redress, but he was not optimistic. Finally, he said that if he were to try to initiate action on behalf of the Bahá’ís, “the door to the Farmer’s Association will be closed” by the authorities.

1.3 Other threats, intimidation and harassment

We received a report in January 2008 about a Bahá’í family in Vilashahr that had been subjected to extremely cruel and frightening treatment by unknown individuals for several months. The intimidation began with menacing telephone calls to the family, then to their landlord in an effort to make him cancel their lease. This was followed by burglary of their home and damage to their automobile, surveillance of their house, disturbing phone calls to the husband at work and the wife at home, and threats to the wife’s employer to coerce him into dismissing her from work, which unfortunately proved successful. The pressure was so severe that the family changed their residence – to no avail, as the intimidation began again, this time including phone calls to the parents warning them that their children were being followed, back and forth from home to school, and would be kidnapped. The family complained to the police, but their file disappeared within two hours of their having issued the complaint.

On 27–28November 2007, “night letters” (shabnameh) were dropped into Bahá’í homes in Isfahan – these are offensive and intimidating letters or flyers, normally distributed secretly at night to spread fear. The same thing had occurred on 8September 2007 in Najafabad, when “night letters” were left at the homes of nearly 30 Bahá’í families. Moreover, indecent and lewd accusations were written on doors and walls of Bahá'í houses, as well as others such as: “Dirty Bahá’ís, stipendiary of Israel”; “Bahá’ís are unclean, against Islam”; “Bahá’ís, enemies of God”; and “Bahá’ís are traitors to their country”. The local Bahá’ís immediately contacted various agencies, including the police, the Ministry of the Interior, the Governor General, the governor, the Public Intelligence and National Security Force and the Justice Administration. We have received no information to date regarding what action, if any, has been taken by the authorities in this case.

There have also been many incidents of harassment, for example:

Sometime in June/July 2007 a Bahá’í serving in the military in Yazd was told, “We will do anything to make your two years of military service a bitter experience for you and your family.”
Bahá’í materials were stolen from the vehicles of Bahá’ís in Iranshahr, Isfahan, and Sanandaj during June and July 2007. The owner of the vehicle in Isfahan was subsequently called several times for questioning by the police and asked why he had kept Bahá’í books in his car.
In Kerman in July/August 2007, two youths were prevented from continuing with their activities in a sports club, allegedly because other families had objected to their presence.
In September/October 2007, government officials entered Bahá’í homes in Bojnourd, Gonbad, Khorramabad, and Tehran under suspicious pretexts.
Sometime in November/December 2007, a store owned by a Bahá’í in Isfahan was burgled. Despite the police having been informed with a complaint issued by the owner, no action was taken. The police officer who went to the scene and prepared a report about the incident did not bother to take the report with him when he left. Repeated efforts by the owner to pursue the matter have produced no result.

1.4 Intimidation of Muslims who associate with Bahá’ís

Reports from Iran indicate that an extensive campaign is under way to terrorize Muslim friends of Bahá’ís. In smaller localities, all interactions between Bahá’ís and Muslims are monitored, with both sides being warned against association with one another. Muslim relatives who maintain contact with their Bahá’í kin and who participate in Bahá’í activities are identified by the Ministry of Intelligence and then subjected to threats aimed at severing their connection. Similarly, the authorities harass non-Bahá'í friends and associates of members of the community, in particular if they participate in Bahá’í activities.

In November and December 2007, unknown individuals attacked four youths (in Andisheh, Karaj, Kerman, and Shiraz). In each case, they were threatened with death if they did not stop participating in Bahá’í activities.

Bahá’í youth have been warned against marrying Muslims and, in one instance in Kerman sometime in September/October 2007, the family members of a Muslim woman who intended to marry a Bahá’í man were summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence and interrogated. During this questioning, the family members were severely threatened and warned that the marriage must not be allowed to take place. The interrogator stated that a plan to prevent Bahá’ís from marrying outside of their own group was being discussed in Parliament.

Another Bahá’í in Kerman reported that, after a long discussion with a friend in his shop (which included matters related to the Bahá'í Faith), his friend was questioned by a motorcycle rider. This unknown individual asked, “What were you doing for such a long time in a shop which belongs to a Bahá’í?” and warned him against such association.

As mentioned above, a member of the community in Jiroft was beaten and insulted by two motorcycle riders in August 2007. A Muslim who works with him as an apprentice was warned against continuing his association with this Bahá’í.

Sometime in June/July 2007, a Muslim friend of a Bahá’í youth in another locality was interrogated by police officers in a patrol car. They asked why he had Bahá’í friends, and they told him, “Bahá’ís write the names of the Prophet and the Imams on the soles of their shoes, send money to Israel, and fight the Muslims.”

2. Arbitrary arrests and detentions

Iranian officials carried out several series of arrests and arbitrary detentions during the months from August 2007 to March 2008. Many of those detained were interrogated about “teaching”. As mentioned above, this term is used by the authorities to refer to any activity that may involve sharing, with non-Bahá'ís, information of any kind about the Bahá'í Faith (its principles, scriptures, prayers, practices, etc.).

The largest number of arrests occurred in Shiraz, some of which included ill treatment, inflicted by the officials detaining these members of the community, before or during interrogation:

In one case already mentioned above, a Bahá'í woman suffered ill treatment while in custody. The arrest followed coordinated action by officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, who entered four Bahá’í homes in the same neighbourhood complex in Shiraz on 28December 2007. They searched the homes and seized Bahá’í books and materials. Concurrently, Mrs.Mandana Kamali (Dana), the secretary of the local group that coordinates the affairs of the Bahá’í community in Shiraz on an ad hoc basis, was arrested. The search warrant stated that the Guards were to: “call upon all assemblies, gatherings, and homes of the Bahaist sect”.

Mrs. Kamali was interrogated several times, primarily about the administration of the Bahá’í community’s affairs and the Teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. On at least three occasions, her interrogations began at night and continued until about five in the morning. Throughout, a high intensity light was shone into her face. The interrogation was filmed, and an officer recorded it in writing. Demands were made that she provide detailed personal information about the Bahá’ís in Shiraz, including their financial backgrounds. She was also asked who taught children’s classes and questioned about Bahá'í “teaching” activities. At another session, the interrogators tried to link the Bahá’í Faith and Wahhabism, asserting that Great Britain had created Wahhabism among the Sunni Muslims and the Bahá’í Faith among the Shiah Muslims with the intention, in both cases, of overthrowing the government in the countries concerned. At one point, Mrs.Kamali was brought before the assistant prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court, who stated at the end of her interrogation, “It may be that the Wahhabis did take over the affairs of their government, but we would never give this opportunity to the Bahá’ís.” Mrs.Kamali was released on 10January 2008. Her bail was set at 10 million tumans (approximately US$11,000).
On 25December 2007, three days before Mrs. Kamali was taken into custody, Mr.Hormoz Hashemi had been arrested in the same city. He had given Bahá’í books and an introduction to the Faith on a compact disc to a few shopkeepers. When he returned to the shops the following day, all the books and the compact disc were returned to him, and he was handcuffed and taken to a detention centre, where he admitted that he had been “teaching” (i.e. sharing information about the Bahá'í Faith) and said he would continue to do so. He was asked who had given him the materials, and he said he had received them from Mrs. Kamali, who was subsequently arrested, as reported above. Mr.Hashemi was released on 10January 2008 after having posted bail (set at 20 million tumans, equivalent to about US$22,000).
In September/October 2007, the Ministry of Information (Intelligence) arranged to place a woman in the workplace of a young Bahá’í in Shiraz who participates in many Bahá'í activities, some of which may include non-Bahá'ís. The report we received about this incident indicated that this young man’s father is also an actively practicing Bahá'í, and that his mother is a member of the small group that oversees the affairs of the local community on an ad hoc basis. Officials from the Ministry of Intelligence subsequently raided the office and arrested both the young Bahá'í and the woman, who submitted a written complaint that the young man had intended to rape her. The Ministry agents then physically assaulted the young Bahá’í, stating that they had received several such complaints about him and that they intended to disgrace him unless he cooperated by providing them with information about the Bahá’í community and specifically about the members who serve on the coordinating group with his mother. They instructed him not to report this incident to anyone.
Mr.Foad Ettehadolhagh also serves as a member of this small group that coordinates the affairs of the community in Shiraz. On 31 January 2008, officials arrested him during his return from Tehran, where he had met with the group that coordinates the work of the national Bahá’í community. At 8:00 in the morning, the Shiraz highway police stopped the bus he had been travelling on, and he was asked for his identification card. When he gave them his driver’s licence, he was told to get off the bus because the licence was forged. He was then taken to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Shiraz. An official told him that he had been under surveillance since the meeting in Tehran and that they wanted to know what had been discussed there. Mr.Ettehadolhagh was interrogated until 3:00 in the afternoon and required to explain in detail the contents of the various documents he was carrying. All the documents were copied, and the originals were returned to him when he was released after interrogation.
Mr.Diyanat Haghighat was arrested on 13 November 2007. Mr.Haghighat’s child had been one of several Bahá’ís expelled from school in Shiraz, and he had served as spokesperson for the Bahá’í parents in their efforts to follow up with school authorities so their children could be reinstated. An official from the Ministry of Intelligence later came to Mr.Haghighat’s home and searched it for three hours. All books, booklets, and papers related to the Bahá’í community were confiscated, and Mr.Haghighat was arrested.

Before his interrogation at the Ministry’s detention centre, Mr.Haghighat was physically assaulted. Then he was questioned three times. In each session, the questions focused mainly on the “teaching” activities of the Bahá’ís. On the third occasion, he was requested to state on film: his name and family name, religion, occupation, the Teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, the reason for his child’s expulsion from school, the meaning of “teaching the Bahá’í Faith”, and his expectation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He provided detailed responses throughout. Regarding the final point, he replied: “I, as a Bahá’í, have only one expectation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and this, based on the law, as a citizen, to have the right of freedom of speech about my belief.” He was then interrogated twice by the assistant to the public prosecutor general of the Revolutionary Court of Justice, with questioning along the same lines. He was told that he was accused of spreading propaganda on behalf of anti-regime groups and threatening the security of the country. Mr.Haghighat was freed on 27November 2007. No further information is available at this time regarding the terms of his release.
On 4September 2007, officials from the Ministry of Intelligence went to the home of Mr.Masoud Mohebbpour, another Bahá'í in Shiraz, with a warrant to search the house and an order for his arrest and detention. They confiscated belongings related to the Bahá'í Faith. We have no further details at this time.
On 13 November 2007, Mr. Enayatollah Haghighatjou was arrested and imprisoned in Shiraz. No further details are known regarding the circumstances of this arrest.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions also took place in other cities, such as Hamadan:

On 31 January 2008, officers of the local police department (in civilian clothing) searched the homes of ten Bahá’í families – four in Hamadan and six in surrounding localities – under judicial orders. They confiscated Bahá’í books, pamphlets and compact discs, and they arrested three members of the community: Mr.Aziz Pourhamzeh, from Hamadan; Mr.Kamran Aghdasi, also from Hamadan; and Mr.Fathollah Khatbjavan, from Mirza Hesari. To date, these three Bahá’ís remain in prison.
On 15 December 2007, Mr.Jamaloddin Khanjani was ordered to meet with Ministry of Information (Intelligence) officials in Hamadan, where he underwent interrogation. Mr.Khanjani has served for many years as a member of the group that coordinates the affairs of the Iranian Bahá’í community at the national level, and this was the third time in less than three months that he had been questioned by officials of this Ministry, each time in a different locale. On 26 November 2007, he had been summoned to meet with Ministry officials in Shiraz, where he was arrested, imprisoned, and then released the same day, after extensive questioning about the activities of the coordinating group and of the Bahá’ís throughout the country. On 25 September 2007, he had been instructed to present himself at the local office of the Ministry while on a personal trip to Isfahan. When he did so, he was detained for five days and then released on 1 October, after having provided collateral as bail.
Mr.Shahreza Abbasi, who had been detained for six days in 2006 and treated very harshly at that time, was arrested again on 13December 2007. He was summoned to the office of the Ministry of Information (Intelligence) in Hamadan where he was detained, while officials searched his house and confiscated his Bahá’í books, compact discs, and other possessions related to his Faith. After having been incarcerated for two days in a 1.5 x 1.5 metre chamber in the Ministry’s detention centre in this town, he was transferred to the jail at the local police station. The police refused to accept him as a prisoner and sent him back to the Ministry’s detention centre. A few days later, Mr.Abbasi was again transferred, this time to the detention facilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Court. After a long interrogation there, he was released (once bail had been provided by a non-Bahá’í), on 21December 2007.

In Tehran and its province:

On 27 January 2008, Mr.Pouriya Habibi and MissSimin Mokhtari of Tehran were arrested while in a public park. Officials searched them and found that they had in their possession a Bahá’í book of scriptures and a card with details of the Bahá’í Persian-language radio programme, Payame Doust, which is broadcast from the United States and accessible in Iran via satellite. Accusing them of “teaching” the Bahá'í Faith, the officials took them into custody. After two days of trying to ascertain their whereabouts, their families were able to locate them in Evin prison and to visit them there. The authorities set bail for each at 50 million tumans (approximately US$55,000). When the families went to the prosecutor’s office, they were told that the prisoners could not be released because their names had not yet been entered in the computer system by their interrogator. No further details are known at this time.
On 20October 2007, 14 Bahá’í youth from a region of Tehran Province were arrested and detained by officers from the Ministry of Intelligence in a mountain-climbing area. Three young women in the group were released on bail the same day; the others were released the following day.
On 9 March 2008, Messrs.Touraj Amini, Iraj Amini, and Payman Amoui were arrested on the charge that they had been “teaching” the Bahá'í Faith at their place of work. After a court hearing the next day, Mr.Iraj Amini and Mr.Amoui were released, having been required to submit their birth certificates as surety. Mr. Touraj Amini was released on 17March 2008. No further details are known at this time.

One further arrest occurred in Isfahan:

On 15 January 2008, Mr.Foad Agah, a 21-year-old Bahá’í from Isfahan, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence along with a Muslim friend of his, Mr.Ali Karimi, who had participated in some Bahá'í activities. This occurred when they went to pick up photocopies of a Bahá’í pamphlet, which had been made by a person recommended by Mr.Karimi. It appears that the Basij had become aware of this activity while the pamphlets were being photocopied and had the shop under surveillance until Mr.Agah and Mr. Karimi came to take delivery of the order. They were arrested as they were leaving the shop, taken to the police station, and then to the Ministry of Intelligence office. Mr. Karimi was released within 24 hours. Mr.Agah was held for two days, interrogated, and sent to Dastgerd Prison, where he was detained for another four days while his bail was being set. He was released on bail on 21 January 2008 (his business permit was used as collateral).

Finally, it should be noted that Mr.Beyouk Varqai of Tabriz was released from prison on 19August 2007, after having posted a deed of property as collateral for his bail. Mr.Varqai had been arrested in June 2007 and spent two months in arbitrary detention.

3. Court judgments

On 1 January 2008, we received a report indicating that three Bahá'í women had been re-imprisoned in Ghaemshahr: Mrs.Sima Rahmanian Laghaie and Mrs.Mina Hamran, who had been arrested on 14September 2005 and released on bail on 2 October 2005, and Mrs.Simin Gorji, who had been arrested on 3 August 2005 and released on bail on 17September 2005. On 8May 2007, the provincial Appeal Court of Mazandaran rejected their appeals and found them guilty of “propagation on behalf of an organization which is anti-Islamic”. All three were sentenced to five months’ imprisonment (the precise date of their imprisonment is unknown).

On 6 December 2007, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj found 82-year-old Mr.Hedayatollah Shahidzadeh guilty of “disseminating propaganda against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment. However, because of his advanced age, the sentence was commuted to the payment of three million rials (approximately US$325). We are providing in attachment copies of the court’s ruling and a letter that Mr. Shahidzadeh addressed to the Court of Appeal, in which he responded to the charges made against him and set out in detail the injustices he had been made to endure for over 25 years because of his religious beliefs. Both are provided in the original Persian (annexes 1a and 2a), together with translations (annexes 1b and 2b).

Mr.Mohammad Ismael Forouzan from Abadeh was originally arrested in May 2007. While in prison at that time, he had been questioned extensively about Bahá'í “teaching” activities, in particular organized study and discussion groups that may include non-Bahá'ís. On 11November 2007, he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and ten years’ exile from Abadeh for “spreading propaganda against the regime for the benefit of foreign governments”. Mr.Forouzan undertook strenuous efforts to secure an attorney but was unsuccessful in obtaining legal counsel. He was given notice only a day and a half before his appeal hearing. When he raised this point with the judge, his request for additional time was denied. His sentence was conveyed orally – despite his explicit request, he was not permitted to see or to receive a copy of the court order, which we are therefore unable to provide.

We welcome the favourable outcome in another case. Mr.Taghi Haeri of Sanandaj was summoned to the court of the Justice Administration on 14October 2007, and the judge indicated that they could not find any reasonable proof for the accusations against him. This decision was also conveyed orally; a copy of the court’s ruling was not given to Mr.Haeri. He had been arrested in June 2007 and released on bail at that time.

In Chalous, in September/October 2007, Mr.Riaz Heravi was accused of “propaganda” against the government “for the benefit of the Bahaist sect” and sentenced to pay three million rials (approximately US$325). He has appealed the decision.

Also in September/October 2007, the court of Tehran Province denied the appeal of Mr.Mehrab Hamed, who was accused of spreading propaganda against the government by “teaching” the Bahá’í Faith. He received a sentence of one year’s imprisonment, suspended for five years, with a requirement to report to the police station every month during those five years. No further details are available at this time.

In a highly unusual turn of events, on 26 September 2007 the Semnan Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of Mr. Behfar Khanjani, who had been sentenced to four months’ imprisonment on the charge that he had engaged in anti-regime activity by distributing the letter addressed by the Bahá’í community of Iran to then President Mohammad Khatami in November 2004. The Court of Appeal found that the letter “was in fact a way of petitioning and conveying an expression of the situation and treatment of the Bahá’ís,” and “there had been no intention to protest against or defame the regime”. It therefore endorsed Mr.Khanjani’s appeal and set aside the guilty verdict. We are attaching a copy of this ruling in the original Persian and in translation (annexes 3a and 3b).

On 9 September 2007, Mr. Goudarz Baidaghi, Mr.Abbas-Ali Ehsani, Mrs.Shahdokht Rafahipour, and Mrs.Farangis Rouholfada, all of Mehdishahr, were found guilty of spreading propaganda against the regime and disturbance of the general public order as a result of having distributed to government organizations and offices the letter from the Bahá’í community of Iran to then President Khatami, mentioned above. They were each fined 2,000,000 rials (approximately US$220) for propaganda against the government and 500,000 rials (approximately US$55) for disturbing the public order. It is not known if they have appealed this ruling.

On 5 September 2007, the public court of Karun ruled that it would not pursue prosecution of three relatives of Mrs.Shah Beygom Dehghani, whose suspicious death was reported last year. The court’s ruling was based on the finding of the coroner in Isfahan, which declared the “cause of death as being old age and heart disease and its symptoms”, and stated that there was “lack of firm evidence and no evidence of a crime”. As you may recall, Mrs.Dehghani was lured out of her house in the middle of the night and then savagely attacked with a lawn rake. She suffered broken hands and ribs, head injuries, and critical damage to her liver and kidneys. Her screams caused the intruder to flee, and she crawled to the home of her neighbour for help. Despite medical attention, her wounds proved fatal. She died on 7March 2007, 18 days after the attack.

Mr. Farzin Rahmani of Karaj reported that (sometime in August or September 2007) he had been about to testify as a witness in a court case in the Ghaleh Hasan Khan Court. When the judge realized that Mr.Rahmani is a Bahá’í, he stated, “You do not even have the right to breathe in this country, let alone stand as a witness in an Islamic court.” Similarly, in two instances in Isfahan in November and December 2007, when court officials realized that they were dealing with Bahá’ís, they reacted with insults and refused to take up their cases.

On 19 August 2007, the Court of Appeal of the Province of Mazandaran upheld the verdict against Mr.Feizollah Rowshan of Sari, whose original arrest was reported early in 2007. Mr.Rowshan was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and four years’ exile to the city of Bijar. He began serving his one-year sentence on 20November 2007.

On 6 August 2007, after five months that included searches at his home and business premises in Shahinshahr, interrogations, and accusations of acting against national security, Mr.Nima Imamverdi was finally acquitted of any wrongdoing.

On 5 August 2007, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Justice in Sari sentenced Mr.Ali Ahmadi to ten months in prison followed by one year in exile in the town of Khalkhal. Mr.Ahmadi, a member of the group that coordinates the activities of the Bahá’ís in Ghaemshahr on an ad hoc basis, was accused of involvement in propaganda against the regime. The judicial authorities refused to give him a copy of the verdict. They only permitted him to take some notes for the purpose of submitting an appeal.

Mr. Houshang Mohammadabadi, Mr. Mehraban Farmanbardar and Mr. Vaheed Zamani Anari – all from Karaj – were originally arrested on 8 November 2005, charged with spreading anti-regime propaganda, and released on bail a month later. On 23July 2007, the relevant court denied their appeal. All three were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, suspended for a period of four years.

The family of Mr.Hamid Azarnoush, a Bahá’í from Hamadan whose wife is Muslim, has been placed under intense pressure by the authorities. In 2006, when his daughter intended to choose to be a member of the Bahá'í community as well, the family’s home was searched on the grounds that they had a satellite dish. Items such as Bahá’í books, cassettes, and compact discs were confiscated. Subsequently, on numerous occasions the Ministry of Information (Intelligence) summoned the members of this family for interrogation. On 11July 2007, the Public Court of Hamadan ordered that Mr. Azarnoush’s Bahá’í books be destroyed “because the existence of such books is harmful to society”.

In Tehran in July or August 2007, Mr.Rouhollah Taefi contacted the court in connection with changing the deed of property that had been used as collateral for bail for the release of his wife, Mrs.Fariba Kamalabadi Taefi, who had been arrested in 2005 and never tried. The judge concerned refused to talk with Mr.Taefi. Instead, in an abrupt and insulting tone, he said, “Currently, I do not have the capability and the power to issue death sentences for these fifteen individuals [i.e. Mrs. Kamalabadi Taefi and 14 other Bahá’ís arrested in Mashhad in 2005], but I will do my best to harm them.”

Sometime in July 2007, the General Court of Law in Abadeh issued an undated court order denying Mrs. Tahereh Bahrami inheritance from her father, on the grounds that both she and her late father were Bahá’ís and that “issuance of a decree of heirship for individual Bahá’ís would be considered a form of recognizing Bahaism, which is against constitutional law, established laws, and the common order”. A copy of this court order is enclosed, in the original Persian together with a translation (see annexes 4a and 4b).

Release from prison—sentence served

Mr.Mazharollah Aghdasi, a 71-year-old member of the community imprisoned in Kermanshah for five months, was released on 30 September 2007 after having served out his sentence. He reportedly won the admiration of his interrogators and the prison guards for the courage he demonstrated while incarcerated.

4. Targeted information gathering

Iranian officials are extending their campaign to identify and monitor Bahá'ís throughout the country. As previously reported, this includes a wide range of initiatives intended to gather specific information about all the members of the community.

From 23 September through 21 December 2007, a total of 52 summonses were issued to Bahá’ís to appear at their local office of the Ministry of Information (Intelligence) for questioning. The interrogators sought to obtain detailed information about the Bahá’ís and their activities, as well as about the personal lives of specified members of the community. They used many ploys to intimidate, threaten and cause psychological damage.

Following the death of an 88-year-old believer in Boroujerd in October2007, the Bahá’ís notified the Intelligence Ministry, governorship, municipal office, and the office that oversees affairs related to cemeteries that they would be preparing his grave for the interment. From the moment they began digging the grave, video cameras were set up in the Bahá’í cemetery and in front of the home of the deceased, by order of the Intelligence Ministry. During the interment, which took place on 20October, Ministry officials filmed every person who attended the funeral, as well as the license plates of all the vehicles parked where the funeral was held. Some officials objected to the presence of Muslim friends of the deceased and asked why they were attending the funeral.

In Kerman on 11 December 2007, five officers from the Intelligence Ministry entered the house of Mr.Danesh Charkhzarrin with a search warrant and confiscated his books, tapes, various compact discs and photos related to his Faith. Mr.Charkhzarrin was taken to the Ministry`s office and interrogated for 12 hours, with most of the questions focusing on his job situation and his Muslim business associates. They also asked about his and his wife’s Bahá'í activities. Mr.Charkhzarrin reported that the officials had been respectful during the search.

In late December 2007/early January 2008, the members of the small group of Bahá’ís that coordinates the affairs of the community of Qorveh on an ad hoc basis were each given a questionnaire to complete. It asked them to fill in detailed information about their Bahá’í activities, Bahá’í relatives, and Muslim friends.

We also received a report in December 2007 indicating that in Zanjan, the Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization had asked all the artists from religious minorities who were to participate in an arts exhibition to fill out a questionnaire. The form included a section in which each individual was required to declare his or her religion.

In January 2008, it was discovered that the bank accounts of Bahá’ís in Orumiyeh were being monitored and that similar steps were being taken in other cities in Iran. These include Khomein, Sarvestan, Shiraz and Tehran.

In Rafsanjan, sometime in September/October 2007, Muslim friends told Bahá’ís that, in a confidential letter, the Public Intelligence and National Security Force for public places had asked the trade unions to identify all Bahá’ís who are employed in every trade.

As previously reported, in Karaj Bahá’ís who apply for passports are given a special form to complete that requests detailed information on the applicant and all family members. It seems that this form is not issued by the passport office but, instead, by the Ministry of Information (Intelligence).

Finally it should be noted that, during this period, efforts continued to be made by this Ministry to suborn individual members of the community to spy on other Bahá’ís.

5. Bahá’í cemeteries – desecration, destruction, and vandalism

Over the past several months, Bahá’í cemeteries were vandalized in eight localities, and many of them were severely and extensively damaged, as detailed below.

The Bahá’í cemetery in Najafabad, which serves five communities , was attacked four times during the month of September2007 and ultimately razed. In the first incident, on 8 and 9September 2007, some of the gravestones were damaged, a number of saplings were uprooted, and the water tank was destroyed. The following day there was further damage to the site. A few days later, 95 graves were demolished, a small sanitation facility was completely destroyed, and two water tanks (used for watering trees) were damaged beyond repair. Also, five new graves, which did not yet have headstones, were completely destroyed, and eight empty, prepared gravesites were filled in. About two weeks later, on 27September, the entire cemetery was levelled, leaving no trace of its existence. Finally, in November2007, the provincial Natural Resources Division put up a sign at the site, stating, “Possession and burial in this area is subject to legal prosecution.” We are attaching photographs (see photos B and C) that depict the destruction of this burial site.

The Bahá’ís referred the matter to various government offices and agencies, but to date no action has been taken at any level.

Following the attack on the Najafabad cemetery, a shopkeeper showed a Bahá’í couple a letter that had been transmitted to all tradesmen in the city. It was signed by a group that described itself as “the religious people of Najafabad who raise up martyrs for Islam”. In this letter, the group:

expressed its concern over the (alleged) fact that Bahá’ís were promoting their religion in a town where hundreds had given their lives to establish and protect the Islamic Republic of Iran, and where the citizens were proud of having raised outstanding learned men;
claimed that, despite catastrophic events that had jeopardized the security of the Islamic world, the authorities and the clergy in Najafabad – including the judicial and police authorities – had failed to exercise their responsibility to protect young Muslims from being misled by the Bahá’ís;
announced that it would carry out its religious and lawful duty to oppose the Bahá’ís, described as “perverse” and “mercenaries of Israel”;
explicitly stated that their first step in implementing this plan had been to completely demolish the Bahá’í cemetery; and
reminded the town authorities that if the Bahá’ís continued to “teach” their Faith, they would face harsh consequences: their houses would be demolished, and they would not be allowed to bury their dead in the existing cemetery.

In November 2007, a grave that had been destroyed two years ago in the Bahá’í cemetery in Abadeh, and subsequently repaired, was attacked again. The remains were exhumed and crushed under the wheels of a vehicle, with a few bones left beside the grave. Two months earlier in Miyandoab, the remains of a member of the community buried in the Bahá’í cemetery were also exhumed. The Iranian Bahá’ís noted that these distressing incidents demonstrate the depths to which those who perpetrate such acts are willing to descend: not satisfied with vandalizing graves, they are now starting to defile the remains of the deceased.

Beginning in the year 2000, the Bahá’ís in Rafsanjan were no longer permitted to bury their deceased in their cemetery there. Instead, a parcel of land about 15 kilometres outside the city was given to them for this purpose. The Bahá’ís made repeated efforts to obtain a survey of the land so they could proceed with necessary construction and landscaping, but none of the authorities concerned were willing to carry out this work. Several times, they referred the matter to the relevant government office and were told orally, each time, that they should just proceed. On the strength of these assurances – and anxious to ensure that in the event of a death in the community there would be a fitting place for the burial – they began building a mortuary, constructing a fence to surround the property (which measures approximately 5,000 square meters), and landscaping.

In mid-August 2007, in a contact with one of the local Bahá’ís, the executive assistant of the municipality of Rafsanjan asked for documents and permits for the construction work done on the property. After receiving documentation that demonstrated the efforts the Bahá’ís had undertaken to secure the necessary approvals, he informed them that the mayor had visited the cemetery a few days earlier and had ordered the destruction of all the unauthorized buildings and trees. The Bahá’ís obtained an appointment to see the mayor. He received them coldly and stated that the construction was illegal, that the lot was considered to be too large for use as a cemetery, and that it should comprise no more than half an acre. On 28September 2007, the Bahá’ís in charge of the cemetery found that all the plants had been uprooted and some additional damage had been done to the site.

According to eyewitnesses in Marvdasht, on a Friday evening, 11August 2007, a member of the clergy, accompanied by three others, entered the Bahá’í cemetery, demolished sections of the irrigation system and cut tree branches. The Bahá’ís in Marvdasht contacted the police and the Governor General of the province to request an investigation. It was also reported from Marvdasht that one of the candidates for election to the Islamic Consultative Assembly said that if he were elected he would undertake to demolish the Bahá’í cemetery.

On 10August 2007, the Ministry of Information (Intelligence) office in Kermanshah contacted the Bahá'ís who coordinate the affairs of the local community on an ad hoc basis, and asked to inspect the site and the ownership deeds of the Bahá’í cemetery there. Three individuals from the Ministry, accompanied by representatives of the Bahá’ís in Kermanshah, inspected the site. The Bahá’ís were asked how old the cemetery was, why the deceased were buried in the direction that they faced, and how the Bahá’ís had obtained a licence to construct the edifices. One of the officials took photographs of the site. Less than two weeks later, on 22August, the Ministry contacted a representative of the local Bahá’í community again and stated that the Housing Foundation in Kermanshah had submitted a summons indicating that a hall had been erected on the site without permission from the cemetery foundation, and that the Bahá’ís should therefore present their building permit to the authorities. According to the latest report, the deeds were submitted to the Housing Foundation, which replied that the building had been erected without permission. However, the Foundation has not yet issued its final determination in the matter.

On 31 July 2007, half of the cemetery in Yazd was destroyed. It should be recalled that this Bahá'í cemetery has already been severely attacked several times over the past 30 years.

In Gorgan, the municipality announced that part of the Bahá’í cemetery (a part which contains graves) is to be destroyed to make way for a highway. The local Bahá’ís asked the city to modify the plan so that there would be no damage to existing graves. For the moment, it seems that their request has been accepted. However, when the owners of the graves requested permission from the city to beautify and build an enclosure around the cemetery, they were told not to do anything because the Foundation for the Poor (Bonyad-e Mostazafan) was attempting to take possession of the land.

6. Denial of the right to employment

Government authorities in Iran continue to obstruct Bahá’ís from earning a livelihood. This is occurring across the country, and members of the community who have been denied business or trade licences, or whose licence renewals have been refused, are increasingly being told quite explicitly that the reason for the action against them is their adherence to the Bahá’í Faith. However, written statements to this effect remain extremely difficult to obtain.

Bahá’ís have been dismissed from or refused entry to many occupations and trades during the period under review, e.g. taxi businesses, jobs in the film industry, in various types of retail shops, and in cultural or artistic enterprises. In addition, the authorities are creating innumerable obstacles for Bahá’ís who are in business, such as:

sending them from one office to another (or to offices that do not exist) to obtain or submit business-related documentation;
repeatedly losing the files of Bahá’í business owners;
entering Bahá’í-owned places of business and confiscating equipment;
exerting pressure on property owners to evict Bahá’í tenants or to refuse to lease to Bahá’ís;
attempting to get Bahá’ís to sign undertakings that they will not “teach” their Faith in their places of business or work;
requiring them to fill in forms that request detailed personal information about themselves and other family members;
refusing to issue bank loans to Bahá’ís who fulfil all the criteria for eligibility;
refusing to transfer businesses belonging to Bahá’ís;
placing pressure on Muslims to annul contracts that they have with Bahá’í-owned businesses; and
sealing business premises, sometimes for weeks.

In one such case, a Bahá’í who owns an optical shop was told that his business licence would not be renewed when it expires, because there are so many Bahá’ís operating as opticians in Iran. In Marvdasht, an official from the Public Places Supervision Office told a Bahá’í youth who works in the film-recording business that: “Bahá’ís are not permitted to work in this field, and if you are found in possession of any equipment related to this type of profession, it will all be confiscated.”

Repeatedly, the authorities are inconsistent – one Bahá’í is refused a business licence, while another who seeks to obtain a licence for the same type of enterprise succeeds in doing so. The Iranian Bahá'ís have concluded that this is a deliberate tactic, to stir up envy and disunity. Clearly, too, the ultimate aim is to make it so difficult for Bahá’ís to earn a livelihood that they will see no alternative but to leave the country.

Mr.Hasan Bazrafkan, a Bahá’í shop owner, was seeking to renew his business licence and to find suitable premises for his shop. On 10 February 2008, a friend told him in confidence that the trade union concerned had been ordered by the authorities not to renew his licence, and that the individuals behind all this would do anything to protect their own commercial and social interests. When he found a suitable space in a shopping compound in Marvdasht, the owner refused to lease it to him. The owner informed him that the Imam who leads Friday prayers in Marvdasht and another person, who is a member of the Hojjatieh Society, had contacted him and instructed him not to rent the shop to Mr.Bazrafkan because of his Bahá'í “teaching” activities. Moreover, the Ministry of Intelligence had warned the arcade owner that, if he rented space to Mr.Bazrafkan, the entire shopping compound would be closed.

Unknown individuals have been attempting to intimidate and terrorize Dr.Homa Agahi, a Bahá’í physician in Najafabad, for months. This Bahá'í woman had been practicing as a private physician for over 28 years in her own medical clinic in this town, and there had never been any complaints against her. Her patients, who knew that she is a Bahá’í, respected her. In September 2007, graffiti were written on the walls of her clinic: “Dr.Homa Agahi, Israel’s spy and the enemy of Islam and the Qur’an” and “Death to Dr.Homa Agahi, unclean Bahá’í, close your clinic or else”. Her relatives attempted to help by covering over as much of the graffiti as possible, but the same messages were rewritten several times. Dr.Agahi reported the matter to the police, who referred her to the Justice Administration. She then filed a legal complaint at the public prosecutor’s office and with the Ministry of Information (Intelligence). She was sent from one government organization to another and, about two weeks after having filed the complaint, was finally able to meet with an official from the Intelligence Ministry to explain the situation. The following day, another tenant in the building – who had a position in the office of the provincial Health Department – informed her on behalf of the landlord that he had been asked to expel her from the building by individuals who had threatened him and his family. He therefore asked her to vacate the clinic, which was then closed.

Subsequently, Dr.Agahi was able to rent space in a shop owned by a Bahá’í, and she reopened her practice. About a month later, on 1February 2008, the signs at her new clinic were defaced. Then, on 5February, threatening letters were placed under the door to her premises, one of which stated: “It appears that you have not learnt your lesson. Do you think by relocating the clinic you can rid yourself of us???? Our last word is close the clinic, or you will learn….”

In Aligudarz, a computer company was founded by a Bahá’í, Mr.Shoghifar, who had both Muslim and Bahá’í business partners. According to a report received on 30 December 2007, Mr.Shoghifar was forced to transfer all his shares to a third party in order to stop relentless harassment by officials from the Ministry of Information (Intelligence). These officials summoned for questioning his work colleagues, neighbours, and friends (about 20 people in all) and told them to cease all contact with him. Moreover, the Ministry issued a confidential memorandum to all the schools and many local offices in Aligudarz to ban all dealings with his company. Of course, Mr.Shoghifar was also interrogated at the Ministry, and he received threatening phone calls ordering him to limit the range of his business. To protect the company from being closed down, Mr.Shoghifar and his partners were compelled to relinquish ownership.

Another Bahá'í, Mr.Hasan Salihi, was the owner of Bihsutun, a construction company that had received awards of excellence from the highest levels of government. Last year, officials launched a concerted attempt to put the company out of business, as follows:

In August 2007, he was given 15 days to cease all operations on the site of the Fars Science and Technology Park, as his client had been forced by the authorities to terminate the contract with his company. The client assured Mr.Salihi that he was satisfied with his work and had resisted the request to cancel the contract. However, the director of the Science and Technology Park had been threatened with dismissal from his position if the instructions were not implemented.
On 31 October 2007, the Mellat Bank in Shiraz informed Mr.Salihi that they could no longer open new accounts for his company, approve or serve as a guarantor of loans for Bihsutun, or have any other dealings with the company. The bank had received these directives in a memorandum from the Technical Department of the Office of the Governor General of Fars.
On 3 November 2007, Mr.Salihi learned about a letter that had been sent two months earlier to the organization that was at that time responsible for overseeing the affairs of contractors. This letter ordered all government agencies to cease awarding construction contracts to the company. In light of Bihsutun’s excellent reputation, the organization had apparently delayed taking action for a month, but the Security Office finally forced those responsible to issue the directive. The organization had been told that the reason for this action was Mr.Salihi’s religious beliefs (he was never able to obtain written documentation to this effect).
Mr.Salihi took up the matter with the Construction Engineering Disciplinary Organization, the General Office of Technical and Vocational Education, and the Housing and Urban Design Organization. All of them expressed sympathy. He then met with the director-general of the Technical Department of the Office of the Governor General, who stated that he had merely signed the letter – the instructions had come from higher authorities.
On 11 November, Mr.Salihi was able to meet with the Governor General’s assistant for security and political affairs. This official indicated that reports about Mr.Salihi’s work were all positive. However, he said, Iranians live in the most democratic and liberal country in the world, where everyone expresses his point of view, and if someone does anything against the wishes of the people, he must bear the consequences. That was why they had been ordered to inform government agencies that any construction agreement with Bihsutun was illegal, and the same treatment would be applied to any company run by anyone who did not adhere to one of the four official religions.

The final case involves a group of Bahá'ís in Parsabad, in the province of Ardabil. It was reported at the end of last year that the tenants of a building owned by a Bahá’í, all of whom are physicians, had been pressured by officials of the provincial Health Department to vacate the premises. In response, on 12November 2007, the tenants addressed a letter of complaint to the deputy director of the Health Department, stating:

Respectfully, we, the specialist physicians at the doctors’ building situated in Parsabad regard the politics of the deputy director of the Health Department, Dr.Moghadam—for refusing to renew the permits for the offices and issuing the order to vacate the aforementioned building for the reason that the owner of the building belongs to the Bahá’í Faith—to be against Islamic principles and immoral. We consider that such issues are not only contrary to the articles of the Constitution, but also against the interests of the governing system and a caring government.

We hope that your insight and foresight will prevent these divisive acts that lead nowhere, especially at a time when society needs tranquillity, so let us all think about a free and prosperous Iran.

No further details are known at this time.

7. Denial of pension benefits

In two similar cases in July and August 2007, Bahá’ís in Kermanshah and Isfahan were following up on settlements regarding their pension and insurance claims. Court rulings in both these cases denied them access to their rightfully earned benefits because of their religious beliefs, as follows.

In August 2007, Mr.Ali Shoai, an 82-year-old Bahá’í living in Shiraz who had worked for 40 years for an oil company in Abadan, was denied his pension benefits on the grounds of his being a Bahá’í. A copy of the letter from the Abadeh Oil Products Refining Company to Mr.Shoai is provided in attachment, in the original Persian and in translation (see annexes 7a and 7b).

In a document dated 8August 2007, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security, State Pension Bureau in Mazandaran Province, informed Mr.Misbah Nematyan that “there is no law in effect to allow [members of] the Bahaist sect to receive pensions”. A copy of that document is also attached in the original Persian and in translation (see annexes 8a and 8b).

8. Confiscation of property

During the months of September and October 2007, the following properties owned by individual Bahá’ís were confiscated:

the farm belonging to the family of Mr.Hosein Pouli in Mamaghan – confiscated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards;
the home of Mr.Vahid Ghodrat in Yazd – summarily confiscated; and
the home of Mr.Hosein Khandel in Hamadan – confiscated by court order.

In September/October 2007, however, items confiscated from Bahá’ís when they had been arrested during 2006 and 2007 (one in Kashan and another in Abadeh) were subsequently returned to the individuals concerned.

9. Incitement to hatred based on religion or belief

Over the past several months in a number of localities (including Fathabad, Jiroft, Kashan, and Marvast), the Imam Jumih have preached sermons clearly aimed at inciting hatred and rousing the people to take action against the Bahá’ís.

On 3January 2008, during evening prayer in one of the mosques in Bahar (15 kilometres from Hamadan), a clergyman spoke against Mr.Kamran Aghdasi, a Bahá’í from Hamadan, saying, “How can a Bahá’í own a shop in the heart of Bahar and distribute compact discs and leaflets on his religion to the people of Bahar and lead them astray?” The clergyman asked the people not to do any business with Mr.Aghdasi. An individual who was in the mosque requested that those present accompany him to the house of the Imam Jumih to obtain an order to close Mr.Aghdasi’s shop. However, a friend of Mr.Aghdasi was also present and defended him, saying, “The country has laws, and, in the event of an individual committing a wrongdoing, it is the law that has to deal with the person, not the people.” Despite much opposition to his remarks, he succeeded in calming the crowd. Two days later, a number of copies of a hostile notice were found hanging on the walls of the mosques in the town’s central square and in the streets leading to Mr.Aghdasi’s shop. A copy of this notice is attached in the original Persian and in translation (see annexes 5a and 5b).

At a Friday sermon in Jiroft in September 2007, the Imam Jumih levelled false accusations against the Bahá’ís and later distributed a circular grossly distorting the history and Teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. The circular includes offensive assertions, stating for example: that Bahá’ís are enemies of Islam; that they are unclean and thus acts of purification should be performed when a person has contact with them and no food should be accepted from them; and that even when Bahá’ís display good moral conduct, they should be avoided.

In Marvast, following several hostile Friday sermons in August and September2007, windows were broken in two shops owned by Bahá’ís. Reports indicate that the Imam Jumih has been attempting to drive the Bahá’í families out of Marvast, but most of these families have refused to leave. The principal of a boys’ school refused to enrol the only Bahá’í youth in that town but was later obliged to enrol him, after the parents had appealed to the Education Department. Then the Imam Jumih said in a Friday sermon, “I would not send my child to a school where a Bahá’í studies; you should do the same.”

Early this year, it was reported that a number of Bahá’ís had received threatening emails from a group that names itself Zedde Bahaiat [Against Bahaism]. These messages state that Zedde Bahaiat is “the committee for the physical confrontation of teachers of Bahaism”, which has now begun to operate and “will continue its work until it completely uproots this perverse sect and this house of prostitution.”

Anonymous threatening letters and tracts attacking the Bahá'í Faith continued to be distributed to Bahá’í homes in communities throughout Iran throughout the past eight months. These included segments from the articles published in Kayhan, the government-controlled national daily newspaper. Between 18 November 2007 and 10 January 2008, Kayhan published a series of 40 articles about the Bahá’ís in pre-revolutionary Iran, portraying the community as a powerful and wealthy group bent on undermining the teachings of Islam. In these articles Bahá’ís were described as cruel and dishonest, ruthless in business, tax evaders, of dissolute character, involved in drugs, and long known to be looters and murderers. Other wholly unfounded allegations included the false claim that the Bahá’ís are part of a political movement against Islam that introduced western ideologies to Iran (as allegedly evidenced by their support of the removal of the hijab policy during the Pahlavi era).

On 1 September 2007, following a Radio Farda broadcast about the expulsion of Bahá’í students from universities in Iran, Kayhan published a response. Its statement asserted: “it is the most definite and undoubted duty of all responsible for higher education” that those students who openly confess their adherence to and membership in the “Bahaist Zionist Party” should indeed be expelled. Moreover, the author declared, those authorities that had not been diligent in pursuing “this national and religious duty” were both “culpable and blameworthy”. The statement can be found at. http://www.kayhannews.ir/860610/2.htm#other207

We also noted in particular an article published on 17 September 2007 in the national daily newspaper Etemad: in it, Mr.Eshragh Jahromi, Iran’s representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council, denies the mistreatment and arrests of Bahá’ís in Iran and asserts that the country’s constitution guarantees the rights of all Iranians, including Bahá’ís.

In addition to the attacks in national news dailies such as Kayhan and Etemad, local newspapers and periodicals throughout Iran regularly carry articles – far too numerous to report in detail – inciting hatred against the Bahá’ís. Typical of the language and tone taken in these publications, the newspapers Khabare Jonoub and Nimnegah carried articles by Hojjatol-Islam Shirmardi stating that the “perverse sects” will not be allowed to show their presence in the province of Fars and that “the Bahaist sect is attempting to change and distort Islam”. The local weekly Ham Nazar in Semnan published a letter to the editor (in its 5–11 September 2007 edition) that criticized the publication for not printing comments regarding “deviant groups such as the Bahá’ís”. This letter went on to claim that the Bahá’ís in Iran carry on secret activities within the agricultural sphere and use their sites to trap the youth in the country.

At the beginning of October 2007, the Bahá'í Faith was maligned and its Teachings grossly misrepresented in a national weekly radio broadcast that included interviews with former Bahá’ís (including Mrs. Mahnaz Raoufi, whose attacks against the Bahá'í Faith had previously been published in Kayhan), as well as with “specialists” in religious matters.

There were also many attacks on the Bahá'ís and their Faith posted on Persian-language websites. An example can be found at the following address: http://www.iran20.ir/view_print.asp?id=50530296926101436 – posted in February 2008, this article makes a number of outrageous allegations, for example that Bahá’ís promote “marriage between brothers and sisters”. In June 2007, a card of high professional quality was being distributed among the population, which included a pocket-sized calendar and a list of websites that regularly attack the Bahá'í Faith.

In July 2007, an article posted on the Bultan news website reported that the Imam Jumih in Sarvestan had met with government officials in the province to register a complaint stating that “the biggest problem in Sarvestan is the existence of Bahaism and dervishes [Sufis], who have been organizing weekly meetings and have had one-to-one teaching [activities]. They have been greatly influencing the young population, and their meetings have been well received by [these youth].” The Imam apparently said that the Bahá’ís were successful because of “the weak educational system, lack of power in the police force, and failure to allocate even a minimum budget to these issues.” He was also quoted as having said, “It would help educational matters tremendously, if we established a branch of the Islamic Propaganda Organization in this town.” The article can be found at: http://bultannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1210&itemid=1

On 4September 2007, a local newspaper in the same locality published a short article under the heading: Caution of Imam Jumih of Sarvestan in relation to the expansion of perverse groups’ activities in this town. It carried an announcement by the same Imam Jumih stating that the most important problem in Sarvestan is “Bahaism”. He reiterated his concern about the Bahá’í weekly meetings and the number of people being attracted to them. He also mentioned that the group had initiated “a base for worship” in one of the rural areas in the province and that a renowned person in the area had pledged to destroy this “base” but that, due to lack of support from the authorities, no action had yet been taken.

In August and September 2007, an exhibition was held in Najafabad, entitled Thirst for Declaration. One exhibit – under the heading Recognition of the Enemy – was in a room, one side of which was devoted to Judaism and the other to the Bahá’í Faith. There were posters with pictures of buildings at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, shown with Israeli helicopters flying above, and captioned: “All the six million Bahá’ís in the world are followers of Israel”. In addition, there was a picture of the last Shah of Iran, with the caption The Golden Age and text alleging that most of the Bahá’ís prospered through holding favoured positions within the Shah’s regime. Several displays contained materials attacking the Bahá'í Faith.

On 29 August 2007 in Marvdasht, at a gathering organized by the Hojjatieh Society, copies of an edict issued by Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi and calling for non-fraternization with Bahá’ís were given to individuals who had some kind of association with members of the community.

We are particularly concerned about the widespread, ongoing incitement to hatred on religious grounds in Iran – in the media, in the mosques and elsewhere – because of the ensuing attacks on Bahá'ís, their homes and property. Severe and recurring violence against members of the community in Shiraz and in Abadeh as well as in Ivel, assaults targeting individuals in Shahinshahr and Najafabad, and aggressive intimidation of Bahá'ís in many other localities have already been reported in sections 1 and 6, above. Moreover, attacks on cemeteries in eight different towns were detailed in section 5.

In other threatening incidents:

On 8 September 2007, a number of Bahá’í homes in Vilashahr were defaced with graffiti that stated “unclean Bahá’ís, stipendiaries of Israel”, “Bahá’ís are enemies of God”, “Bahá’ís are traitors to their county”, etc. At least one of the Bahá’ís in Vilashahr issued a formal complaint to the public prosecutor, calling on the authorities to prevent future occurrences of this kind. We do not yet know whether there has been any official response.
Sometime in August 2007, doors and walls of the homes of some Bahá’ís as well as walls and graves in the Bahá’í cemetery in Hamadan were defaced with graffiti that carried threats to Bahá’ís whose names were identified in the slogans, including such statements as “Death with maximum punishment, with torture” and “A curse on the Bahá’í [specific person named]”.

10. Denial of the right to freedom of expression

We have received reports indicating that government officials are attempting to deny access to all means of publishing or photocopying Bahá’í materials. For many years, Bahá'í books, leaflets and other publications have been confiscated during searches of Bahá'í homes, along with photocopiers, computers and printers belonging to individual Bahá'ís.

On 31 July 2007, the Public Intelligence and National Security Force for public places in Gonbad issued a letter to all publishing houses, print shops, bookstores, and stationery shops indicating that they should not publish or distribute materials from “the Bahá’í publishing organization and other centres belonging to the Jews in Germany, France, Israel, and most probably other countries….”

Action of this nature not only deprives the Bahá’í community from publishing materials for its internal use, it also obstructs members of the community from producing accurate information about the Bahá’í Faith in response to the widespread propaganda against them and their beliefs.

Annexes as referenced above

Amol, Ardestan, Babol, Bihshshr, Bojnurd, Chalous, Fardis, Fereydoun-Kenar, Ghaemshahr, Ghorveh, Hamadan, Manzariyyeh, Qazvin, Rasht, Sanandaj, Sari, Semnan, Tankabon, Yasouj, Yazd, and Zanjan.

A paramilitary organization connected with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

Aligudarz, Bukan, Hamadan, Ival, Khorramabad, Laljin, Parsabad, and Ravansar, as well as Asfin and Gaziran in the suburbs of Arak.

Amirabad, Goldasht, Najafabad, Vilashahr, and Yazdanshahr.

The Imams who lead Friday prayers at the mosques.

A semi-clandestine traditionalist Shi’ah organization founded in Iran in 1954 on the premise that the most immediate threat to Islam is the heresy of the Bahá’í Faith, which must be eliminated.