Fear for the safety and well-being of the Bahá'í women, men and children who live in Iran escalated during the past month as the Bahá'í community became a target in a wave of severe persecution described by the New York Times as a “sweeping crackdown." 

The severity of this cruel crackdown led a group of United Nations experts, on August 22nd, to release a statement expressing their alarm at the persecution and harassment of religious minorities, including the Bahá'ís, and calling on the Iranian government to stop using religion and belief (including atheism) as a reason to deny fundamental human rights to their citizens.

“We are deeply concerned at the increasing arbitrary arrests, and on occasions, enforced disappearances of members of the Bahá’í faith and the destruction or confiscation of their properties, in what bears all the signs of a policy of systematic persecution.” 

National and international media organisations have covered this story and dozens of government representatives, human rights bodies and civil society organisations have called on the government of Iran to stop this mistreatement of their Bahá'í citizens.  

Support for the Bahá'ís in Iran has also been forthhcoming from many Irish sources including Front Line Defenders (a leading human rights NGO), the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, Chair of the Muslim Council of Ireland.  The Journal.ie also ran a moving piece entitled, 'You can't see the sorrow after lights out,' about the current human rights situation in Iran and CRCfm interviewed Dr. Brendan McNamara, the author of this article.  The title of Dr. McNamara's article is a line from the poem, Lights Out, by teacher and poet Mahvash Sabet who already spent 10 years in prison because she is a Bahá'í and who was re-arrested in this current crackdown. In 2017 Belfast born poet Michael Longley shared the PEN Pinter Prize with Mahvash Sabet who he nominated as International Writer of Courage. PENIreland has added its voice to the PENInternational call for the release of Mahvash Sabet.

Iranian civil society has led this support for the Bahá'ís with an unprecedented call for solidarity, inside and outside the country, from social and political figures, human rights defenders and women’s rights activists, artists, writers, poets, cartoonists, and comedians, religious scholars and even a few clerics, journalists, current and former prisoners of conscience, followers of other religions, academics, lawyers, religious intellectuals, and social and political commentators, and hundreds of thousands of other Iranians.  More than a hundred prominent Iranians both inside and outside Iran issued a joint statement expressing concern about the increasing persecution and declaring that “when it comes to civil and human rights of Bahá’ís, we consider ourselves Bahá’ís, too.”  

Amongst this group of influential Iranians is journalist and human rights activist, Javad Abbasi Tavalali, who said “Bahá’ís do not have clerics, mullahs or muftis. The Iranian regime is afraid of Bahá’í beliefs. Let’s be the voice of our Bahá’í fellow citizens.”  While Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian writer in New Zealand, said “The word ‘discrimination’ cannot adequately describe the situation of the Bahá’í minority in Iran. What they are going through is not discrimination, but a systematic effort to marginalise, banish and ultimately eliminate. Discrimination applies to creating unequal opportunities, but when it comes to Bahá’ís the goal is to eradicate.”

Dozens of news outlets and civil society groups across the Middle East and Central Asia, including Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Yemen and Kurdistan, published an unprecedented level of supportive and sympathetic coverage.

The extraordinary levels of spontaneous support and coverage came after a much-derided statement was issued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, on 31 July, accusing Bahá’ís of “colonialism” and of “infiltrating kindergartens,” in an appalling act of hate speech, and by the ensuing imprisonments, arrests and raids on homes and businesses.

Iranian authorities have, since that date, targeted Bahá’ís in 200 separate incidents with arrests and detention, home invasions and searches, the destruction of houses and confiscation of property, the denial of higher education, electronic ankle-tagging, exorbitant bails, beatings and the denial of medication to prisoners.

Reliable sources have also confirmed that Iranian security agents staged and filmed a fabricated scene in a kindergarten in an attempt to incriminate and frame the Bahá’í community.

On 2 August, up to 200 agents sealed off the village of Roshankouh, in Mazandaran, where a large number of Bahá’ís live, and used heavy equipment to demolish six homes. The agents also confiscated around 20 hectares of Bahá’í-owned property.

Hundreds of Baha’is were brutally murdered by the regime in Iran in the early 1980s, as well as thousands suffering arrests and imprisonments. The deaths of Bahá'ís in Iran only stopped because of the outcry of the international community and the media. There is no doubt that the efforts of the international community and the media to shine a light on the suffering of the Bahá'ís in Iran is of paramount importance in the protection of those currently in danger.  It is also the case that the support of governments the world over in defence of the citizens in Iran is a source of strength and optimism to all Iranians.

Fear for the safety and well-being of the Bahá'í women, men and children who live in Iran escalated during the past month as the Bahá'í community became a target in a wave of severe persecution described by the New York Times as a “sweeping crackdown." 

The severity of this cruel crackdown led a group of United Nations experts, on August 22nd, to release a statement expressing their alarm at the persecution and harassment of religious minorities, including the Bahá'ís, and calling on the Iranian government to stop using religion and belief (including atheism) as a reason to deny fundamental human rights to their citizens.

“We are deeply concerned at the increasing arbitrary arrests, and on occasions, enforced disappearances of members of the Bahá’í faith and the destruction or confiscation of their properties, in what bears all the signs of a policy of systematic persecution.” 

National and international media organisations have covered this story and dozens of government representatives, human rights bodies and civil society organisations have called on the government of Iran to stop this mistreatement of their Bahá'í citizens.  

Support for the Bahá'ís in Iran has also been forthhcoming from many Irish sources including Front Line Defenders (a leading human rights NGO), the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, Chair of the Muslim Council of Ireland.  The Journal.ie also ran a moving piece entitled, 'You can't see the sorrow after lights out,' about the current human rights situation in Iran and CRCfm interviewed Dr. Brendan McNamara, the author of this article.  The title of Dr. McNamara's article is a line from the poem, Lights Out, by teacher and poet Mahvash Sabet who already spent 10 years in prison because she is a Bahá'í and who was re-arrested in this current crackdown. In 2017 Belfast born poet Michael Longley shared the PEN Pinter Prize with Mahvash Sabet who he nominated as International Writer of Courage. PENIreland has added its voice to the PENInternational call for the release of Mahvash Sabet.

Iranian civil society has led this support for the Bahá'ís with an unprecedented call for solidarity, inside and outside the country, from social and political figures, human rights defenders and women’s rights activists, artists, writers, poets, cartoonists, and comedians, religious scholars and even a few clerics, journalists, current and former prisoners of conscience, followers of other religions, academics, lawyers, religious intellectuals, and social and political commentators, and hundreds of thousands of other Iranians.  More than a hundred prominent Iranians both inside and outside Iran issued a joint statement expressing concern about the increasing persecution and declaring that “when it comes to civil and human rights of Bahá’ís, we consider ourselves Bahá’ís, too.”  

Amongst this group of influential Iranians is journalist and human rights activist, Javad Abbasi Tavalali, who said “Bahá’ís do not have clerics, mullahs or muftis. The Iranian regime is afraid of Bahá’í beliefs. Let’s be the voice of our Bahá’í fellow citizens.”  While Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian writer in New Zealand, said “The word ‘discrimination’ cannot adequately describe the situation of the Bahá’í minority in Iran. What they are going through is not discrimination, but a systematic effort to marginalise, banish and ultimately eliminate. Discrimination applies to creating unequal opportunities, but when it comes to Bahá’ís the goal is to eradicate.”

Dozens of news outlets and civil society groups across the Middle East and Central Asia, including Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Yemen and Kurdistan, published an unprecedented level of supportive and sympathetic coverage.

The extraordinary levels of spontaneous support and coverage came after a much-derided statement was issued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, on 31 July, accusing Bahá’ís of “colonialism” and of “infiltrating kindergartens,” in an appalling act of hate speech, and by the ensuing imprisonments, arrests and raids on homes and businesses.

Iranian authorities have, since that date, targeted Bahá’ís in 200 separate incidents with arrests and detention, home invasions and searches, the destruction of houses and confiscation of property, the denial of higher education, electronic ankle-tagging, exorbitant bails, beatings and the denial of medication to prisoners.

Reliable sources have also confirmed that Iranian security agents staged and filmed a fabricated scene in a kindergarten in an attempt to incriminate and frame the Bahá’í community.

On 2 August, up to 200 agents sealed off the village of Roshankouh, in Mazandaran, where a large number of Bahá’ís live, and used heavy equipment to demolish six homes. The agents also confiscated around 20 hectares of Bahá’í-owned property.

Hundreds of Baha’is were brutally murdered by the regime in Iran in the early 1980s, as well as thousands suffering arrests and imprisonments. The deaths of Bahá'ís in Iran only stopped because of the outcry of the international community and the media. There is no doubt that the efforts of the international community and the media to shine a light on the suffering of the Bahá'ís in Iran is of paramount importance in the protection of those currently in danger.  It is also the case that the support of governments the world over in defence of the citizens in Iran is a source of strength and optimism to all Iranians.

Fear for the safety and well-being of the Bahá'í women, men and children who live in Iran escalated during the past month as the Bahá'í community became a target in a wave of severe persecution described by the New York Times as a “sweeping crackdown." 

The severity of this cruel crackdown led a group of United Nations experts, on August 22nd, to release a statement expressing their alarm at the persecution and harassment of religious minorities, including the Bahá'ís, and calling on the Iranian government to stop using religion and belief (including atheism) as a reason to deny fundamental human rights to their citizens.

“We are deeply concerned at the increasing arbitrary arrests, and on occasions, enforced disappearances of members of the Bahá’í faith and the destruction or confiscation of their properties, in what bears all the signs of a policy of systematic persecution.” 

National and international media organisations have covered this story and dozens of government representatives, human rights bodies and civil society organisations have called on the government of Iran to stop this mistreatement of their Bahá'í citizens.  

Support for the Bahá'ís in Iran has also been forthhcoming from many Irish sources including Front Line Defenders (a leading human rights NGO), the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, Chair of the Muslim Council of Ireland.  The Journal.ie also ran a moving piece entitled, 'You can't see the sorrow after lights out,' about the current human rights situation in Iran and CRCfm interviewed Dr. Brendan McNamara, the author of this article.  The title of Dr. McNamara's article is a line from the poem, Lights Out, by teacher and poet Mahvash Sabet who already spent 10 years in prison because she is a Bahá'í and who was re-arrested in this current crackdown. In 2017 Belfast born poet Michael Longley shared the PEN Pinter Prize with Mahvash Sabet who he nominated as International Writer of Courage. PENIreland has added its voice to the PENInternational call for the release of Mahvash Sabet.

Iranian civil society has led this support for the Bahá'ís with an unprecedented call for solidarity, inside and outside the country, from social and political figures, human rights defenders and women’s rights activists, artists, writers, poets, cartoonists, and comedians, religious scholars and even a few clerics, journalists, current and former prisoners of conscience, followers of other religions, academics, lawyers, religious intellectuals, and social and political commentators, and hundreds of thousands of other Iranians.  More than a hundred prominent Iranians both inside and outside Iran issued a joint statement expressing concern about the increasing persecution and declaring that “when it comes to civil and human rights of Bahá’ís, we consider ourselves Bahá’ís, too.”  

Amongst this group of influential Iranians is journalist and human rights activist, Javad Abbasi Tavalali, who said “Bahá’ís do not have clerics, mullahs or muftis. The Iranian regime is afraid of Bahá’í beliefs. Let’s be the voice of our Bahá’í fellow citizens.”  While Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian writer in New Zealand, said “The word ‘discrimination’ cannot adequately describe the situation of the Bahá’í minority in Iran. What they are going through is not discrimination, but a systematic effort to marginalise, banish and ultimately eliminate. Discrimination applies to creating unequal opportunities, but when it comes to Bahá’ís the goal is to eradicate.”

Dozens of news outlets and civil society groups across the Middle East and Central Asia, including Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Yemen and Kurdistan, published an unprecedented level of supportive and sympathetic coverage.

The extraordinary levels of spontaneous support and coverage came after a much-derided statement was issued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, on 31 July, accusing Bahá’ís of “colonialism” and of “infiltrating kindergartens,” in an appalling act of hate speech, and by the ensuing imprisonments, arrests and raids on homes and businesses.

Iranian authorities have, since that date, targeted Bahá’ís in 200 separate incidents with arrests and detention, home invasions and searches, the destruction of houses and confiscation of property, the denial of higher education, electronic ankle-tagging, exorbitant bails, beatings and the denial of medication to prisoners.

Reliable sources have also confirmed that Iranian security agents staged and filmed a fabricated scene in a kindergarten in an attempt to incriminate and frame the Bahá’í community.

On 2 August, up to 200 agents sealed off the village of Roshankouh, in Mazandaran, where a large number of Bahá’ís live, and used heavy equipment to demolish six homes. The agents also confiscated around 20 hectares of Bahá’í-owned property.

Hundreds of Baha’is were brutally murdered by the regime in Iran in the early 1980s, as well as thousands suffering arrests and imprisonments. The deaths of Bahá'ís in Iran only stopped because of the outcry of the international community and the media. There is no doubt that the efforts of the international community and the media to shine a light on the suffering of the Bahá'ís in Iran is of paramount importance in the protection of those currently in danger.  It is also the case that the support of governments the world over in defence of the citizens in Iran is a source of strength and optimism to all Iranians.

Fear for the safety and well-being of the Bahá'í women, men and children who live in Iran escalated during the past month as the Bahá'í community became a target in a wave of severe persecution described by the New York Times as a “sweeping crackdown." 

The severity of this cruel crackdown led a group of United Nations experts, on August 22nd, to release a statement expressing their alarm at the persecution and harassment of religious minorities, including the Bahá'ís, and calling on the Iranian government to stop using religion and belief (including atheism) as a reason to deny fundamental human rights to their citizens.

“We are deeply concerned at the increasing arbitrary arrests, and on occasions, enforced disappearances of members of the Bahá’í faith and the destruction or confiscation of their properties, in what bears all the signs of a policy of systematic persecution.” 

National and international media organisations have covered this story and dozens of government representatives, human rights bodies and civil society organisations have called on the government of Iran to stop this mistreatement of their Bahá'í citizens.  

Support for the Bahá'ís in Iran has also been forthhcoming from many Irish sources including Front Line Defenders (a leading human rights NGO), the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, Chair of the Muslim Council of Ireland.  The Journal.ie also ran a moving piece entitled, 'You can't see the sorrow after lights out,' about the current human rights situation in Iran and CRCfm interviewed Dr. Brendan McNamara, the author of this article.  The title of Dr. McNamara's article is a line from the poem, Lights Out, by teacher and poet Mahvash Sabet who already spent 10 years in prison because she is a Bahá'í and who was re-arrested in this current crackdown. In 2017 Belfast born poet Michael Longley shared the PEN Pinter Prize with Mahvash Sabet who he nominated as International Writer of Courage. PENIreland has added its voice to the PENInternational call for the release of Mahvash Sabet.

Iranian civil society has led this support for the Bahá'ís with an unprecedented call for solidarity, inside and outside the country, from social and political figures, human rights defenders and women’s rights activists, artists, writers, poets, cartoonists, and comedians, religious scholars and even a few clerics, journalists, current and former prisoners of conscience, followers of other religions, academics, lawyers, religious intellectuals, and social and political commentators, and hundreds of thousands of other Iranians.  More than a hundred prominent Iranians both inside and outside Iran issued a joint statement expressing concern about the increasing persecution and declaring that “when it comes to civil and human rights of Bahá’ís, we consider ourselves Bahá’ís, too.”  

Amongst this group of influential Iranians is journalist and human rights activist, Javad Abbasi Tavalali, who said “Bahá’ís do not have clerics, mullahs or muftis. The Iranian regime is afraid of Bahá’í beliefs. Let’s be the voice of our Bahá’í fellow citizens.”  While Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian writer in New Zealand, said “The word ‘discrimination’ cannot adequately describe the situation of the Bahá’í minority in Iran. What they are going through is not discrimination, but a systematic effort to marginalise, banish and ultimately eliminate. Discrimination applies to creating unequal opportunities, but when it comes to Bahá’ís the goal is to eradicate.”

Dozens of news outlets and civil society groups across the Middle East and Central Asia, including Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Yemen and Kurdistan, published an unprecedented level of supportive and sympathetic coverage.

The extraordinary levels of spontaneous support and coverage came after a much-derided statement was issued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, on 31 July, accusing Bahá’ís of “colonialism” and of “infiltrating kindergartens,” in an appalling act of hate speech, and by the ensuing imprisonments, arrests and raids on homes and businesses.

Iranian authorities have, since that date, targeted Bahá’ís in 200 separate incidents with arrests and detention, home invasions and searches, the destruction of houses and confiscation of property, the denial of higher education, electronic ankle-tagging, exorbitant bails, beatings and the denial of medication to prisoners.

Reliable sources have also confirmed that Iranian security agents staged and filmed a fabricated scene in a kindergarten in an attempt to incriminate and frame the Bahá’í community.

On 2 August, up to 200 agents sealed off the village of Roshankouh, in Mazandaran, where a large number of Bahá’ís live, and used heavy equipment to demolish six homes. The agents also confiscated around 20 hectares of Bahá’í-owned property.

Hundreds of Baha’is were brutally murdered by the regime in Iran in the early 1980s, as well as thousands suffering arrests and imprisonments. The deaths of Bahá'ís in Iran only stopped because of the outcry of the international community and the media. There is no doubt that the efforts of the international community and the media to shine a light on the suffering of the Bahá'ís in Iran is of paramount importance in the protection of those currently in danger.  It is also the case that the support of governments the world over in defence of the citizens in Iran is a source of strength and optimism to all Iranians.

© 181 / 2024 | The National Spiritual Assembly of The Bahá'ís of Ireland | info@bahai.ie | (01) 6683 150 | CHY 05920 | RCN:20009724

© 181 / 2024 | The National Spiritual Assembly of The Bahá'ís of Ireland | info@bahai.ie | (01) 6683 150 | CHY 05920 | RCN:20009724

© 181 / 2024 | The National Spiritual Assembly of The Bahá'ís of Ireland | info@bahai.ie | (01) 6683 150 | CHY 05920 | RCN:20009724

© 181 / 2024 | The National Spiritual Assembly of The Bahá'ís of Ireland | info@bahai.ie | (01) 6683 150 | CHY 05920 | RCN:20009724