Transcription of recording from news program “Report to the Americas” (Costa Rican Time – 7/14/1983)

          
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          VOICE OF AMERICA EDITORIAL
          Transcription of recording from news program “Report to the
          Americas t ', 14 July 1983, 7:50 P.M. Costa Rican Time
          The execution several weeks ago. of 16 members of the Báha'i.
          Faith in Iran was a blow -ho one of the most fundamental of
          human rights: Freedom of Religion. It was a particular tragedy
          fcr one Baha'i who now lives in the United States. Said Eshrali,
          now a resident of Texas, learned that one of those hanged by
          the Iranian authorities was his father who had stedfastly refused
          to renounce his religious beliefs. Just one day later Mr.
          Eshrali learned by phone that his mother and 21 year old sister
          had also been hanged for clinging to their religious faith.
          Since the Iranian revolution in 1979 more than 150 Baha'is
          are known to have been executed. Their crime is their religion,
          which the Shi'ite Moslem clergy who rule Iran consider heretical.
          The persecution of the Baha'is has been condemned by yarious
          agencies of the United Nationes and by a number of world leaders
          including President Reagan, but the executions still go on.
          The leader of the Iranian religious hierarchy, Ayatollah Khomeini,
          has reportedly tried to lay the blame for the latest wave of
          killings on the United States. His argument, if you can call
          it that, is that Mr. Reagan's appeal in i ay for Iran to spare
          the lives of the Baha'i adherents is proof that they are spies.
          In today's Iran that may pass for logic. Elsewere it is readily
          identifiable either as evidence of irrationality or as the
          tendency of oppressors everywere to blame their actions o.n
          someone else. Baha'is in the United States held memorial services
          last Saturday for their co—religiorüsts in Iran who have been
          executed. For Said Eshrali .,hose parents. and sister were killed
          recent l :as a ecial day of grief. But this Memorial
          Day should have meaning for the rest of us as well. It should
          serve as a reminder that mankind is still capable of the ugly
          passions that lead some men to murder others simply because
          of their religious beliefs.
          That was a VOA. editorial reflecting the views the United
          . tates Government.
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          Transcript of recording from V0IC OF MERICP., Nay 25 1983,750 m
          spare these lives. .‘ s President Reagan pointed out the condemned
          men have not plotted the overthrow of Iran's government and are not
          respondible for the deaths of anyone. In fact they have committed no
          offense other than to follow in their private lives the Faith of their
          sod. They are not by any means the only loyal Iranians whom Iran's
          rulers have persecuted on the grounds of their beliefs. iembers of
          minority Islamic sects, Christians and Jews have all been the subjects
          of the . vatollah's erratic violence. But the 19 men facin eMecution
          rearesent a Faith that has been singled out with sDecial vengence.
          They are Bah ' s. orethan 300,000 3ah ' s live in Iran. They eschew
          rolitics and are bound by their religion end their loyalty to obey pcaceably
          their countries laws. But the }Zhomeini government has attached the
          none the less, perhaps because it represents a commitment to
          individual conscience that is intolerable to a totalitarian re:ime.
          The current rul r€ of Iran have forced Bvh ' s out of their jobs and
          erclu: ed their children from school; their property is destroyed and
          confiscated. But the regimes real tactic to exterminate the Bah '
          faith is to attack its religious leaders. fter Khomeini assumed rower
          his gcvernment arrested the members of the Bah!i' 's National Religious
          ssemhly. They have not b en seen since. The members of the next Bahe'i
          t saenbly were also arrested. This tine their e ecutions were announced
          in public. Other Bsh .' s who were active in their Faith have fallen
          victim to the regime. ll told at least 150 D h ' s have been killed and
          the regime is very clear about why. The Iranian judge Hojatolla—Isl m
          I hazni who sentenced the condeaned men said in a.n interview, we e.uote,
          “. ny activities c.n the part of thc 3sh ' s are against the conntitutien
          ndelecticn of their assem'lies, their committees, fiests, etc. rre
          all crimes, Before it is to late”, he continued, “the Bah ' Is should
          recant 2ah 'Ism. ” But it is not to late to stop the persecution and
          killing of nore bl meles -en. Iran joined a consensus of the UN General
          cserbly in 1931 that comc3emned religious intolerance and descrimin&tinn.
          e hope that Iran's fulers wil honor the soirit of that resolution
          today.
          That was a VO editorial rec1ec ing the views of the United Ztates
          Government.
          Transcrirt of recordin: from VCIC 2F f IC.' , 1 ay 28, 1983, 9:55 PN
          Iranian lcadcr ‘ yatollah Khor;eini says the Bah 'I sect in Iran is an
          .mericen b:ched political party and not a religious group. Tehran radio
          says the ‘yatollah told •a jr-uD of Ir nian offici ls that merican support
          for the 3 -h '{s is proof that they are spies for the United states.
          rresic nt Reagan recently eo ealed for the lives of 22 mashers of the
          sect sentenced to death in Iran.