Iran: These Three Were Dangerous

          
          • “:‘ ;,
          ITTh s Why They Were Hanged
          Iran: These Three Were Dangerous
          Take a close look at the photo at — _____________
          [ right. The three people you see
          there are criminals who were
          hanged recently in Iran.
          They are criminals, that Is, in the
          eyes of the despots who now rule
          Iran. Their crime Is that they would
          not renounce their Baha'i faith,
          Hanged! Can you 1ffi gi ie It? The
          older man and women, Inayatallah
          HI
          I fthe
          ilPage
          and Izzat ishraql,' Could be the fa.
          ther and mother of any one of us.
          I Their 22-year-old daughter, Roya,
          could be a sister or a daughter of Inay alIah and Izzat. lshraqi (center and right), with daughter
          But they rere strung up because . Roya (left), went to the gallows rather than renounce their faith
          they would not convert to Islam, on creasingly alarmed and dismayed hundreds who have been Jailed,'60
          the orders of a judge who warned at the . persecution and severe re- members of the faith are hnprts-
          the rest of the Baha'! community In' pression of the .‘Baha'is in Iran. . .,“ oned In Shlraz, where the June ex-
          Iran: “The Islamic nation will, God . the president said on May 22. ecutlons occurred.
          willing, fulfill the prayer mentioned “Theseindividuals are not guilty of In addition to these crimes
          In the:Koran, ‘Lord, leave not one any political offense or. crime. 1hey against the person, Baba'i. holy
          ‘single family of Iflfldels ‘on earth.” have not plotted to overthrow the places and cemeteries have been
          And so the sacred writIngs of the regime, and they are not responsibe desecrated, members' property and
          Koran are subverted to the evil that for the deaths of anyone. They only private assets confiscated, and their
          currently rules the hearts of a fa- wish to live according to the dic- children denied schooling.
          naticai regime. It Is the same evil tates of their own conscience .” - JOst as it was dangerous to, be a
          that similarly bent the teachings of Within the month, Iranian 0111- Jew in Nazi Germany, it Is danger-
          the Holy Bible to help justify Nazi' dais In the southern city of Shiraz ous to be a Baha'l in Iran today.
          Germany's slaughter of ‘the Inno- had hanged 17 more Baha'ls, inçlud-
          cents that began' just 50 years ago. Ing the family, of . Inayatallah Ish- Jr ALWAYS HAS been danger-
          Unlike the latter slaughter, how-fl raqi. Apparently, operating under ous, to an extent. The persecution of
          ever, today's' persecution of the some perverted sense of decency, the Baha'is dates virtually to he
          300,000 Baha'Is of Iran Is not being they hanged ‘the men and the worn- time of the founding of the faith'by
          smothered beneath a' blanket of en, Including three teen-age girls, a young Shiraz merchant, later
          complacency. It is drawing the out- separately — six of the men Ofl known as the Bab, in 1844.
          rage of the civilized world, and If June 16; the 10 women. two days He and his followers advocated
          the Iranian government does suc- Iater and the, seventh maO some ‘the unity of all peoples ‘and' reii-
          ceed in leaving not one single fam time after that. gions the equality of the races nd
          Ily” of Baha'ls alive, it will have to ‘ . ‘ ‘ 1 ‘ the sexes, the harmony ofscience
          pay the price In public censure. EARLY THIS MONTH, 130t Ba. and religion, and universal edOca-
          ha'l men, women and children were tion and peace. ,
          THAT MAY SEEM' a small thing, attacked by mote and driven from Regarded as heretics, the ‘Baha'is
          and indeed It Is. But it Is more than their village In northern Iran, In the subsequently were hounded and
          the Nazis had to'face In their at- Iranians'. Own version of Kristall- abused with a special ferocity: —
          tempted annihilation, of the Jews nacht. ‘ , .,. ‘ ‘ but none so fierce, or so blatant as
          and other minorities, or the Otto- According to reports received by that directed against the faith under
          ‘man Turks in their successive mas- the U.S. Baha'i National Center, ‘the Ayatollah Khomeini and his, fel.
          sacres of the Armenians — modern- members of Baha'i administrative low zealots. . ,
          day Instances of genocide that went bodies In Tehran are being hui ted, Compared with the other victims
          largely unremarked at the time of their families harassed and their, of genocide around .the world, the
          their happening.' homes violated. At least 22 Baha'is, flaha'is are few in number, .:but ‘
          P esldent Reagan, Congress, the 11 men and 11 women, have been their suffering is proportionately as
          European Parliament, the U.N. flu- jailed this month In cities across the great. Indeed, their very smallness
          man Rights Commission and the country. ‘ . ‘ ‘ ‘ makes them, especially vulner ble
          parliaments of West Germany, Aus- Slncethe 1979 revolution, 142 Ba- to those who would eliminatetliem
          tralla, Great Britain and Canada all ‘ ha'is have been' executed or assOssi- utterly. ‘
          have Protested' the killings In the nated, ‘and 14 Baha'I leaders,i ab- May the God who Is father, and
          strongest of terms. ‘ ducted In August 1980, have not mother to us all prevent that ever
          ‘America_and , ,the world are In been ' heard from since.,A etroIn happening.
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