Aug/Sept. 1980 BIC Statement to Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimnation & Protection of Minorities

          
          STATEMENT MADE BY THE
          BAH' I INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
          TO THE
          SUB-COMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMflThTION
          AND PROTECTION OF MINORIT S
          AT ITS THIRTY-THIRD SESS ION
          - 18 August — 12 September 1980 —
          The Baha International Community would like to bring to the attention of the
          Sub—Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities,
          the grave matter of violation of h snan rights and fundamental freedoms being
          experienced by our affiliate, the Bah ' community of Iran, in disregard of the
          fundamental rightof everyone to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion,”
          established in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Thm an Rights.
          The Baha' community of Iran is a religious minority of over 300,000 members.
          It is the largest religious minority in Iran. Since they are all indigenous
          Iranians, the Baha” s of Iran are not a foreign element, but are a part of the
          Iranian nation, to which they have always been loyal. Being non-political,
          law—abiding, and opposed to all violence, they constitute no threat to anyone;
          yet they have been the most frequently persecuted group in that nation.
          Unfortunately recent events represent an escalatidn of this pattern of attacks
          against the lives and properties of Bah ' s and their communities. During the
          last year and a half, Baha' s have been harassed, dismissed from their jobs,
          denied back pay and pensions; they have been terrorized, individuals and fam-
          ilies beaten, and in some instances driven to the mosques and forced to recant
          their faith; and their homes, shops, and businesses have been looted, burned
          down, or otherwise destroyed. Baha ‘   homes have continually been invaded by
          armed groups, and the family members subjected to long and harsh interrogations.
          The Iranian Bah ' community has had its holy places, centers, and businesses
          confiscated, even destroyed, and its cemeteries have been seized and desecrated.
          Such acts are clearly in violation of Article. 18 of the International Covenant
          on Civil and political Rights, a h snan rights instrwnent signed and ratified by
          Iran, which insists that the right to freedom of religion includes “freedom to
          have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and frêedoxn either indi-
          vidually or in community with others and in public or in private to manifest
          his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching,” and fur-
          ther, “that no one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom
          to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.” These acts also dis-
          regard Article 27 of the same covenant, which asserts that persons belonging to
          a religious minority “shall not be denied the right in community with other
          members of their group ... . to profess and practice their own religion.”
          BP000092
          
        

          
          —2—
          The plight of the Bah ' community of Iran was described in detail in a report
          published on 12 September 1979 by the Human Rights Commission of the Federation
          of protestant Churches in Switzerland. This communication docuxnent.s the ad-
          xninistrative, financial, social, and personal strangulation of the Bah 'is of
          Iran, and concludes that “this is the most serious time in the history of the
          Bah ' coxmmmity of Iran,” and “unless immediate steps are taken through ap—
          propriate channels that there is a real and present danger to a group of faith-
          ful disciples of the religion of Baha'u'llah.” What the future holds for the
          Baha' s of Iran, the same report then forecasts, is action that could include
          “the freezing of personal and privately owned Baha' assets or ,even their con-
          fiscation,” followed by a more serious step forbidding any Baha' i gathering,
          thus forcing the Bah ' is “to go underground or emigrate from Iran under the
          threat of arrest or worse.”
          It is the worsening of the Baha ' situation in Iran —- evidenced by the arrest,
          on 21 August, of all nine members of the National Administrative Council of
          the Bah 'is of Iran and of two prominent Baha'is, accused, according to the
          media, * of being involved in subversive activities to overthrow the Iranian
          Government -— that has finally led the Bah 'i International Community to bring
          this matter before the Sub—Commission. On Sunday, 13 i'uly 1980, two Bah 'is
          in Tabrjz, Mr. yadu' 11 h Ast ni and Dr • Faramarz Samandar , members of the
          Baha' Administrative Council of Tabriz, were executed, the latter without
          even a trial. This followed upon a series of summary arrests, without official
          charges, of an rnber of prominent Baha' s in Tabriz, Yazd, Shiraz, and Tehran.
          Baha'is have since been arrested -— also specifically because they were Baha'is ——
          in Haniadan, Birjand, Islamabad, and 2 badih. Sixty-two are now in prison; three
          have been kidnapped, and their whereabouts are unknown. The charges against
          Mr. Astaini and Dr. Samandari —- of conspiring against the sovereignty of Iran,
          its government and religion, and of prostitution and immorality —— lead us to
          fear that other Bah 'is now arrested may be similarly charged.
          Such accusations are without any foundation. Bah ' s, both individually and
          collectively, are enjoined to obey the laws of their respective states and the
          authority of the duly constituted governments under which they live, are not
          allowed to participate in partisan politics or to accept any political post,
          and are committed to the highest standards of morality and rectitude in their
          public and private lives. Further, Baha'is believe in the essential oneness
          of all great religions, including Islam, consider those faiths as divine in
          - origin, and honor. and revere their Founders. Therefore, charges such as those
          brought against Mr. Astan and Dr. Samandar , as well as against the recently
          arrested members of the National Administrative Council of the Baha' s of Iran
          and two others, could well,be brought against any Bah '1 in Iran, arid place in
          grave danger the whole Baha' community. In fact, such a pattern of arrests
          becomes more ominous when one hears in addition of the existence of a plan to
          eliminate the Baha' I community of Iran.
          This lack of protection of the rights of the Bah 'Is in Iran —- protection of
          their lives and their properties -— becomes more apparent every day, arid it
          could threaten the survival of the Baha' I Faith arid its adherents in Iran. The
          confiscation of Baha'I holy places and historic sites —— such as the houses of
          aaha ' u' ll h, the Founder of the Bah ' I Faith, in Tehran and Takur, and the de—
          molition of the House of ah 'u'llaih in Darkuba —— reached its climax in Octo-
          ber: l979 cdth the seizing and destruction of the House of the Bib, the most
          *Including Le Monde , 29 August, and The Times , 30 August.
          p
          
        

          
          —3—
          holy spot for the Baha'Is of Iran, and one of the holiest places for the Baha'
          International Coxranuriity, the place where, on 23 May 1844, the Bah ' Faith had
          its beginning. Two Baha ‘ companies, Shirkat-i-Nawnah 1 n and tJman , and a
          Baha' hospital, M th q yyth, have been confiscated. Naah l n, a c rm ercia1
          company of sixty years' standing, in which over 15,000 Baha' s have shares and
          inves ents, has been occupied, its assets frozen. This action, in addition to
          the seizure of the t an Company, which holds on behalf of the Bah ' community
          of Iran, all the properties of the Bah ' Faith in Iran, including the holy
          places and c neteries, has brought great spiritual and material concern for the
          Baha' s in Iran and abroad, and appears intended to suppress the functioning of
          the Baha' community in Iran.
          Indeed, the omission of the Bah ' community of Iran from the religious minori-
          ties mentioned in the present Iranian Constitution — Christian, Jewish, and
          Zoroastrian -- which are afforded protection of their hnman rights under the
          laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has indeed made the situation of the
          Baha' i minority ve ry precarious. It has opened the way to intensified denun-
          ciations, summary arrests, arid trials against the Baha' s, with almost complete
          assurance of impunity. This lack of protection for the rights of a religious
          minority is, of course, in direct contravention of the hnman rights standards
          set by the United Nations in those huntan rights instr m ents which have become
          a record of the ever—broadening consciousness and understanding of governments
          and peoples.
          In view of the apprehension of imminent detentions and executions and the ex-
          tremé:urgency of this matter, the Bah ' International Community is grateful
          for this opportunity to bring the situation of the Baha' s in Iran to the at-
          tention of the Sub—Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection
          of Minorities. It does this, however, only after consistent and unsuccessful
          attem pts of the Baha' community of Iran to seek appropriate action by the
          government of Iran to protect the lives and properties of the Bah ' s and
          their communities. We appeal, therefore, to the Sub-Commission to express
          its long-standing concern for the rights of minorities, by taking whatever ac-
          tion it feels appropriate in this serious matter of violation of hnman rights
          arid fundamental freedoms, a situation which, if unchecked, could result in
          the elimination of the Bah ' religious minority in Iran.
          T It It
          Statex ent presented on 4 September 1980
          I