IRI employees required to state religion

          
          a
          TX P. —.
          VIA WUI
          1612 01/O64
          46626 BAYT IL
          JAN 07 i oc.
          82/306 273L
          B 1CNY666363Uw
          6 JANUARY 1982
          UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
          FOLLOWING WIRE STORY WAS PROVIDED BY TONY GOODMAN, REUTERS UN, WHO
          INFORMS US THAT AUTHOR IS IRANIAN MEMBER OF REUTERS LONDON STAFF PRE-
          VIOUSLy MENTIONED TO YOU:
          QUOTE
          LONDON, JAN 6, REUTER — IRAN'S ISLAMIC REGIME HAS ASKED.
          GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES TO STATE THEIR RELIGION, A MOVE IRANIANS
          SAY IS AIMED AT SACKING MEMBERS OF THE BAHA'$ FROM THEIR JOBS.
          IRANIAN SOURCES, CONTACTED BY REUTERS FROM LONDON, SAID
          CIVIL SERVANTS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO FILL IN A
          FORM GIVING THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
          THOSE WHO REFUSE TO COMPLY WiTH A GOVERNMENT DECREE ISSUED
          TO THOUSANDS OF iNSTITUTIONS AND FACTORIES THROUGHOUT IRAN WILL
          BE EXPELLED FROM THEIR JOBS AND PERHAPS JAILED, THE SOURCES
          SA I D.
          “IF SOMEBODY GAVE FALSE INFORMATION CONCERNING HIS RELiGIOUS
          BACKGROUND, HE WOULD RISK THE DANGER OF BEING IDENTIFIED AND
          EXECUTED,'' A CIVIL SERVANT SAID.
          HE SAID THE ACTION WAS CLEARLY AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE BAHA'I
          FAITH, THE LARGEST RELIGIOUS MiNORITY IN THE COUNTRY. THE RULING
          MOSLEM CLERGYMEN CONSIDER THE FAITH HERETIC AND SOME MEMBERS OF
          THE GOVERNMENT ARE ENCOURAGING AN OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST
          BAHA' I SM.
          THE BAHA'I RELIGION, WITH SOME 400,000 MEMBERS THROUGHOUT
          THE COUNTRY, WAS FOUNDED BY SHI'ITE CLERGYMEN IN IRAN IN THE
          19TH CENTURY.
          ENDQUOTE
          WILL CALL BACK WITH CONTINUATION OF ARTICLE IN A FEW MINUTES.
          WARMEST LOVE
          BAHA I NTCOM
          46626 BAYT IL.....
          VIA WUI
          1653 o1/o6
          46626 BAYT IL
          B I CNY666363UW
          6 JANUARY 1982
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          CONTINUATION OF TLX 82/306, REUTERS ARTICLE:
          QUOTE
          BAHA'IS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER EMPLOYMENT AND APPLICANTS
          FOR JOBS MAY ONLY BE MOSLEMS, CHRISTIANS, JEWS OR ZOROASTRIANS.
          EXILED BAHA'I LEADERS HAVE ALLEGED THAT THOUSANDS OF BAHA'I
          CHILDREN WERE DEPRIVED OF EDUCATION LAST SEPTEMBER WHEN SCHOOLS
          AND COLLEGES STARTED THEIR ACADEMIC YEAR.
          THE AUTHORITIES HAD INSTRUCTED SHCOOL OFFICIALS NOT TO
          REGISTER BAHA'IS, THEY SAID. THERE HAS BEEN NO WORD FROM THE
          GOVERNMENT, BUT PRO-.CLERGY NEWSPAPERS HAVE REPEATEDLY PUBLISHED
          ARTICLES By CHURCHMEN WHO HAVE CALLED FOR REPRESSION OF MEMBERS
          OF THE FAITH.
          IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ALl AKBAR VELLAYATI IS A LEADER OF
          AN ANTI—BAHA'I GROUP CALLED HOJATIYEH WHICH HAS OFFICIALLy
          DECLARED A WAR ON BAHA'Is AS A RELIGIOUS DUTY.
          LAST MONTH THE CLERGY—LED GOVERNMENT ORDERED THE EXECUTION
          OF EIGHT BAHA'I LEADERS AFTER A SECRET TRIAL.
          THE EIGHT, MEMBERS OF THE BAHA'I NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN IRAN,
          HAD BEEN ABDUCTED TWO WEEKS BEFORE THEY WERE SHOT, ACCORDING TO
          EXILED LEADERS.
          IT WAS THE SECOND T 1ME MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL
          ASSEMBLY OF BAHA'IS IN IRAN HAD BEEN SEIZED IN THE PAST TWO
          YEARS. THE FIRST GROUP OF NINE DISAPPEARED ON AUGUST 20, 1980.
          MOSLEMS ARE PARTICULARLY INTOLERANT OF THE BAHA'I RELIGION
          BECAUSE IT POSTDATES THE MISSION OF THE PROPHET MOHAMMED. THEY
          BELIEVE THERE SHOULD BE NO RELIGION AFTER ISLAM.
          OTHER FACTS HELD AGAINST BAHA'IS ARE THAT SOME PROMINENT
          LEADERS OF THE SHAH'S REGIME, INCLUDING EXECUTED PRIME MINISTER
          AMIR ABASS HOVEYDA, WERE BAHA'lS AND THAT THEIR HEADQUARTERS ARE
          IN HAIFA, ISRAEL, A COUNTRY CONSIDERED THE NUMBER ONE ENEMY OF
          ISLAM AND IRAN 0
          SOME OF THE DOZENS OF BAHA' IS EXECUTED IN I RAN WERE
          CONVICTED OF SPYING FOR ISRAEL.
          ENDQUOTE
          WARMEST LOVE
          BAHAI NTCOM
          46626 BAYT IL.....
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