Ijc J3nt4jiit tou h1!c __
Noose from Iran
On June 18 in Shiraz, Iran, 10 women
were hanged, purportedly on behalf of a
merciful God. They were executed, their
survivors say, because they were of the
Bahai faith, which makes them infidels in
the eyes of Islamic fundamentalists. The 10
women followed, by a day, six others who
also perished on the gallows for their faith.
It's open season on Bahais.
How easily comes martyrdom for a Bahai
in Iran! Since the revolution of February
1979, over 150 Bahais have reportedly been
executed by the holy men of the Islamic
revolution.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands more are
imprisoned. From time to time, one or two
will be taken to a courtyard and shot. Their
families, if they wish to claim the bodies,
might first be required to pay for the bullets
that killed them. And every so often, a mob
will do the honors, as was the case not long
ago when a man and his son were seized and
hacked to bits just before they were set
afire.
The apparent plan is to do away with the
Bahai religion in Iran, where over 300,000
members of this gentle sect still live. Bahai
children are banned from schools, pensions
are cut off, securities are frozen or con-
fiscated, houses are looted, temples are
THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1983 /PAGE I
razed. All the while, Bahai leaders perish by
blade, bullet or rope.
While persecution of Bahais in Iran is
nothing new — some 20,000 have died there
in the last 100 years, according to Bahai
officials — today's oppressions represent a
switch from the way things were under the
late shah. Bahais now pay for whatever
decent treatment they enjoyed during his
reign. They are now considered a part of his
hated faction.
Bahai leaders in this country hope world
public opinion can avert the complete exter-
mination of their coreligionists who will not
renounce their faith— the only escape from
the gallows for a collared Bahai. Anybody
whose indignation still needs fueling should
consider some of the basic tenets of this
persecuted religion.,. Bahais do not partici-
pate in partisan politics. They believe in the
unity of mankind, the unity of all religions,
the equality of the sexes and the races, the
harmony of science and religion, in univer-
sal educationand universal peace.
Just a reminder of what was traded for
what when the previous administration
withdrew . support from the shah and
opened the dOOr for the Ayatollah Khomeini
—“that Gandhi-like figure' as Jimmy Cart-
er's ambassador to Iran called him.
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