Religious Persecution of Iránian Bahá'ís

More information on The Situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran can be found on the Bahá'í World website.

Why are American's Interested in Iránian Bahá'ís?

• 120,000 American Bahá'ís are active in 1700 communities in all 50 states.
• Ninety-percent of U.S. Bahá'ís are American-born; one-third are blacks, and many other minority groups are active in the U.S. Bahá'í Community.
• Some 10,000 Iránian Bahá'ís have found refuge in the U.S. from religious repression under the Islamic Revolutionary regime.

Irán's actions against the Bahá'ís constitute genocide, according to the U.N. Convention on Genocide. While persecution of individual Bahá'ís has moderated recently, the Bahá'í community remains an oppressed minority:

• Irán's largest religious minority, the Bahá'í Faith, is not recognized as a religion; the Islamic regime calls it a conspiracy and heresy. As "unprotected infidels", Bahá'ís have no legal rights.
• A secret Iránian government document published by the U.N. in 1993 confirms that Irán's anti-Bahá'í actions reflect deliberate official policy. This "blueprint" for suppressing the Bahá'í community states that Bahá'ís' "progress and development" are to be "blocked".
• Since 1979, more than 200 Bahá'ís, including men, women and teenage girls, have been executed on account of their religion. Many more have disappeared or have been kidnapped. The most recent execution was in April, 1992.
• Thousands have been jailed and many Bahá'ís tortured to compel them to recant and accept Islam. Fewer than 20 now remain in prison.
• Tens of thousands have been dismissed from jobs or denied pensions because of Bahá'í affiliation, thousands denied food ration cards.
• Many Bahá'ís were required to repay all salaries earned during government service, or forced to repay pensions received since retirement.
• By 1982, all Bahá'í students were expelled from universities and many from high schools. Official documents state clearly that they were barred solely on account of their religion.
  

U.S. Government officials express concern for Bahá'ís:

• President Clinton cited Irán's "abusive treatment" of Bahá'ís, along with ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, as a critical human rights concern (April, 1993). Presidents Reagan and Bush also issued special statements in support of Iránian Bahá'ís.
• Vice President Gore has made several appeals for rights for Bahá'ís.
• Since 1982, Congress has adopted seven Resolutions condemning  Irán's denial of religious rights to Bahá'ís. The most recent appeal urging the "emancipation" of the Iránian Bahá'í community was adopted 408-0 by the House of Representatives (March 27, 1996) and approved unanimously by the Senate (June 26, 1996). The Resolution was co-sponsored by 40 Senators and 69 House Members, including the chairmen and leading members of the Foreign Relations and International Relations Committees.
  

United Nations and other responses to Irán's human rights abuses:

• Since 1985, the U.N. General Assembly has adopted ten resolutions condemning Irán's human rights abuses, with specific references to Bahá'ís.
• Each year since 1981, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. Economic and Social Council have cited concern for Bahá'ís in resolutions criticising Irán's violations of international human rights standards.
• Since December 1991, the German Bundestag and the European Parliament have adopted special resolutions condemning Irán's persecution of Bahá'ís.
  

Public pressure has helped:
The Iránian government has responded to diplomatic pressure and critical publicity. While persecution of individual Bahá'ís is less severe than in past years, the Bahá'í community remains an oppressed minority, denied the right to organize, elect leaders, conduct religious schools and other organized religious activities.


American Bahá'ís urge the U.S. and the U.N. to maintain international pressure in support of the rights of Iránian Bahá'ís.

General Background on the Bahá'í Faith

Origins and History:  The Bahá'í Faith, an independent world religion, originated in Irán (Persia) in the 1840's. Its adherents were persecuted as heretics and exiled, first to Baghdad, and eventually (1868) to Akká in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Faith, was imprisoned or held under house arrest in Akká until His death in 1892. He established the world centers of the new religion in Akká and nearby Haifa long before the establishment of the State of Israel -- but Bahá'ís are now accused of being "tools of world Zionism".

Bahá'ís Worldwide: The Bahá'í Faith is a world religion, not a sect. There are organized Bahá'í assemblies (elected governing bodies) in more than 100,000 localities in over 340 countries and territories. More than 1600 ethnic groups and tribes are represented. The Bahá'í World Center in Haifa is both the administrative and spiritual center of the Faith. Affairs of the Bahá'í world community are administered by a supreme elected council, the Universal House of Justice.

Bahá'ís in the U.S.: 120,000 American Bahá'ís are active in 1700 communities in all 50 states. Ninety-percent of U.S. Bahá'ís are American-born; approximately one-third are blacks. Native American Indians and many other minority groups are active in the U.S. Bahá'í Community. Since the Islamic Revolutionary regime took over in Irán, some 10,000 Iránian Bahá'ís have found refuge in the U.S. from religious repression in Irán. The American Bahá'í community is governed by elected local assemblies and an elected national assembly.

Principal Teachings: The oneness of God, who has revealed religion through a series of prophets; the oneness of religions, and the oneness of all mankind. Bahá'ís teach that religious truth is not absolute, but relative; and that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin. Racial harmony, equality of women and men, harmony of science and religion, independent seeking after truth, universal compulsory education, and obedience to the civil law of the land are basic principles of the Bahá'í Faith.

Sources of Conflict with Islam: Moslems generally believe that Mohammed is "the seal of prophesy" and that there can be no revelation after Islam. The Bahá'í Faith, which originated some 1200 years after Mohammed, holds that Divine Revelation is continuous and that all the great religions, including Islam, are valid and represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society. Thus, Islamic fundamentalists regard Bahá'ís as apostates for whom Islamic law prescribes the death penalty.

While the theological issue of continuous revelation is the core difference between Islam and the Bahá'í Faith, Islamic fundamentalists also reject many aspects of Bahá'í teaching and practice, such as the equality of men and women, and administration of the Faith by elected groups (including women) rather than by a clergy.

For more information:

Bahá'ís of the United States
1320 Nineteenth Street, NW, #701
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 833-8990

This file last updated November 25, 1996 and hyperlink added Jan. 2, 2001. Many thanks to the Office of Public Information of the American Bahá'í Community for this information. More information can be found at The Situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran on the Bahá'í World website.