Religious persecution a fact of life in Iran

I am writing on behalf of the Baha'i community of Moorpark to call to your attention a recent development in Iran which has ominous implications for the fundamental human rights and immediate safety of the 300,000 Baha'is living in that country.

On Mon., March 20, a United Nations official revealed that the Iranian government has launched an aggressive campaign of surveillance of each and every member of that country's Baha'i community. Two other developments simultaneous with this increased surveillance signal an unprecedented level of persecution:

+Since October 2005, Kayhan, Tehran's official daily newspaper, has run more than 30 inflammatory articles defaming Baha'is. Radio and television programs have joined in with broadcasts condemning Baha'is and their beliefs. Such campaigns of vilification in state-run media organs have often preceded episodes of persecution against the Baha'is in Iran.

+In February, The Baha'i International Community also learned that the Association of Iranian Chambers of Commerce had begun to compile lists of Baha'is in every type of trade and employment. Viewed in the light of the trend of recent decades, this can only point to an imminent plan to further restrict the means of livelihood available to Baha'is.

The imminent danger to which the Iranian Baha'is are now exposed can be better understood against the backdrop of events since the Iranian Revolution of 1979:

+More than 10,000 Baha'is have been dismissed from government jobs and university pensions and many more have been denied jobs and pensions solely because of their religion.

+More than 200 Bah’s, including men, women and teenage girls, have been executed on account of their religion. Many more have disappeared or have been kidnapped.

+Bah’s have been blocked from higher education. Young Bah’s seeking entry into university and college are required to state their religion on a form and then denied entry on the basis of their religion. The government has also sought to close down Bah’ efforts to establish their own institutions of higher learning.

In 1993 a secret Iranian government document came to light, and was published by the UN Human Rights Commision, which set down the policy that "the government's dealings with them must be in such a way that their progress and development are blocked."

Here in Moorpark, there are several Iranian Baha'i families who either fled the country since 1979 or who have relatives still in Iran. Moorpark is also home to other Iranians who have left their beloved native land due to intolerable circumstances, though they did not face the persecution faced by the Baha'is there.

This latest grave acceleration in the Campaign of Cultural Cleansing against the Baha'is of Iran must not be afforded the shelter which a lack of publicity would provide. Patrick Connolly Baha'is of Moorpark