On the Surveillance of the Baha'is in Iran: Touching Home

My son-in-law back home in the USA with the family

(Photo by Flitzy Phoebie)

The news story from the Baha'i World News Service excerpted below is a month old. But it came to mind when I visited with my son-in-law on Thanksgiving Day. I recalled the story he told me of his visit to Iran earlier this year to see his father who has cancer and all the rest of his family. On the last day of his visit, when he and his family members there were briefly out of their home, someone entered and took $800 from my son-in-law's personal belongings and the videotapes he had made of family events. The door had been locked, but there had been no forced entry. Whoever commited the burglary had a key. When the family contacted the police, the authorities refused to do an investigation, because there was no damage to the house. Such is the circumstances for Baha'i families in Iran. People can enter your home, and you can do nothing about it.

My son-in-law's mother would get calls regularly from government representatives summoning her to come in to be questioned. Once when government representatives came to the home, she welcomed them with an offer of tea, and they concluded their visit immediately, an incident that invokes an old old story harking back to the time of the Bab when His followers were accused of putting something in the tea that made people become Babis. Apparently the authorities didn't want to experience Baha'i hospitality that might cause their hearts to be touched. -gw

http://news.bahai.org/story/488

NEW YORK, 2 November 2006 (BWNS) -- In an ominous move, Iran's Ministry of Interior has ordered officials throughout the country to step up the surveillance of Iranian Baha'is focusing in particular on their community activities.

The Ministry has requested provincial officials to complete a detailed questionnaire about the circumstances and activities of local Baha'is, including their "financial status," "social interactions," and "association with foreign assemblies," among other things.

The Ministry's order came in a letter dated 19 August 2006 and addressed to provincial deputies of the Department of Politics and Security in Offices of the Governors' General throughout Iran.

The 19 August letter, which was recently obtained by the Baha'i International Community, asks these deputies to order "relevant offices to cautiously and sensitively monitor and supervise" all Baha'i social activities.

The letter is the latest in a series of threatening documents that outline a secret national effort to identify and monitor Baha'is in Iran. ...

Over the last two years, at least 129 Baha'is have been arrested, released on bail, and are now awaiting trial throughout the country. The bail demands have been high, in most cases requiring the Baha'is to hand over considerable sums of money, deeds to property, business or work licenses.

[To read the full text of the 19 August 2006 letter in an English translation, along with a link to the original letter in Persian, go to http://bahai.org/persecution/iran/19-08-06]