On Baha'is Prevented From Opening Businesses and Other Stories: Being Baha'i in Iran
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Senators should be aware that seven prominent Iranian Baha’i leaders are currently in prison, facing sentences of up to 10 years, charged with espionage, establishing an illegal administration, and promoting propaganda against the Islamic order. These spurious charges are only the latest example of the mistreatment of the largest religious minority in Iran.
+Ironically, the Baha’i faith originated in Iran during the 19th Century, separating the Baha’is from their previous affiliation with Islam. The founder of the faith, known as The Báb, was then arrested, locked in a dungeon, and executed, as were some 20,000 of his followers. These atrocities devastated a religion whose tenets include global unity, peace and diversity.
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Persecution of the Baha’is in Iran continued into the next century, with the Iranian Government’s destruction of Baha’i literature in 1933, and in 1955 the demolition of the Baha’i national headquarters. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the government has stepped up its active discrimination against the Baha’is. Children are prohibited or discouraged from receiving higher education, Baha’is are unable to practice their faith in public, they are prevented from opening businesses or advancing their careers, and Baha’i cemeteries are destroyed. Baha’is are slandered by the Iranian media, often called worshippers of Satan.
Senator Leahy's comments in the senate are a reminder of the history of persecution of the Baha'is in Iran. Local Baha'i Enayat tells a story here of what it was like to be a Baha'i in Iran about 40 years ago when his family "pioneered" to a town to open a business and live before being driven out by fanatical elements and the local Muslim clergy after just two years. -gw
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