Iranian of the Day

Cultural Genocide

"By 1903, the Baha’i community of Iran had experienced nearly a half century of relative peace. The last widespread persecution of its members had occurred in 1852-53, in the bloodbath that followed the unsuccessful attempt on Nasiru’d-Din Shah’s life by a few disgruntled Babis. During this period the community had changed its character from a militant messianic Babi community, to a peace-loving, ethically-bound, progressive-minded Baha’i community that had grown considerably in numerical strength and geographic spread. Throughout this interval though the Baha’is periodically continued to be harassed, and on occasions a few of them killed by their opponents often as excuse for political ambitions, no large scale persecution was witnessed. This changed drastically in the summer of 1903 when a pogrom was unleashed against the community, resulting in the murder of nearly two hundred defenceless Baha’is. This occurrence outraged ‘Abdu’l-Baha who wrote at length about the details and it is a rendering of this treatise that is the subject of this paper."
//www.iranpresswatch.org/post/4536
"The Baha'i faith is a 19th Century synthesis of world religions in a humanistic and universal doctrine encompassing all races and nationalities that started in Iran. After the 1979 revolution in Iran and the implementation of Islamic law, persecution of Baha'is increased due to orthodox Shi'i claims that is was heretical. Practice of the religion is banned, and Baha'is are excluded from participation in higher education and public social institutions. Police frequently raid Baha'i homes and destroy their property and cultural icons, including cemeteries. Proof of an agenda to wipe out this largest religious minority exists in government documents and statements. Observers are unsure whether these policies will change if the Iranian government continues the liberalization process.

The United Nations, Amnesty International, and other activist organizations report on human right violations against Baha'i. Annually, the UN Commission on Human Rights includes them in its reports on Iran. Yet, if the treatment of Iranian Baha'i fits into the limited United Nations definition of genocide might be questioned. Clearly, the attack on the group is based on religious distinctions manipulated by the political elite. Although the number of deaths has not reached the horrific levels of other cases of genocide, Iran seeks to eliminate them as a group through murder and social deprivation, thus meeting the UN Convention's definition of genocide."
//www.bahaindex.com/en/news/1-general-news/24...
‎"

The horizon of most people is a circle with a radius of zero. And they call that their point of view." ---Albert Einstein
"`Abdu'l-Bahá asked her to use these funds for charitable projects, which she did including the building of various YWCA's and the University of California (Berkeley), as well as other schools, health clinics, and institutions."
//bahaiviews.blogspot.com/2008/01/on-majnun-b...
"Beginning in 1891, Phoebe Apperson Hearst made several large gifts to Berkeley, funding a number of programs and new buildings, and sponsoring, in 1898, an international competition in Antwerp, Belgium, where French architect Emile Bernard submitted the winning design for a campus master plan. In 1905, the University Farm was established near Sacramento, ultimately becoming the University of California, Davis. By the 1920s, the number of campus buildings had grown substantially, and included twenty structures designed by architect John Galen Howard." //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Califor...
"Mohammad-Javad Larijani continued his studies outside Iran, Ph.D. program in mathematics at University of California, Berkeley. However he did not finish his studies and did not write a dissertation as he returned to Iran because of the 1979 revolution."
"
We do not capture anyone in our country for being a member of Bahai community, but we do not let expansion of the community, since we do not recognize it as a religion. We will deal with Bahai community members as we do regarding other people if they want to act beyond the system's rules," he said.
Larijani has already said that Iran would not capture any Bahai community member if they do not violate rules of the country.
He has assured that members of the group enjoy civilian and citizen rights inside Iran as other Iranians."
//www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1780...
"Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, "everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."
Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes "the right of everyone to education," and that, "higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity."
"Iran ratified both Covenants in 1975," noted Ms. Dugal."
//www.payvand.com/news/11/may/1264.html

The 2,000 pound Gorilla .. :)

A New Vision for Humanity's Future, ONE WITHOUT CLERGY.. (Mulla)

The 2,000 pound Gorilla is the reality , the Shia Clergy have kept from the Iranian people up to now...

Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God whose successive revelations of His will to humanity have been the chief civilizing force in history. The agents of this process have been the Divine Messengers whom people have seen chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems but whose common purpose has been to bring the human race to spiritual and moral maturity.

Humanity is now coming of age. It is this that makes possible the unification of the human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among the principles which the Bahá'í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are

• the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
• assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
• recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
• the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
• the realization of universal education
• the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
• the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
• recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge

They dont accept the above today...never mind 160 years ago !

see below film 

Self-Contradictory

So in Iran it is not a crime to be a member of the Baha'i community, but it is a crime for them to have individuals they elect to manage the affairs of the community. Baha'is are allowed to attend university, however if they refuse to identify as either Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian or Muslim, or if they are publically identified as or discovered to be Baha'is they can no longer attend university and will be expelled.

"The Head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights said no Iranian citizen from Baha'i community has been arrested so far.

"No Iranian citizen has been arrested or put in jail because of being a member of Baha'i community. The Baha'is enjoy citizenship rights in Iran as any other Iranian citizen do, but Iran's judiciary deals with them as it does regarding other citizens if they commit any crime," Mohammad Javad Larijani told a press conference with South African reporters in Tehran on Saturday.

He said, "Baha'ism is not a religion in Iran but a diversionary sect and that based on Iran's law, publicity in favor of the Baha'ism is a crime, but the Baha'is enjoy complete freedom in their personal issues and nobody opposes them.""

//www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1767144&Lang=E

"Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior adviser to the Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenai and head of the human rights council in the judiciary recently sat down for an interview with Iran Press TV, an English-language network of the Iranian regime that has previously carried anti-Baha’i propaganda. In the interview, Larijani addressed the issue of the Baha’i community in Iran (full transcript of the section below).

Larijani claimed in his November 22nd interview Baha’ism is a “closed-door cult” that prevents people from leaving it, and therefore the Iranian regime needs to protect people against this “exclusive” and “dominating” cult. Larijani stated that the treatment of the Baha’i “cult” is similar to the treatment of any other closed-door cult, whether it’s Sunni or Shia. According to him, members of the Baha’i “cult” are affluent people and “there are more than 300 Baha’i students in universities”. This means that according to Larijani’s own admission, Baha’is are discriminated against since only 0.1% of Baha’is (300 out of 300,000) attend Iranian universities and 4.8% of the general Iranian population do (3.5 million students out of a population of 72 million). This is assuming Larijani doesn’t think that Baha’is are inherently intellectually inferior compared to Muslims."

//www.bahairights.org/2010/11/27/supreme-leaders-adviser-larijani-iranian-regime-protects-people-against-the-bahai-cult/ 

You confuse me Rea

What is this European perspective that complicates your view? It is a very simple case. There is a backward government who is ruled by clergy and who wants to keep the people in the dark ages for its own benefit and there is a religious minority who does not believe in clergy nor pay the greedy clergy. As a result the former who has all the power want to destroy the later who is powerless. Is it any less complicated now?

The Reality Of Bahai Life In Iran .....

For anyone of us who has spent any time in Iran recently, the very persecution of the Bahais, who are indeed our brothers and sisters in Iran, in any shape or form, ie. desecrating their cemeteries, or this recent incident,  is fundamentally linked and rooted in the association of Bahaullah (Mirza Hosseinali Nouri) with Bab (Seyed Ali Mohammad Shirazi) -

The Shia Muslims in Iran will never forgive Bahaullah for being a follower of the Bab - As we all know, Bab claimed to be the second coming of the Mahdi (Emam-e Zaman) - Indeed, an unforgivable blasphemy in the eyes of the Shia leaders in Iran -

What I'm trying to say is this: All of this other stuff that our friends are discussing here in this thread, respectfully, are of secondary importance, and side issues - The 2,000 pound Gorilla in the room is what I have described above -

Sincerely,

R D

Shepesh

Kinda complicated to explain. From a european perspective in particular.

Have always been behind Bahai's. Yet IRI is doing a good job. Whatever I say, IRI is always one step ahead.

Idiocracy

Since when is having access to an university education a crime? The persecution of Baha'is in Iran will go down in history as one of the mind-numbingly stupidest things the government could do. Iran has set the world record for transforming itself into an idiocracy. 

"The film tells the story of two ordinary people who are taken into a top-secret military hibernation experiment which goes awry, and awaken 500 years in the future. They discover that the world has degenerated into a dystopia where advertising, commercialism and cultural anti-intellectualism run rampant and dysgenic pressue has resulted in a uniformly stupid human society devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility and coherent notions of justice and human rights."

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

What really is Definition of Propaganda?

According to wiki !

"Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself."

As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare. 

Whose actions does the above  accurately represent? 

Dear Rea,

The solution to "never being had" is a deep open minded ,independent investigation of anything any one wants you to believe, verified and confirmed  by not mere words but by actions... as words can be deceiving , if not followed by deeds..especially words that inspire one to be a better loving human being.

f. 

Rea

Can you clarify what you classify as Bahai's propaganda? When you say you have been had, do you mean you have been misled or deceived?

Been following for a while

Yet difficult to say what is IRI propaganda and what is Bahai's propaganda.

Have been had so many times.  

Dear All, Lets Ask WHY? WHY Fear defenseless Bahais?

Dear All,

Lets Ask WHY? WHY They Fear ?

What do they fear? 

There is a real reason, and a very good reason, and the ideological clerical leaders, even the ones who are trying to show a kinder, gentler reformed face are implicated in this , probably the most long standing animosity and brutal campaign that dates back to the 1840's.

The basic question is what do Khamenei and supporters see as such a big THREAT?

Any suggestions, any clues? 

Any one? 

regarding Bahais

As most of you know, the iranian regime doesn't even consider Bahais a religion.  Apparently, Bahais are a "subversive, clandestine organization" seeking to create chaos and destruction.  These bastards make the Saudis look like angels when they deal with their religious minorities.

Figure this out!

Just about every government in the world spends a fortune to educate its citizens for the overall good of the country and these AHMAGH-HA--agents of darkness--spend the country's treasure in support of their misguided adventures abroad--Lebanon, Hamas, etc--and Hoze-ha at home. Not only that, they shut down a Baha'i educational system that doesn't cost them one tuman and arrest the volunteer unpaid teachers. Talk about how far our beloved nation has fallen under the oppressive yoke of these religion-less pretending as men of God.

Bahram G

as a none

practicing Muslim to my Baha'i brothers and sisters  I AM ASHAMED. Forgive me and my family. I am so so sorry for what they R doing to U (us). so so ashamed. ba bakhshid ba bakhsid

Insane government

These Mullahs and their supporters are totally out of control and there is no possibility to have a reasonable compromise with them.

تاریخچه محرومیت بهائیان ایران از آموزش عالی پس از انقلاب اسلامی

بهائیان ایران از سال ۱۹۷۹ میلادی از حق تحصیل محروم کردن حالا دیگه در خونه هم نمیخواهند اجازه بدهند ...ساندیس خوری هم حد و حساب داره...         تاریخچه محرومیت بهائیان ایران از آموزش عالی پس از انقلاب اسلامی //hamava.org/node/105

حق تحصیل؛ حق تمام انسان هاست ...

گزارش تصویری--نمونه ای‌ از نحوه بازداشت و بررسی منازل

به امید ایرانی‌ آزاد به دور از خشونت و ظلم

مونا

Deev, Online came later

BIHE was established in 1987 and initially included distance learning and in-home instruction. Later, with the development of the Internet, online capabilities were leveraged. Hope this clarifies.

Criminal Akhoond

These agents of backwardness are against everything that poses the slightest threat to their creed of darkness. They arrest, imprison, torture and even rape some of Iran's very best young people--university students and free-thinkers. They have created conditions that drives, again some of Iran's most talented people out of the country. And when it comes to the Baha'is, they have an official agenda for decimating the greatest threat to their existence.

These akhoonds and their agents are indeed personifications of AHRIMAN. And the world remains largely indifferent to these criminals who are using Islam to further their own evil schemes. Will this nightmare ever end? Will Iran ever recover from the damage? Let us do all we can, as individuals and groups to combat these turbaned criminals posing as men of God.

Bahram G

Online school est. 1987?

online/correspondence university established in 1987?

I live in US and first time I touched internet was 1994!

Thank you for this tribute

Thank you for paying tribute to these individuals. For years they have been under intense pressure and remained committed to the education of young Iranians.

What makes this even more heart-wrenching is that the IRI has carried out these raids and arrests on the eve of what should be a joyful and festive Baha'i holy day.

Let's keep them in our thoughts and prayers, as well as the countless other human rights activists and free-thinkers, who are under intense emotional and physical pressure in Iran's prisons. I know their continued strength and selfless character has served as an example and inspiration to each one of us.

Insane?

Not really.

The destruction of the Baha'i Faith in Iran is by design.

insanity

it's just insane. no other reason. it's really that simple.

Az ina ham mitarsid?

Yeh kesi ro be man neshon bedid, keh IRI azashon nemitarseh.

Ay khak bar sarhaye tarikh....