Source: Bahai World News Service
Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations
NEW YORK — A storm of furious denunciation, in reaction to a simple meeting between two friends in a private home, has dramatically exposed the duplicity of the Iranian authorities who have repeatedly claimed that their treatment of Baha’i is not motivated by religious prejudice.
The encounter which has generated the controversy was the visit of Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former president of Iran Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to the home of Fariba Kamalabadi, one of the seven former Baha’i leaders who have been in prison since 2008.
Tens of senior clerics and political figures were quick to denounce Ms. Hashemi, with a Grand Ayatollah even calling for her prosecution because of her meeting with a Baha’i. Another high-ranking figure described “friendly relations” with Baha’i as “treason against Islam and the Revolution”. “Consorting with Baha’is and friendship with them is against the teachings of Islam”, said one Ayatollah whilst another described the Baha’is as “deviants” who must be “isolated” and asserted that meeting with a Baha’i is itself “an absolute religious deviation”. The head of the judiciary as well as its first deputy have confirmed the possibility of Ms. Hashemi’s prosecution which has been specifically demanded by many clerics as a lesson to the rest of society.
Speaking in New York, Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations said: “What is surprising is the candour, the scale, and the high-profile of the regime’s reaction. From a Grand Ayatollah, designated as a ‘source of emulation’, to senior religious and political figures as well as the executive organs of the government, consistent statements have now shown, beyond the shadow of doubt, that it is religious prejudice which motivates their treatment of the Baha’is. And in doing so, this collective reaction has laid bare the mendacity of the Iranian government’s representatives in international human rights forums and has flatly contradicted their claims.” Ms. Dugal added: “Let this be a moment of absolute clarity for the whole world”.
“Just imagine what it is like to be a Baha’i in Iran when even those who visit you in your home are publicly condemned in this way and are threatened with prosecution”.
The meeting between the two women came about during a five day period when Mrs. Kamalabadi was allowed to leave prison before being required to return for the completion of her ten-year sentence.
Ms. Hashemi, who is also a former member of the Iranian parliament, spent six months in the same prison as Mrs. Kamalabadi in 2012 after being convicted of “spreading propaganda against the ruling system”. The women who had not seen one another since Ms. Hashemi’s release were renewing their friendship forged in prison.
“Despite the furore of criticism that has greeted this humanitarian gesture, a simple interaction of two citizens, there have also been countless fearless individuals—human rights activists, journalists, academics, and ordinary citizens—who have defended the right of Baha’is to normal human relations in their own country” said Ms. Dugal. “But we hope more such voices will be raised so that the efforts aimed at the systematic isolation and ‘othering’ of the Baha’i community in Iran does not succeed.”
Ms. Dugal added: “The extraordinary threats and condemnation expressed by many clerics and authorities stand in contrast with the courageous statements and actions in recent years by several senior clerical figures and religious thinkers in Iran and beyond who have spoken out in favour of coexistence, tolerance, and equality for every citizen. We hope that the voice of conscience will lead the rest of the clerics to end their silence and to show that true religion cannot condone cold-hearted hatred, estrangement and apartheid.”
May 22, 2016 2:21 am
Ofcourse mullah’s lies. They have never cared for Iranians nor have they for Baha’i people in Iran. Mullah’s are corruption in Iran. This government is a terrorist government and needs to be overthrown or replaced. Mullah’s are not Iranian. They are mixture of Arabs and Pakistanis. They came to power to steal Iranian people’s money and ruin the country of Iran. Show you example ayatollah khamenei has $50000000000 investment in European country. These are Iranian people money that they stole.This is just one of the ayatollahs .. There are many of other mullah’s that did the same thing.
New Generation of Persians”
To all good Iranians all over the world; ,
Dear Iranians There are hopes and there are ways as far as getting back our country from these Mullah’s but we have to get up and do something about it. We cannot just sit here and keep praying and act if things are going back to normal as the days or weeks or months going by.
As I mentioned in my last email that Unity and binding at this moment is quite essential and quite important to Iranian community which we hardly had it in the past. At this moment I would like to ask all good Persians get together gather your thoughts , your energys and your focus on our country Iran try to find a practical way to overthrown the mullah’s regime. even if we have to go to war with mullah’s, even if we get compromised for it, we have to do this. It would be a lot better than thousands of innocent Iranians are getting torcherred and die under Mullah’s regime and not having a freedom of any kind and nor any sources. Therefore you might as well fight for your country and be proud of it….let’s do this for the sake of our children, our country, our race, our freedom, our civilization and also for our ancestors. That’s how American did it for their independence and so did some other European continents in the past. We are no more, no less than any other cultures in this planet but we have something unique and special in our tradition that inspire our culture than any other cultures. We are Persians. We have superb values…We are Babylonian, we are what we are and we do what best to preserve and maintain our precious 3000 years of The history which is all been written and sealed.
So now as you realized if some of us were being compromised within the conflict with mullah’s and other dictators in our country in the past , present and possibly in the future, then what we have to do is all it takes few good Iranian who will be remainder of us after we done with the new revolution who can take over the country of Iran with all good and healthy ideas for new generation of Iranians. we Persians deserve much better than this mullah’s regim.
All Persian women and Persian men need to be free and free of any kind of harrassments, torchering and criticisms that the mullah’s regim had been pounded in our people for past 35 years.
We have to do our best to get rid of these nasty , ugly uneducated mullah’s whom are putting our country in “jahlo Nadooni”. every war or every revolutions have sacrifices and casualties…I tell you now so don’t think this would be easy, but we have to do this for our loved ones and for our future generations.
As I mentioned earlier We are Persians, we have superb and unique traditions in our past generations and still active at the present . We also have special values in our culture (hosneh Seluque) . we don’t need these kind of creatures Like mullah’s and akhoond runs and ruin our country. They have turned our country back to 300 years ago. They almost ruined our historic pattern. The mullah’s are destructive and ignorant.
what we need to do now is to get all good Persians with a healthy mind , healthy body and a healthy wisdom get united and make some preparations. This preparation might take some time but in the long run, it would do us such a great achievement. At the mean time we can ask Any decent foreign government there that if they could support us and provide us with ammunition and Fire arms that we need for a new revolution in Iran. If not we will do it ourselves. There are other resources such as being a partizan attacking eslamic guards in Iran at night time and take and collect their guns for example or we can get it from black market or private dealers.
Remember guys we lost our
country to bunch of mullahs (akhoondeh mullah goozie) that they don’t know shit about anything except their own evil way of corrupting and distroying our culture and taking an advantage of good people like us. They don’t know the difference between right and wrong & good and bad. They are bisavad, Nafahm and bisheoore (illiterate)… They are not Iranian…they are mixed with some other weird culture like Mongolian or Arabs “arabzadeh”……… If u believe in your country, and have respect for your ancestors you must have that feeling of dignity and go getter in your blood…you need to get your country back, you must fight for it, you must earn your independence and your freedom by getting united with good ones and fight the evil(mullah’s and akhoond) the bad ones. We have to have a strong unity among eachother between all good Persians…parsianeh azadmanesh…..fight for our rights, for our sisters and brothers and our freedom…fight for your ancestors. Don’t let these nasty, ugly and uneducated mullahs destroy and ruin our country. They are not only destroying our country but also damaging our race , our nation and our people by sending them to unnecessary wars with other Islamic country. These mullahs are viruses, diseases and germs that are brainwashing and poisoning our young one’s mind with their demonic ideas and their corrupted thoughts. and finally destroying our culture at the same time. These mullah’s need to be removed and demolished off the earth. They are extremely Najess using their own words describe them. They are not Iranians, they are arabzadeh or tokhmeh haroom that need to be vaporized off the earth.
My dear good Iranians, Why don’t we come together as one family and fight these nasty mullah’s whom are destroying our nation. Remember guys as God says in every holly books “as tu harekat as man barekat”. Let’s do it guys, lets show them what we are made of.