Baha’i Student Previously Dismissed from High School Now Expelled from Unversity

November 16, 2016 , editor , Leave a comment

Translation by Iran Press Watch

According to BahaiNews, Kamand Agahi, a Baha’i resident of Isfahan, was expelled from university after attending the college for only 40 days, after being recognized as a Baha’i.

According to BahaiNews, Kamand Agahi, a psychology student, was expelled from the nonprofit Hasht Behesht University, although school authorities had asked her to announce she was a Muslim several times, as not to be expelled from college.

According to a source close to this Baha’i, “University officials who saw that there was a ‘deficiency’ in Kamand Agahi’s file [a standard method of stating that someone is Baha’i] messaged her on behalf of the college to go to the office to complete her registration.” This source added that “two weeks ago, she was contacted by the university to go to room No. 59 at the college, which is the university president’s office. After she arrived, the university president aseds her where she went for the mourning for Imam Hussein and which Mosque she attended. Kamand Agahi answered “Nowhere.” The president with a smile said: “Oh, I have received a letter from the Iranian Measurement Organization stating that you do not have the qualifications for higher education; at that time I realized the cause was either political or ideological ‒ now I understand you are a Baha’i.”

According to the source, “The president and his secretary spoke with this Baha’i Citizen for an hour, asking her to write a letter stating that she was a Muslim multiple times. They suggested that she then write another letter and deny the previous one so that she could continue to study; the president would only send the first one to the authorities. Kamand Agahi states: “I do not want to study at such a high cost ‒ I will not trample my beliefs in order to attend college.”

According to the report, this expelled citizen was called back from the university after another week, and school security told her that she had been expelled ‒ that she needed to complete the discharge process.

According to a close source to her, when the university president realized that Kamand Agahi, accompanied by her mother, had come to the school looking for a letter of expulsion, told her to go back to class, and he would discuss the reason for her dismissal later. But a week after she had gone to the president office, his secretary said that the university president has no intention to meet with her, that she had clearly been expelled, and that they would not issue any letters. The university education office treated her inappropriately by shouting insults and telling her that she deserved to be expelled from college, and that no proof would be given to her, although she requested to meet with the security officials and the president of the university. She was told that no one would see her.

This Baha’i Citizen, after her dismissal from the university, mentioned the reason for her dismissal to her fellow students; all the students expressed grief about this event.

According to the report, despite Kamand Agahi’s request and the university’s promise to have her tuition refunded, after multiple visits to the school the fee has not yet been refunded.

Kamand was already expelled from Safura High School at age 17, on July 1 of last year, because she is a Baha’i.

Over the last few days more than two thousand Baha’is called for improved conditions for education for Baha’is in Iran, in a letter to President Hasan Rouhani which was initially published by BahaiNews. Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, more than one hundred thousand Baha’is have been prevented from continuing their education to date. The suspension of Baha’is from education in Iranian universities takes place on the basis of the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council Directive issued on February 25 1991, which in addition to the exclusion of Baha’is from employment at government agencies, deprives them of college education as well. According to the third clause of this bill, not only must officials prevent Baha’is from enrollment in universities, but also if the individual’s religion is established to be Baha’i, after registration and while studying, they should be deprived of education.

Exclusion of Baha’is from higher education in Iran since the Islamic Revolution and the Declaration of the Cultural Revolution has been systematically implemented.

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