Source: www.hra-news.org
Translation by Iran Press Watch
HRANA News Agency – Anahita Horr, a Baha’i undergraduate student at the non-profit Rasam Institute of Higher Education in Karaj, has been expelled from her university because she is a Baha’i, and has been barred from continuing her education.
As reported by HRANA News Agency, the news arm of Human Rights Activists in Iran, Anahita Horr, an undergraduate student at the School of Architecture at the non-profit Rasam Institute of Higher Education in Karaj, has been expelled from her university because she is a Baha’i, and has been barred from continuing her education.
An informed source, told HRANA: “In 2016, Anahita Horr, a Baha’i resident of Karaj, like a few other Baha’i students, was able to attend university, but after two years she has been expelled from Rasam Institute of Higher Education because she is a Baha’i.”
Despite the fact that Baha’i students have been denied access to university education, some of them have sometimes managed to enter a university, but all of them have eventually been expelled and barred from university education for various reasons. HRANA has previously reported about the expulsion of Baha’i students in various cities around the country.
This week, HRANA had several reports about the expulsion of three other Baha’i students: Shaghayegh Zabihi Amri, an undergraduate student in the Architectural Drawing School of the non-profit Rasam Institute of Higher Education in Karaj; Nikan Shaydan Shaydi, a 3rd semester student of Casting at the Technical School of Revolution at the University of Tehran; and Misagh Aghsani, an undergraduate student at Payam Noor University in Urmia.
Over the last several days, and after the announcement of the results of the National University Examination for the 2018 school year, many Baha’i students who passed the exams have been denied entry to university with the excuse of incomplete records and applications. HRANA has published the names of a number of these students in a variety of reports, and published the documentation related to depriving them of a university education.
Despite an explicit right enshrined in law, according to a secret decree of the Supreme Council of the Iranian Cultural Revolution, in addition to being barred from employment in public places, Baha’is have been deprived of university studies.
Every year there are many reports of the prevention of Baha’is from continuing their education at Iranian universities. This includes even those who are on the verge of graduation.
UN human rights rapporteurs on Iran have repeatedly objected to antagonism towards Baha’is during the life of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary regime; in particular depriving Baha’i students of their right to an education, which is a clear indication of Iran’s neglect of human rights accords.
Baha’is in Iran are denied religious freedoms. This systematic deprivation occurs even though in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, every individual has the right to freedom of religion and to convert to another religion based on their personal conviction, as well as the freedom to express their religious beliefs individually or collectively, and publicly or privately.
According to unofficial sources, there are more than three hundred thousand Baha’is in Iran. The Iranian constitution recognizes only the religions of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, but does not recognize the Baha’i Faith; therefore Baha’i rights have been systematically violated in Iran.
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