Source: iranwire.com
Kian Sabeti
During Ali Razini’s leadership of Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court from 1981 to 1985, the persecution of Baha’is took several systematic forms.
Under his oversight, the court conducted rapid trials where defendants were frequently denied legal representation.
Many Baha’is were arrested multiple times, often without formal charges, and held in detention for long periods.
The court’s focus was particularly intense on Baha’i educators and community leaders. Charges typically were around religious identity rather than specific criminal acts.
Those brought before the court faced intense pressure to abandon their faith.
Sentences handed down by Razini’s court included lengthy prison terms, property confiscation, and the forced closure of Baha’i-owned businesses.
The economic impact on families was severe – many lost their livelihoods and savings, with some families forced to leave Mashhad entirely.
The persecution created lasting intergenerational trauma within Mashhad’s Baha’i community. Religious gatherings became dangerous, community organization was disrupted, and many families were separated as members were imprisoned or fled.
Azizollah Golshani: A Baha’i Teacher Executed Under Ali Razini’s Judiciary
Azizollah Golshani, a Baha’i teacher, was summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Committee by the Revolutionary Court. On January 19, 1982, he complied with the summons, only to be arrested upon arrival.
One hundred days later, Golshani was executed by order of the Revolutionary Court, presided over at the time by Ali Razini.
Golshani’s wife recalled that on April 27, 1982, the family had an in-person visit with him, unaware it would be their last.
“Golshani told us that a heavy case with baseless charges had been fabricated against him. He said he had refuted these accusations clearly and logically,” she said.
She added, “He also emphasized that the law states no one is guilty until proven so. A criminal is someone who has committed a crime, and I have committed none.”
From his arrest to his execution, Golshani was held in various locations, including the committee, the prosecutor’s office, and Vakilabad Prison.
He was deliberately kept in the ward for dangerous criminals, such as murderers and drug traffickers, to subject him to harsher conditions.
The family only learned of his execution three days after it occurred when they saw the announcement in a local newspaper.
Authorities did not return his body to his family and likely buried him in secret.
Golshani’s wife recounted how their daughter traveled from Tehran to the Revolutionary Court to claim her father’s body.
The judge, however, warned her against persisting and threatened her with arrest. He said, “Golshani alive was a source of trouble and propaganda, and now even his death has become a tool for propaganda.”
A public notice issued by the Mashhad Revolutionary Court under Razini’s leadership listed Golshani’s alleged crimes, including promoting the Baha’i faith abroad through his son, financially supporting the Baha’i community, spreading Baha’i teachings among his students, and writing articles such as “Why I Became a Baha’i.”
At the time of his death, Azizollah Golshani was 64 years old and held a degree in philosophy from the University of Theology and Islamic Studies in Mashhad.
He had spent years teaching before joining the administrative staff at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in his later career.
The Persecution of Baha’is in Mashhad Under Ali Razini’s Judiciary
In September 1983, agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), under the orders of Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the prosecutor of Khorasan province, raided the homes of dozens of Baha’is in Mashhad.
At least 35 citizens were arrested over several days.
Again, in June and July 1984, the homes of Baha’is in Mashhad were attacked by the same agents, and 30 more people were arrested.
All detainees were pressured to renounce their religious beliefs. Those who recanted were released, while those who remained steadfast in their faith were sent to Ali Razini’s court for trial.
According to a former prisoner from that period, flogging on the soles of the feet was one method used to exert pressure on Baha’i detainees.
The prisoner recounted that Firooz Pordel and Nasrullah Vahdat, two Baha’is who were executed, were subjected to hundreds of lashes on their feet under Razini’s orders.
The same prisoner also recalled the use of fake death sentences and forced confessions, often under the guise of signing a will.
A tactic used to break the spirit of the detainees involved publishing their names and photos in the newspaper, which was then shown to them, accompanied by demands to convert to Islam since, as they were told, they had no place among the Baha’is anymore.
As described in the book The Baha’i Community of Khorasan by Manouchehr Mofidi, Shahnaz Foroughian, one of the Baha’i prisoners of the 1980s, was among those who experienced these kinds of manipulative tactics.
Razini conducted swift, five-minute trials for Baha’is without allowing them any legal representation.
One Baha’i who was imprisoned in Mashhad during the 1980s recalled, “Razini had a large room with benches around it. He sat cross-legged on the middle bench and asked the defendant one or two questions.
“In some cases, he only asked their name and immediately issued a ruling. The questions were simple, like ‘Are you still a Baha’i?’ or ‘Were you a member of such and such Baha’i organization?’ In the end, his rulings ranged from six months in prison to execution.”
Another Baha’i prisoner, Farahnaz Parastaran, described her court session: “Ninety-five days after my arrest, I went to court. There was a man in clerical dress who was my judge.
“It was just the two of us in the room. He told me that my sentence was two years, and I was not allowed to speak. After a while, I was transferred to Vakilabad Prison.”
In a particularly notorious case, Ali Razini sentenced four Baha’i prisoners – Nasrullah Vahdat, Firooz Pordel, Monireh Parsa (Vahdat’s wife), and Ghodratollah Rahimi – to death.
While the sentences for Parsa and Rahimi were overturned in Tehran, with each receiving 15 years in prison, the other two were executed by Razini’s orders.
Colonel Nasrullah Vahdat, 51 and a father of four, was executed on June 17, 1984, while Engineer Firooz Pordel, 41 and a father of two, was executed on October 30, 1984, in Mashhad.
In the final month of his tenure at the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, Razini also sentenced a 70-year-old Baha’i man, Gholamhossein Sabeti, to death.
His sentence was later overturned in Tehran, and Razini’s successor re-examined the case, sentencing the elderly Baha’i to six months in prison instead.
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