According to HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency], Religious Minorities Rights, homes of two Baha’i families residing in Qaemshahr were subjected to searches by officers of the Ministry of Intelligence on the 23rd of Aban [14 Nov. 2009].
In the morning of Saturday the 23rd of Aban [14 Nov. 2009], some five Ministry of Intelligence agents entered the homes of Mrs. Simin Karaji and Mr. Ali Ahmadi and conducted searches of their homes and personal belongings.
The agents seized and took away personal computers, family and religious CDs; [paper] notebooks, university and religious textbooks, as well as pictures, posters and drawings from Mr. Ali Ahmadi’s home. The Ministry of Intelligence agents of Qaemshahr produced a document and an order by the Prosecutor General indicating allegations of participation in memorial services for Raghiyyih Uladi, lecturing and teaching the Baha’i Faith, and gave a subpoena to Mr. Ahmadi requiring that he present himself to the Intelligence Division of the Province of Mazandaran on the 25th of Aban [16 Nov. 2009].
Previously, in the past year, Simin Karaji had been in prison for 6 months, and Mr. Ahmadi had been incarcerated for 10 months, accused of teaching the Baha’i Faith.
Based on reports from the Committee of Human Rights in Iran, Mr. Ahmadi was interrogated for two hours on the 25th of Ababn [16 Nov. 2009] after he presented himself at the Intelligence Division of the Province of Mazandaran. According to documents and reports received from two individuals, the interrogation was ordered by means of a confidential memorandum of the Nation’s Chief Prosecutor dated the 1st of Shahrivar of the current year [23 Aug. 2009]. According to the above-mentioned memorandum, participation in any events associated with the Baha’i Faith is considered to be an act against the régime and national security, and will be prosecuted by the law. This [memorandum] is in effect, notwithstanding Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” [1] During the last 30 years the Baha’i community in Iran has been banned from observing its community life.
[1] Editor’s note: the exact wording of Article 18 is reproduced here. Link to Article 18: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a18
[Source: http://www.hra-news.org/news/9203.aspx; Translated by Iran Press Watch]
December 5, 2009 12:51 pm
I took note of this well written article and have re-posted it on my FaceBook account. Human rights are God-Given rights and no one should be allowed to take them away. To deny them to one is to deny them to all!