BRFC Condemns Iranian Government Attack on Baha’i Education Initiative

BFRC (BHRWS) May 25, 2011 — Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain – The Bahrain Religious Freedom Committee(BRFC) strongly condemns the coordinated raids by Iranian authorities this weekend on numerous Baha’i homes and the arrests of more than a dozen Baha’is who have been part of an effort to provide higher education to Baha’i youth because they are prevented from attending universities in Iran.
The recent attack on The Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) in Iran and the arrest of its faculty members has caused a great reaction in many corners. The Government of Iran has spread false accusations and mis information about BHIE.

On Saturday, in at least four different cities throughout the country, Iranian authorities raided approximately 30 homes of Baha’is who were part of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE),The Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) was founded in 1987 in response to the Iranian government’s continuing campaign to deny Iranian Bahá’ís access to higher education. As its graduates excel in post graduate studies internationally, the BIHE’s commitment to high academic standards, international collaboration, and an innovative teaching-learning environment is increasingly recognized.  The BIHE offers 17 university-level programs across 3 faculties and continues to develop and deliver academic programs in sciences, social sciences, and the arts.

Faced with unrelenting religious persecution involving a wide range of human rights violations, including systematic denial of access to higher education, BIHE developed several unique features which have become its defining strengths. Courses delivered at the outset by correspondence for security reasons are now provided on-line, using leading-edge communication technologies. In addition, an affiliated global faculty (AGF) has been established comprised of hundreds of accredited professors from universities outside Iran who assist BIHE as researchers, teachers and consultants.

The need to create a new university for those who were denied access to higher education captivated the talents and minds of exceptional faculty and staff from within Iran. For twenty years they have dedicated their efforts to building an exemplary institution and cultivating a student body prepared for fulfilling careers, future study, and social responsibility. BIHE provides its students with the necessary knowledge and skills to not only persevere and succeed in their academic and professional pursuits, but to be active agents of change for the betterment of the world.

These unique strengths of BIHE, together with the top-ranking marks of its students, have helped BIHE graduates secure graduate studies at close to 30 prestigious universities and colleges in North America, Europe and Australia.

Iranian authorities continue to hold the Baha’i community’s seven leaders in Iranian prisons and now, with these arrests, the number of Baha’is currently imprisoned is approaching 100, a number not seen in more than two decades,

BRFC condemns such actions and demanding the Iranian government to allow the new Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran to investigate this and other blatant violations.

The Bahrain Religious Freedom Committee(BRFC) is under Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society(BHRWS), to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and in Bahrain.

To interview BHRWS & BRFC, contact, Mr. Faisal Fulad at [email protected] or (00973- 36633882).

The Bahrain Religious Freedom Committee(BRFC) was created by the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society(BHRWS) in 2008 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, .
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Source: http://www.bhrws.org/, contact listed above.