Persecution of the Baha'i

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The systematic persecution of the Baha'i is evident in the country of origin of their faith, today's Iran, in state-implemented, sponsored or tolerated measures against Baha'i based on their religious beliefs . The violations of human rights, some of which are serious, extend across civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural human rights. In addition to the main denial of the right to freedom of belief and religion, as well as the right to work and education, the persecutions include, above all, the ban on assembly , expropriations , evictions , arrests and torture . The aim of this persecution of the Baha'i is the destruction of their cultural roots and their social and economic marginalization. The systematic and state-ordered persecution of the Baha'i must be distinguished from various forms of discrimination such as local hostility or the restriction of religious activities by Baha'i in some other Islamic countries. In Yemen, however, the Baha'i are facing a situation of persecution that is in many ways analogous to that of Iran.

Destroyed Bahai cemetery in Yazd

Causes and religious and ideological justification

Since the majority of Muslims interpret the designation of Muhammad as the “seal of the prophets” to the effect that he is to be regarded as the last in a series of prophets and that he completed the previous religious foundations up to the Last Judgment , according to their understanding it cannot be any further revelations from God give in human history. On the other hand, the founder of the Baha'i religion, Bahāʾullāh , teaches that the covenant that God has made with man is always renewed through further revelations of the divine will “to the end that has no end”. Bahāʾullāh himself claims to continue the series of manifestations of God . The Baha'i therefore regard his holy writings as the revelation of God to mankind, with the doctrine of the progressive revelation of God making up the core of Baha'i theology. This means that the followers of the Baha'i religion, especially in Islamic orthodoxy, are not considered to be apostates from Islam, regardless of the legal school .

Due to the specific genesis of the Baha'i religion, which developed historically from the Islamic Shia, the persecution of the Baha'i is closely linked to more recent Iranian history. Bahāʾullāh's claim to have revealed a new divine doctrine is in theological contradiction in particular with the state principle of "Wilayat-e Faqih", which has been in force in Iran since 1979/1980, according to which the clergy controls political rule on behalf of the expected Twelfth Imam . According to the belief of the Baha'i, this Messiah figure of Shiite Islam already appeared in the historical figure and donor figure of Babism , Bab , in the middle of the 19th century. This Bab was both a forerunner and a forerunner of Bahāāullāh . Since the Islamic revolution , the public settlement of this theological conflict has been suppressed by political means.

With 300,000 to 400,000 followers living in Iran, the Baha'i make up the largest religious minority in the country. However, unlike Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians , they are not protected as a recognized religious minority in Article 13 of the Iranian Constitution. This legitimizes the repression against Baha'i and even legalizes it in the non-secular state structure of Iran. In the struggle for influence and power within Iran, the Baha'i, stylized as archenemies of Shia and national pride, repeatedly served as scapegoats that are instrumentalized in order to gain the emotional support of the masses. The Iranian public justifies the persecution with alleged "endangering national security", with nonsensical accusations that the Baha'i are "Zionists" or "spies". The Baha'i in Iran represent a population group who, according to the teachings of their faith, does not interfere in Iranian politics and practices the principle of non-violence . The Iranian state even formulated its own state doctrine in 1991 with the aim of eliminating the Baha'i as a viable community in Iran and abroad. This results from a government document on the so-called Baha'i question, which was published by the United Nations in 1993. It also states: "A plan must be developed to attack and destroy their [Baha'i] cultural roots outside the country."

The subsequent persecution of the Baha'i by the Houthi militia in Yemen since 2013 follows the same pattern as in Iran. The hate speech transmitted in the media by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Huthi is comparable to that of Supreme Leader Khamenei. The imprisonment and arbitrary judgments are also justified with espionage for Israel or apostasy and are an expression of profound religious prejudices.

Persecution story

The history of persecution of the Baha'i in Persia goes back to the time of Bab, who was executed in Tabriz in 1850 for blasphemy. In 1849/50, numerous of his followers were massacred in a religiozide , some sources speak of over 20,000 Babis. Under Reza Schah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , laws were passed that deprived the Baha'i of their civil rights. Pensions have been cut, Baha'i fired from civil service and the military, literature banned, houses expropriated, schools closed, centers confiscated, and meetings banned. Purges and pogroms took place regularly, for example in 1925, 1932, 1934, 1939, 1943 and above all in 1955, when the Shah made the government's radio stations available to the mullahs for incitement to the Baha'i and the military destroyed the Baha'i center in Tehran.

After the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran , the persecutions were systematic. Until 1981 all pilgrimage sites and places of pilgrimage of the Baha'i were destroyed, desecrated or misappropriated. Cemeteries and hospitals were destroyed by the mob led by the so-called religious watchmen or the Iranian government with reference to their interpretation of Sharia law . Since mid-1981, the Baha'i have been refused admission to higher education institutions, in some places in schools, students and teachers have been dismissed, civil servants without social security and pensions were thrown out of service, salaries and training costs had to be repaid under threat of prison become. Baha'i property was expropriated, business dealings with Baha'i nationals were prohibited, shops and businesses were closed, business and private accounts were blocked and livelihoods were destroyed. There were repeated pogroms : shops, offices and factories were looted, cattle slaughtered, the harvest expropriated or stolen. Residential houses were attacked and set on fire, the residents massacred, burned alive or forcibly forced to convert to Islam.

In the years immediately following the 1979/1980 revolution, thousands of Baha'i were arrested and cruelly tortured. Over 200 Baha'i were executed for their religious beliefs alone. Among them was virtually all of the elected leadership of the Iranian Baha'i community. At least 10,000 believers are believed to have fled into exile. From a secret paper of the Supreme Islamic Revolutionary Cultural Council published by the United Nations in early 1993, it emerges from 1991 that the Baha'i should be discriminated against at all levels in order to hinder their progress and development. This Golpayegani memorandum, named after its author, has formulated the Iranian state doctrine in dealing with the Baha'i since the 1990s. The measures essentially stipulate that the Baha'i in Iran are to be dealt with in such a way that “their progress and development are hindered.” Baha'i are to be kept at a low level of education and livelihood and are always fearful that even the slightest violation threatens them with imprisonment or something worse. For the Baha'i abroad, too, “a plan must be developed to attack and destroy their cultural roots outside the country”. The memorandum was intended to signal a change of course: away from the bloody persecutions of the past, which had contributed to the international isolation of Iran, to hidden economic, social and cultural human rights violations by the Iranian Baha'i, which should take place below the international threshold of attention. However, this strategy did not really work, as shown, among other things, by the reactions of the international community of states, including the United Nations.

Persecution situation in Iran

The Baha'i in Iran are affected by various human rights violations. The International Baha'i Community reported a significant increase in arbitrary detentions, horrific bail payments, torture, confiscations, denial of access to higher education, harassment and harassment of children and young people and state-organized propaganda intended to demonize the Baha'i. Attacks on Baha'i, all of which go unpunished, have been fueled by targeted smear campaigns since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term in office. The Baha'i still have no right of assembly or ownership of community property. In 2004, several sacred sites associated with early Baha'i history in Iran, including the birthplace of the religion founder, were destroyed to erase the cultural traces of this religion in Iran. Baha'i cemeteries have recently been destroyed in some cities, most recently in Isfahan in 2018. As before, the Baha'i are excluded from further education and university attendance. They are denied employment in public institutions. Shops are regularly sealed by authorities when they are closed on Baha'i Holidays. In 2008, Iranian intelligence arrested the seven leading members of the Iranian Baha'i community, including the executive director of the group, Mahvash Sabet, who received international acclaim for her prison poems. With this, the Iranian Baha'i community lost its informal leadership group, which was founded after the kidnapping and execution of the members of the Baha'i National Spiritual Council in Iran in 1980 and 1981 - with the knowledge of the Iranian government. The members of this disbanded body were released after completing their ten-year sentences. Furthermore, the Baha'i are denied any form of administration.

In January 2020 it became known that the new chip card ID card in Iran can only be applied for using an online form in which only one of the four religions recognized in the constitution - Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism - can be specified. The option “other religion” does not exist. When asked, the Baha'i were told to choose one of the four options. They are given the choice of lying about their religious affiliation or foregoing basic services. The chip card identity card is required, for example, to apply for a passport and a driver's license as well as to open a bank account, take out a loan and purchase real estate. The Baha'i community stressed that denial of their belief was out of the question for them.

Response from the Iranian Baha'i

Despite the brutality and systematic nature of the persecution, many Baha'i in Iran refuse to submit to the role of victim. Many of them follow the principle of constructive resilience in their response . Instead of giving in to the repression, they turn to law enforcement agencies for making legal arguments based on the Iranian constitution and the laws of the country. Baha'i generally strive to see their respective government as a system for maintaining the well-being and orderly progress of a society and are committed to complying with the laws of their country without allowing their internal religious beliefs to be violated.

The resilience of the Iranian Baha'i is particularly evident in the example of the Bahai Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) . This informal educational institution was established in 1987 to provide higher education for young Baha'i people. Because immediately after the Islamic Revolution, all Baha'i university professors were dismissed and Baha'i students were expelled from the universities. As it became increasingly clear that the authorities had no intention of changing this situation, and because the Baha'i community places a high value on education, Baha'i with expertise in various fields began volunteer services. The BIHE now offers courses in 38 courses with more than 700 lecturers. The university is largely run through distance learning and small groups in private apartments. The level of the educational offers is sometimes so high that some of the graduates succeed in being admitted to universities abroad, even if there is no general recognition of the qualifications in Germany either.

Expressions of solidarity

More and more people in Iran, including intellectuals, journalists, activists, filmmakers, students, artists and a number of clergymen, have also spoken out in favor of Baha'i rights and recognized that the situation of the Baha'i in Iran is a litmus test of the state of this society and their ability to protect the rights of every citizen.

The international community responds with compassion to the persecution of the Baha'i in Iran and continues to express its concern about the human rights violations perpetrated by the Islamic Republic. Such statements of support were not only made by civil society organizations like Amnesty International .

The German federal government and the European Union have repeatedly human rights violations against the Bahai against Tehran recently through demarches , brought up among others in November 2017. In a resolution adopted on 30 October 2019 84 to 30 votes with 66 abstentions resolution expresses the General Assembly of the United Nations expresses its "serious concern about persistent severe restrictions and increasing restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, (...) against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities, including ( ...) followers of the Baha'i Faith ”. This resolution follows two recent UN reports on Iran. The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, stated in his report from July 2019: "The Baha'i, who are considered to be the largest non-Muslim and unrecognized religious minority in the Islamic Republic of Iran (.. .) have suffered the most severe forms of oppression and persecution over the past 40 years ”. In the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, too, a large number of countries criticized Iran as part of the 34th General Review for its violation of the human rights of religious minorities. Six recommendations from member states relate specifically to the situation of the Baha'i. The European Parliament and the European Council also comment regularly on the human rights situation of the Baha'i in Iran.

The Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid , Dr. Bärbel Kofler, in a press release on January 31, 2020, called on Iran to stop “massive discrimination against the Baha'i”.

Persecution situation in Yemen

The history of the Yemeni Baha'i community goes back to the beginnings of the Baha'i faith in the mid-19th century and has been characterized by steady growth in the last few decades. Since the takeover of the Houthis in northern Yemen, the pressure grew on the Baha'i community. Waves of arrests followed in 2016 and 2017, a death sentence in January 2018 and another ongoing trial of 24 defendants before the same judge of a Houthi special court in Sana'a, which only sentenced 30 academics and politicians to death on July 9, 2019 . The appeal against the death sentence in the Hamed bin Haydara case was dismissed on March 22, 2020 by a special Houthi court. Numerous international organizations and national governments expressed their dismay at this human rights violation and demanded the immediate lifting of the death sentence, including the federal government. Thereupon the President of the Supreme Political Council of the Houthis, Mahdi Al-Mashat, ordered the pardon of Hamed bin Haydara and the release of the six imprisoned Baha'i in a public televised address on March 25, 2020. However, this order has not yet been implemented, so that six Baha'i will continue to be held captive by the Houthis in early May 2020.

The hate speech transmitted in the media by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Huthi is comparable to that of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution of Iran Khamenei. The imprisonment and arbitrary judgments are also justified with espionage for Israel or apostasy and are an expression of profound religious prejudices. Iran's influence over the National Security Agency and the Houthi Special Court Prosecutor has been confirmed by journalists, human rights organizations and independent experts in the region, such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief , Ahmed Shaheed . In a statement on May 22, 2017, he describes the striking similarity between the recent persecution of the Baha'i in Yemen and that of the Baha'i in Iran as follows: “The recent escalation in the persistent pattern of persecution in the Baha'i community in Sana'a reflects the persecution of those in Iran living Baha'i. "He added that" the harassment of the Baha'i religious minority appears to be continuing, if not to an even worse extent, as a religious persecution in Yemen. "

On September 26, 2018, the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid , Dr. Bärbel Kofler on the persecution of the Baha'i in Yemen and demanded their release. At the beginning of November 2018, the German government, together with the governments of the USA , Canada and Australia , signed a declaration in which they expressed their concern about the deterioration in the treatment of the Baha'i in Yemen, especially by the Houthis in Saana. In the statement, they call on the Houthis to release all Baha'i immediately.

literature

  • Jascha Noltenius: Human Right to Change Religion - A Bahá'í Perspective. In: Thomas Schirrmacher; Max Klingberg, Martin Warnecke (ed.): Yearbook religious freedom. Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, Bonn 2019, ISBN 978-3-86269-184-5, pp. 139–152 ( online [PDF]).
  • Ingo Hofmann : The situation of the Bahá'ís as reflected in the human rights obligations of Iran . In: Thomas Schirrmacher; Max Klingberg (Ed.):. Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, Bonn 2015, ISBN 978-3-86269-112-8 , pp. 96-105 ( online at the Martin Bucer Seminar [PDF]).
  • Bahá'í International Community: Inciting Hatred. Iran's media campaign to demonize Bahá'ís. A special report of the Bahá'í International Community October 2011 . Bahá'í International Community, New York 2011, ISBN 978-1-905833-12-2 ( bic.org [PDF]).
  • Dominic Parviz Brookshaw / Seena B. Fazel (eds.): The Baha ʾ is of Iran. Socio-historical studies . Routledge, London / New York 2008.
  • Geoffrey Cameron / Tahirih Danesh: A revolution without rights? Woman, Kurds and Baha'is searching for equality in Iran. Preface by Lord Mark Malloch Brown . Foreign Policy Center, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-905833-12-2 ( fpc.org.uk [PDF]).
  • Society for Threatened Peoples : Bahá'ís in Iran. Strangling a religious community. Human Rights Report No. 54 of the Society for Threatened Peoples - June 2008 . Society for Threatened Peoples, Berlin 2008 ( gfbv.de ).
  • Nazila Ghanea: Human rights, the UN and the Bahá'ís in Iran . George Ronald / Kulwer Law International, Oxford / The Hague 2002, ISBN 978-0-85398-479-5 .
  • Nazila Ghanea / Binesh Hass: Seeking justice and an end to neglect. Iran's minorities today . Minority Rights Group International, London 2011 ( minorityrights.org ).
  • Manfred Hutter : Handbook Bahā'ī. History - theology - relation to society . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-019421-2 .
  • Iran Human Rights Documentation Center : Crimes Against Humanity. The Islamic Republic's Attacks on the Bahá'ís . Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, New Haven 2008 ( iranhrdc.org [PDF]).
  • Wahied Wahdat-Hagh : The Islamist Totalitarianism. About anti-Semitism, anti-Baha'ism, persecution of Christians and gender-specific apartheid in the “Islamic Republic of Iran” . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main and others 2012, ISBN 978-3-631-63569-8 .
  • Catherine Bigelow: Conspiracies and Forgeries: The Attack upon the Bahá'í Community in Iran . In: Persian Heritage Vol. 9, No. 35 . 2004, p. 27-29 .
  • Moojan Momen: The Bábí and Bahá'í community of Iran: A case of suspended genocide ?, No. 7 . 2005, p. 221-241 ( informaworld.com ).

Web links

Commons : Tracking the Baha'i  collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Halm : Der Islam, p. 13, CH Beck Wissen, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-51917-2
  2. ↑ cit. according to Shoghi Effendi: The World Order of Baha'u'llah. Hofheim 1977, p. 177; see. also Baha'u'llah: harvesting grain. A selection from the writings of Baha'u'llah, Hofheim 1980, therein: Sections 24 u. 34: 3
  3. ↑ cf. Baha'ullah: Kitab-i-Aqdas, Hofheim 2000, therein: Sections 47 u. 143
  4. ↑ Katajun Amirpour, Reinhard Witzke: Schauplatz Iran, p. 33, Herder Spektrum, Breisgau 2004, ISBN 3-451-05535-X
  5. ^ Report of the International League for Human Rights from 1995, pp. 10ff.
  6. ↑ Nikki Keddie: Roots of Revolution. An Interpretive History of Modern Iran. P. 53, New Haven 1981
  7. ^ Mehrzad Boroujerdi: Iranian Intellectuals and the West. A Tormented Triumph of Nativism ,. New York 1996, p. 96.
  8. ^ Nafisa Tehrani: The false religion , taz of May 17, 2006.
  9. ↑ Susanne Schaup : The earth is only one country. The Baha'i Faith knows the vision of a united humanity and a lifestyle that does not harm anyone. In: GOTT UND DIE WELT, German General Sunday Gazette. Editorial dated December 31, 1993.
  10. ↑ a b Golpaygani memorandum. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Persecution of the Baha'i in Yemen. In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Hate speech by Houthi leaders against Baha'i in Yemen. In: NZZ. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b Gunnar Heinsohn: Lexicon of Genocides. Rowohlt 1998, ISBN 3-499-22338-4 , p. 87.
  14. ↑ cf. National Spiritual Council of the Baha'i in Germany (ed.): The Baha'i in Iran. Documentation of the persecution of a religious minority. 4th, revised and supplemented edition 1985, p. 43 ff.
  15. ↑ Harald Vocke: Persia, you marvelous, you terrible…. In the Islamic Republic of Ayatollah Khomeini, the followers of the Baha'i religion are fair game. In: The world. January 3, 1981, title article "Spiritual World"
  16. ↑ Olya Roohizadegan: Olya's Story. The harrowing account of a woman who - along with others - was imprisoned and ill-treated by the mullahs in Iran for belonging to the Baha'i religion. Bergisch Gladbach 1995, Bastei-Lübbe Verlag in the series "Experiences", ISBN 3-404-61322-8 .
  17. ↑ See Iran relies on tourism - the mullahs still rule ( Memento from June 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ^ Report of the Bahá'í International Community (2005): Closed Doors. Iran's campaign against the right to higher education, p. 9 ff. ( Denial.bahai.de PDF).
  19. ↑ International Federation for Human Rights: Discrimination against religious minorities in Iran, August 2003, ( fidh.org PDF).
  20. ↑ a b UN resolution on the human rights situation in Iran. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  21. ^ Philipp Wittrock: How the mullahs harass those of different faiths, Der Spiegel, June 5, 2006 ( spiegel.de ).
  22. ↑ Manfred Hutter: Die Weltreligionen, S. 118, CH Beck Wissen, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-50865-0 .
  23. ↑ Mahvash Sabet: No Limits - Poems from Prison. Vienna 2016, p. 150.
  24. ↑ Kersten Knipp: New harassment against religious minorities in Iran. Deutsche Welle, February 5, 2020, accessed on February 10, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Baha'i community in Germany, Berlin representation: Bahá'ís punished for their truthfulness in faith. January 27, 2020, accessed February 10, 2020 .
  26. ↑ THE FORBIDDEN UNIVERSITY. In: ZEIT-Online. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  27. ↑ IRAN - MEMBERS OF THE BAHA'I FAITHFUL FAMILY. In: Amnesty International. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  28. ^ UN report on the human rights situation in Iran. July 18, 2019, accessed on January 23, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Human rights commissioner Kofler on discrimination against Baha'i and other unrecognized religions in Iran. Federal Foreign Office, January 31, 2020, accessed on February 10, 2020 .
  30. ↑ 30 members of the opposition sentenced to death. In: Amnesty International. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Human rights commissioner dismayed by the death sentence in Yemen. Evangelical Press Service, March 25, 2020, accessed on May 5, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Federal government calls for the lifting of the death sentence and an end to the persecution of Bahá'ís in Yemen. In: Human rights situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran. The National Spiritual Council of Bahá'ís in Germany Kdö.R., March 25, 2020, accessed on May 5, 2020 .
  33. ↑ Ceasefire due to the Corona crisis in Yemen? FAZ - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 26, 2020, accessed on May 5, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Baha'i imprisoned in Yemen are still awaiting release. Evangelical Press Service, April 30, 2020, accessed on May 5, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Yemen must stop persecution of Bahá'í community, urges UN expert on freedom of religion. United Nations, High Commissioner for Human Rights, May 22, 2017, accessed on February 10, 2020 .
  36. ↑ Human Rights Commissioner Kofler on the persecution of the Baha'i in Yemen. Federal Foreign Office, September 26, 2018, accessed on January 23, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Germany, USA, Canada, Australia: Joint Statement on Baha'is in Yemen. November 2018, accessed on January 23, 2020 .