(Tuesday, March 3, 2015)
This morning the Prime Minister of Israel while giving a speech to US Congress said, "Iran has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted, no matter what it says about permitting verification of the terms of any accord designed to prevent it from getting such weapons." And he continued "The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons." Well, I have no comments to what political leaders have to say. But one thing for sure, in Iran, education is a crime.
Education is a right to every citizen in a country. And is not a crime. But in the case of Islamic Republic of Iran, it is not true. Iran is violating the most basic human rights of its Baha’i citizens; and, when young Baha’is aren’t allowed to study or enroll in a college, it’s a crime. Since 1979, the government of Iran has systematically sought to deprive young members of the non - Muslim religious minorities including the members of the Baha’i community – from higher education. Thousands of students have been barred from universities for being active in student unions, campus publications, or social and political issues including women’s rights, academic freedom, human rights and the rights of prisoners.
The right to education for all persons without discrimination is explicitly guaranteed under international instruments, which Iran has accepted or to which it is party. It is also guaranteed under Iran's Constitution. I firmly believe that every Iranian, without distinction of any kind, such as, race, color, sex, language, religion, politics or other opinions, and also without regard to ethnic background - social origin, property, birth or other status - is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I love Iranian people and their culture. People of Iran value freedom and justice. I believe great mass of the Iranian people seek nothing but peace with the world and prosperity for their families. Islamic Faith, embraced by the majority of Iranians values human beings and is a just religion. But, the Iranian authorities have made absolutely no progress in the past years toward addressing the legitimate aspirations of its people. In fact, its regime has been even more repressive. Iran's continued, blatant disregard for the rights of its citizens must end immediately.
More than 100 Baha'is are currently in prison on false charges related entirely to their religious beliefs, while thousands more are subjected to various forms of discrimination and harassment, including denial of access to university and increasingly severe economic repression.
Governments, International organizations and Nobel laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu around the world are calling for the release of all jailed minority religious leaders and Baha’i educators, and an end to the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. These extreme violations of the human rights of the Baha’is have received public attention all around the world–but the Iranian government has so far managed to largely hide from the public eye their widespread, vicious and destructive economic campaign against all religious minority communities.
In December 2014, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution expressing "deep concern" about serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations” in Iran. The six-page resolution listed the high frequency of executions, torture, restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression, the targeting of journalists, pervasive gender inequality, and religious discrimination – including against Iranian Baha’is – as among the Assembly’s concerns.
Iranian Authorities have also sought to close down Baha’i efforts to establish their own educational initiatives, including the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. Such acts on the part of the Iranian government are, without doubt, part of a coordinated effort to eradicate the Baha’i community as a viable group within Iranian society.
Just imagine, government authorities demolishing the burial grounds of religious minorities. It is shocking. A few months ago, three top UN human rights experts call for a halt to Shiraz cemetery destruction. The cemetery is the resting place of some 950 Baha’is, many of whom were historic or prominent figures in the Baha’i community of Iran. Interred at the site, for example, are ten Baha'i women whose cruel hanging in 1983 came to symbolize the government's deadly persecution of Baha'is. Demolition at the site first began in April 2014, undertaken by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, apparently to make way for the construction of a new sports and cultural center.
In August 2104, UN published a report titled “Unfulfilled Promises," at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva and the report discusses 34 specific pledges made by Iran in February 2010 at the UN Human Rights Council that in some way could address human rights violations faced by members of Iran's Baha'i community. But, Iran has utterly failed in every case to fulfill the commitments it made to improve human rights in relation to its treatment of Baha'is when it stood before the Human Rights Council four years ago. Can Iranian authorities be trusted?
A few days ago, I watched a documentary entitled, To Light a Candle, featuring the story of the persecution of Iran’s Baha’is, and the creation of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, produced by the Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Maziar Bahari. The film uses personal stories and dramatic archival footage to explore the persecution of the Baha’is and the role of their peaceful resistance in Iran’s democratic movement. The entire world must come forward to support the Baha’is of Iran.
Enough is enough.
For more than three decades, Baha’is in Iran, have faced the systematic execution of their members and leaders, the desecration of their cemeteries, the destruction of their holy sites and the effort to deny entire young generations access to education. In spite of all these crime against them, the Iranian Baha’is have struggled to expand access to education through Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. Now, they deserve our attention and solidarity.
As Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said “The Iranian government says that education is a crime for Baha’is. But I want to tell you that we can change that—we can tell the government of Iran that banning the Baha’is or any other group from higher education is hurting Iran and the Iranian people. Our bitter experience of apartheid demonstrates that discrimination of all types hurts us all. Iran’s government is denying its own people the services of thousands of Baha’i engineers, doctors and artists who could help Iran, Iranians and the world.”
Please visit educationisnotacrime.me to join the campaign.
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