I wish to bring to your attention the persecution of Bahá’à students in Iran. Over the past several months even more Bahá’Ãs have been imprisoned. Take for example the recent case of the educators of the Bahá’à Institute of Higher Education, who have been unjustly sentenced to prison terms of five or more years. They are peaceful and trustworthy citizens. The loving qualities of their character are known to all, yet they have been imprisoned for educating Bahá’à youth who are barred from attending state-run universities in Iran because of their religion.
According to iran.bahai.us, a website on the state of affairs of the Bahá’Ãs in Iran, members of the Bahá’à faith are systematically targeted and prevented from pursuing higher education solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. So for no other reason than that they are Bahá’Ãs, are they being persecuted. How unjust and unfair is this, especially to me coming from a country where the right to believe in one’s religion is upheld by law!
Bahá’à educators and public officials around the world have responded to this persecution by sending letters to their representatives and by signing an open letter to the Iranian government, but although this campaign is continuing, the Iranian regime continues in it’s unjust treatment. We, as Americans, understand well that education is a very basic human right that no government should be allowed to take away. To read, sign and share the open letter, go to: http://educationunderfire.com
The principle of education in the Bahá’à faith is one of the most fundamental tenants of the faith. In other words, universal education is a human right that all people, male or female, rich or poor, have a right to.
“Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples and kindreds of the earth, that haply the dissension that divide it may, through the power of the Most Great Name, be blotted out from its face, and all mankind become the upholders of one Order, and the inhabitants of one City” – Bahá’à Scripture.
The international community established an online university, The BIHE, in 1987 for Bahá’Ãs in Iran. Bahá’Ãs in Iran have repeatedly been denied access to higher education ever since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. A leaked confidential Iranian memo in 2006 (from Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology) exposes a government-level policy to deny Bahá’à students university education. In addition, Bahá’à faculty members of the BIHE have also been targeted and imprisoned solely for their efforts in helping these deprived students acquire an education.
The site goes on to state: “During the mid-20th century, a group was formed called Hojjatieh whose main purpose was the eradication of the Bahá’Ãs. … When the Islamic Revolution (in 1979) happened and the Islamic leadership finally seized full power, we really began to see a far more wide-ranging and systematic pattern of activity designed to suppress the Bahá’à community as a matter of state policy. So this regime that now exists, began very early on a plan literally to strangle, if not eliminate, the community. Its administration was dismantled, its records were seized. Anyone who could be identified as Bahá’Ãs were removed from all government jobs, denied pensions, refused entry into higher education, and their assets seized. Also about 200 of the more prominent leaders of the Bahá’à faith were put to death.”
To watch a video about the state of Baha’i education in Iran, please visit: http://vimeo.com/29493907
Gerald Fox