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By Haidar Mukhtari

October 15, 2010

The Islamic Republic of Iran is still among the top countries that has the largest number of death penalties. The Kurds say that they constitute the “lion’s share” of the executed people.

Sunday, October 10th, was the World Day Against Death Penalty. Amnesty International has said that there are still 137 counties having capital punishment but only 60 of them implement the sentence. According to the Amnesty’s report, Iran comes second after China to implement the greatest number of death penalties.

Everyday at least one person is hung in Iran mainly for the “enmity of God,” and smuggling drugs. But many say that a large number of the suspects, mainly Kurdish ones, are actually hung for political reasons

According to a report by a local rights group, that Rudaw has attained a copy, there were 402 cases of execution in Iran in 2009. The number is higher than each of 2008 and 2007 where there are 350 and 317 cases, respectively. These statistics have all been confirmed by the government.

“The number of hung people is way higher. But since the Iranian government does not officially announce it, we are not able to rely on unofficial sources,” said Mahmoud Amir Muqadam, spokesman for the Human Rights Organization of Iran.

Likewise, Kurdish outlawed opposition parties say that there are a large number of people executed by the Iranian Government secretly.

Aram Mudaris, a member of the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Tailors’ Movement, known as Komala, says that “Iran would implement more death penalties, if international sanctions are lifted on it.”

Tahir Mahmoudi, Erbil-based spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, says that the reason for increasing executed tolls in Iran is that the Islamic regime has increasingly been losing “trust” and “legitimacy” of the people after the disputed elections of 2009 in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected president.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is an ideological and sectarian regime. It considers anyone opposing the government enemy of God,” said Mahmoudi. “It sees itself as the deputy of God on the Earth.”

According to local and world reports, 6 Kurds have been executed since last year for political reasons. There are 16 others behind bars waiting for the possible implementation of their death sentences.

Muqadam, with the Iranian Rights group, accused the government of being selective in announcing press releases about the people who are executed to death in Iran.

“They [government officials] have said that they would not publish all news,” said Muqadam, adding that the Iranian government executes Kurds secretly to avoid any fuss that may arise in the Kurdish cities after the killings.

“Last year when the Iranian government implemented four death penalties on Kurds, all the Kurds closed their shops in Iran as an objection to the practices. Iran feels that it doesn’t seize complete control over [Iran’s] Kurdistan,” said Muqadam.

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Source: CNN

October 2, 2010

Tehran, Iran – A Baha’i assistant of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has been sentenced to two years in prison in Iran, the semi-official Mashregh news website said Saturday.

Jinous Sobhani was arrested in early January with her husband and eight other members of the Baha’i faith after anti-government protests on the Muslim holy day of Ashura.

The Baha’is were blamed for the protests, said Diane Ala’i, representative to the United Nations for the Baha’i International Community.

“They had nothing to do with the demonstrations,” Ala’i said. “The accusations are completely false.”

They have been jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison. Ala’i said Leva Khanjani has also been sentenced to two years behind bars. It was not clear whether the other Baha’is arrested after the Ashura protests have been sentenced.

Sobhani, the former secretary for Ebadi’s banned Defenders of Human Rights Center, was also arrested in 2009 and detained for 55 days in jail.

Mashregh news said Ebadi’s center was established to defend the Baha’is and accused Ebadi and her colleagues of being on French and German payrolls.

Iranian authorities view followers of the the Baha’i faith, the largest minority religion in Iran, as “heretics” who may face repression on the grounds of apostasy.

Baha’is may not establish places of worship, schools, or any independent religious associations in Iran. In addition, Baha’is are barred from the military and denied government jobs, according to a report by the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Iran, however, denies mistreatment of Baha’is and says followers of the faith are free to live in Iran. But it says activities against the Islamic state are illegal and the government thus views the seven Baha’is as criminals.

Seven national Baha’i leaders are currently serving 10-year sentences.

The two women and five men were arrested in 2008 and accused of espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order and the establishment of an illegal administration, among other allegations, according to the Baha’i International Community.

The group denies all charges and says they were trumped up in an effort to stifle the Baha’i religion. In the absence of official recognition of their faith, the seven national leaders helped meet spiritual needs of Iran’s 300,000-strong Baha’i community.

CNN’s Moni Basu and Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)

September 30, 2010

According to the RAHANA reporter, when Baha’i citizen Rozita Vaseghi who had endured 6 months of solitary confinement, joined the other 3 detainees in the Vakilabad Prison, the authorities intensified the pressure by limiting the number of prison visits and telephone calls.

The reports indicate that even their outdoor prison time has been reduced and has even been completely eliminated on some days.

Nahid Ghanbari, Rozita Vaseghi, Nasrin Ghadiri and Sima Rajabian are the 4 Baha’i detained that are serving their sentences in Mashhad Prison.

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Source: The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

September 19, 2010

Sunni Online, a website affiliated with the religious center used by the Sunni minority in the city of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, reported this week that internal security forces prevented Sunni worshippers from performing prayers on Eid ul-Fitr. The website reported that security forces broke into several meeting places, including private residences where Sunni worshippers were praying, and prevented them from continuing their prayers, led by Sunni clerics (www.sunnionline.us, September 9).

The website also reported that Molavi Abdolhamid, the Friday prayer leader of the Sunni community in Zahedan, strongly criticized the authorities’ attitude towards Iranian Sunni Muslims. During his Eid ul-Fitr sermon, the top Sunni cleric said that the pressure exerted by the authorities on the Sunni minority has stepped up considerably in recent years.

He further added that, after the revolution, the Sunnis hoped that the new regime would establish peace and harmony between Iran’s Shi’ites and Sunnis, but those hopes went unfulfilled. Instead of becoming a model of Sunni-Shi’ite harmony for the whole world, Iran continues to discriminate against its Sunni population. Abdolhamid complained about the authorities’ increasing harassment of schools and religious centers used by the Sunnis. He noted that the Sunnis’ constitutional rights of holding their religious ceremonies and educating their children in accordance with their religious beliefs were not upheld in practice.

Molavi Abdolhamid (www.sunnionline.ws)

Speaking about the restrictions imposed by the authorities on Sunni prayers on Eid ul-Fitr, Abdolhamid said that the Sunnis never thought the day would come when the authorities would prevent a few hundred worshippers from praying in accordance with their beliefs, even if it’s in their own homes. Not only does the regime refuse to let even one Sunni mosque operate in Tehran, now it even prevents the Sunnis living in Zahedan from performing the holiday prayers. The Islamic republic, said the cleric, must encourage prayer instead of preventing it. There are Sunni mosques in the capitals of all the countries in the world with the exception of Iran, and now the authorities do not allow Sunnis to pray even in a place that is not a mosque.

Abdolhamid stressed that the Sunnis are loyal to Iran, that they object to any expression of violence, and are committed to national unity and protection of Iran’s independence and borders. They insist, however, that their constitutional rights should be upheld by the authorities. He called on the Supreme Leader to deal with the issues facing the Sunnis to preserve the unity of the Iranian people and sustain public trust of the regime (www.sunnionline.us, September 11).

Sunnis currently make up about 8 percent of Iran’s population, and are a majority among the Kurds, Baluchis, and Turkmens living in Iran.

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The symbol of the Baha'i Faith

By Christopher Schwartz

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

August 21, 2010

Throughout the Muslim world, Baha’is are routinely subjected to systematic derision in the form of elaborate conspiracy theories. Hostile political, religious, and media figures portray Baha’is as a secretive and miserly network of heretics who serve Zionism and Freemasonry to sow discord and undermine a harmonious Islamic society. Worse, we are also often portrayed as deformed subhumans with hidden devil tails and horns.

These claims may be fantastic, but they actually distort certain innocent facts, and the record needs to be set straight.

The accusation of subhumanity is the most hateful. It’s the same kind of the superstitious hate-mongering that has plagued religious minorities throughout human history, including Muslims themselves in the former Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, such slander frightens the Muslim general public and prevents them from learning the truths behind the other accusations.

The accusation of heresy is the most insidious. We do not identify ourselves as Muslim, but as a separate and distinct dispensation and religion. The rationale for this lies in our vision of history. We understand the Koranic statement that Muhammad was the “seal of the prophets” to mean that he was the culmination of a specific spiritual cycle in human history. We are now in a new cycle, one that began in the 19th century with the Baha’i Faith’s two prophets, the Bab (literally, “the gate”), and Baha’u'llah (literally, “the glory of God”).

Yet, because we believe the relationship between God and humanity is an ongoing story — there will be yet more cycles and prophets in the future — we are seen by many Muslim authorities as a challenge to Muhammad’s status as the ultimate vicar of God. Consequently, we’re also seen as a challenge to their own authority, whereas in fact, we have no such ambitions.

To be clear, we believe human history is progressing, under divine guidance, toward world unity and peace. It’s an article of our faith that Baha’is will have a critical — if not the critical — role to play in this development, one of education and example. However, we also believe that peoples of all faith persuasions and traditions, including Muslims, will make key contributions to this process.

The accusation of Zionism is cynical. Because our World Center is in Haifa and our holiest city is Acre, it’s insinuated that we are Zionists or that we work for the Israeli government in exchange for land. In actuality, Acre’s holy distinction derives from the fact that Baha’u'llah was exiled there. The site of the World Center was purchased during Ottoman and British rule through laborious fundraising within the Baha’i community.

Unfortunately, what really bothers some of our detractors is that we have any formal relationship with Israel at all. In truth, the relationship is one of historical necessity, since Baha’is need official Israeli permission to go on pilgrimage. You’ll find very few Baha’is living in Israel or the occupied territories because our leadership asked the community there to leave the country in the 1940s.

Moreover, Baha’is such as myself consider the debate over Israel’s right to exist incompatible with our commitment to the unity of humanity and a distraction from the vital task of peacemaking. We believe in transforming the human landscape into a just and divine order, which means not getting lost in partisan murk.

Finally, the accusation of Freemasonry is just ridiculous. We are often confused about where this charge comes from. Perhaps it’s our scriptures’ themes of illumination and mystical assent or our community’s commitment to collective democratic decision-making. Whatever the case, the accusation overlooks the fact that one of our early leaders, Shoghi Effendi, stipulated that Baha’is cannot be members of secret societies, including the Freemasons.

Of course, I’m a Baha’i. So all I’ve said above could be artful lies. But we Baha’is also believe in every person’s God-given right to investigate truth on their own. So I challenge you: Find a Baha’i and ask to see our activities with your own eyes. Have a little faith in yourself and in your fellow human beings. You’ll find most monsters are nothing more than the shadows of fear.

Christopher Schwartz is a member of the Baha’i Faith and a graduate student of Islamic philosophy and history. The views expressed in this commentary are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)

August 22, 2010

Hamed Pishkar who is a Christian resident of Rasht was detained at his house on August 15th for observing his religious rituals. The security authorities searched his house and took him to an undisclosed location.

The pressure has exacerbated on the Christian residents of the city of Rasht. Davoud Nejat-Sabet and Shahin Taghizadeh, two members of the Rasht Church, have been sentenced to a year in prison. Their sentence could be executed in the next 5 years. Yousef Nodrkhani who has been detained since September is held in the Lakan Prison of Rasht and is still awaiting his sentence.

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Source: Committee of Human Rights Reporters

August 8, 2010

The Committee of Human Rights Reporters announced that seven former administrators of the Baha’i community were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court.

They are detained for the past two years based on repeated illegal temporary detention orders. Their trials were postponed several times, and after several court sessions during the last months, they finally received their heavy prison sentences.

Six of the Baha’i prisoners who are responsible for dealing with Baha’i affairs in Iran were arrested on May 15, 2008 from their homes. The seventh detainee, Mahvash Sabet, was arrested earlier on March 5, 2008.

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (HRANA)

August 6, 2010

Although the trial of 7 leaders of Iranian Baha’i Community was finished on 14 June 2010, no court ruling has been issued for them yet.

According to RAHANA’s reporter, Diane Allaei, the representative of Baha’i community in the UN says: “These innocent Baha’is have been held in prison for over 2 years with successive bills of “temporary” detention, which according to the law, should not extend 2 months.”

On July 24, two days after the expiration of their 2-month temporary detention verdict, the lawyers of these 7 individuals presented the official request for their release on bail to the court.

Following submission of this request, the case’s judge informed the prisoners that their temporary detention was extended for 2 more months.

According to Diane Alaei, these prisoners have protested their objection to this issue in written. She added: “There is no legal basis to refuse the prisoner’s release to custody.”

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)

July 13, 2010

The security authorities have not allowed the couple to contact their family. The authorities have also went to their home and told their families that the couple have security problems.

According to the RAHANA reporter, Fatemeh’s father has referred to the Evin Prison and the authorities have told him that he would be allowed to visit his daughter on Thursday. However, the authorities did not allow him to visit her when he went to the prison on Thursday.

Sadegh-khanjani, a pastor in the Iran-Bamdad Church, was detained when he travelled to Shiraz for his final court hearing on June 16th. He was summoned to the Shiraz Intelligence Ministry and was transferred to the detention center after being interrogated. His wife, Turk-Kajoori was detained on June 18^th and transferred to the Evin Prison.

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)

July 12, 2010

In a recent incident, security agents of Mazandaran province had gone to to Mr. Stephen’s house, confiscated some of his personal belongings and asked him to introduce himself to the local office of Ministry of Intelligence. According to RAHANA’s reporter, Mr. Stephen visited the office as instructed and returned to his house after a long interrogation, but he was told that he could be called again and needed to introduce himself to Intelligence Office if demanded.

Later on Saturday July 4, 2010, Mr. Stephen was once again summoned to the local office of Ministry of Intelligence where he was arrested. According to this report, ten other Christian citizens were also summoned on the same day to  Ministry of Intelligence’s office in the city of Rasht, Guilan province, but were released after being interrogated for several hours.