2013-05-21T06:29:43-04:00 Dr Kishan Manocha http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=dr-kishan-manocha Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Dr Kishan Manocha Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1103752 2011-11-20T10:01:48-05:00 2012-01-20T05:12:01-05:00

Dr Kishan Manocha http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-kishan-manocha/
These abuses underline the recent statement of Dr Heiner Bielefeldt, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, that Iran's persecution of the Bahá'ís is among the most "extreme manifestations of religious intolerance and persecution" in the world today.

Experience shows that Tehran is shrewd, vindictive, and dishonest enough, to ramp-up persecution while the world's attention is diverted. Syria and the nuclear question must not push Iran's human rights tragedy off the agenda.

Oppression in Iran is widespread; women's activists, political activists, Kurds, Sunnis, others whose views are not shared by the state, and even the lawyers who defend them, suffer at the hands of the government's security and legal apparatus. The recent sentencing to death for apostasy of Youcef Nardakhani, a Christian pastor, on the basis of his Muslim ancestry, is a stark example of the contempt with which the government holds the rights of its people. The rank hypocrisy of President Ahmadinejad's recent assertion of Iran's "ethics, humanity, solidarity and justice" on the world stage is plain to see.

For the Bahá'ís - a community comprising adherents from all areas and strata of Iranian society - new and mounting afflictions are being endured. Seven Bahá'í educators, who were teaching young Bahá'ís denied access to universities as a matter of policy, were sentenced in September to jail terms of four or five years apiece. The charge - in effect, that they threatened state security by offering education in the sciences and arts - is patently absurd. It cannot be seen as anything other than a blatant act of religious discrimination and a calculated manoeuvre to make the community's existence unviable. Iran's prohibition on the attendance of foreign diplomats at the trial, and its refusal to provide written documentation of the verdict, betrays only its own guilt.

Little wonder, then, that on 3 November, the UN Human Rights Committee criticized Iran's non-compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the country is a state party. An Iranian delegation protested its innocence, claiming that, "no Iranian citizen enjoys priority over others due to his/her race, religion or particular language."

No one should be fooled by Iran's protestations. Since Iran's military and security agencies were instructed to monitor the Bahá'í community in 2005, there has been a marked rise in arrests and persecution. In 2004 four Bahá'ís were imprisoned. Since then, 500 have been arrested. More than a hundred Bahá'ís are currently behind bars. This includes the community's national leadership, found guilty of crimes their lawyer, Nobel laureate Dr Shirin Ebadi, said were without evidence. Raids, arrests, confiscation of property, the imposition of arbitrary and exorbitant bail costs, denial of access to education, and desecration of graves: these violations have escalated to desperate levels.

And the government has gone further. Recently in Sanandaj, the authorities attempted to persuade Bahá'ís to undertake not to participate in regular gatherings that are a fundamental part of Bahá'í community life. This is analogous to pressuring Christians to stop going to Church on Sunday. It is an egregious step-change in the government's efforts to dismantle every aspect of Bahá'í life, from the leadership down to the grassroots of Bahá'í communal identity.

What is more, the government incites hatred against the Bahá'ís from the wider population. The Bahá'í International Community last month released a report on a media campaign that demonizes and vilifies the Bahá'ís. Sanctioned by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, who identified the Bahá'ís as "enemies of Islam" in a speech on 19 October 2010, Bahá'ís are branded variously as "others", as spies, as the promoters of obscene immorality and armed rebellion, and as the controllers of foreign media such as the BBC. They are the scapegoats for every social ill. Invoking a gross distortion of history, the Bahá'ís are portrayed as a "misguided sect" or as agents of Western and Zionist imperialism. Often they are depicted as ghouls. They are linked to Satanists, the Shah's secret police, and other organisations inimical to the state. And yet Bahá'í teachings promote peace and unity. Bahá'ís are spiritually obliged to abide by the law. Eschewing opposition to the government, and refusing the mantle of victimhood, they strive as they have always done to contribute to the betterment of their society.

Iran's intention to extinguish the Bahá'í community is clear. More than 200 Bahá'ís have been executed for their beliefs since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. International scrutiny and pressure has, for now, forced Iran to change tactics; but the government's campaign to squeeze the life out of the Bahá'í community is otherwise escalating and taking on new forms. It is attempting nothing less than a bloodless elimination of a significant section of Iran's citizens.

Moreover, the parallels between recent events and state-sponsored, anti-religious campaigns of the past are undeniable. History shows that such campaigns are among the foremost precursors of actual violence against religious minorities. The Bahá'ís in Iran have good reason to be concerned that the recent assaults on their community could presage a wider attack. The world has a duty to protect them. To look away now would allow the rising tide of persecution drown out the hope of justice in Iran.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.955377 2011-09-09T09:38:20-04:00 2011-11-09T05:12:02-05:00

Dr Kishan Manocha http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-kishan-manocha/ open letter to the Honourable Kamran Daneshjoo, Minister for Science, Research and Technology in the Islamic Republic. His ministry is responsible for implementing a longstanding state policy - denying Bahá'ís access to higher education.

The open letter is a significant intervention by the Bahá'í community on behalf of their coreligionists in Iran - as well as other minorities, some of whose members are also barred from higher education. The letter calls on Mr Daneshjoo to acknowledge the illegality of his ministry's policy and to respect the universal right to education - a right enshrined in international covenants to which Iran is a state party.

The Bahá'ís are Iran's largest religious minority. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution they have been persecuted and oppressed. Thousands were arrested and hundreds executed. Today, over a hundred Bahá'ís are in prison. Seven former leaders of the community have each been jailed for 20 years on trumped-up charges; unnumbered livelihoods are disrupted; school children are harassed; graves are desecrated; homes are razed.

A 1991 document signed by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, states that the "progress and development" of the Bahá'ís should be "blocked", including their chances to study. The document describes a systematic campaign to eliminate the Bahá'í community as a viable entity in Iran. This policy has remained in effect for 20 years and it is the source of a fresh crackdown against Bahá'í educationalists.

Bahá'í professors and students were expelled from universities after the revolution because of their religious beliefs. Iranian Bahá'ís tried to resolve this situation with the government but their efforts "proved futile". By the late 1980s, "it became clear that Bahá'ís could not enroll in university without denying their faith", and that "the government would not rectify this situation".

Years of experience have demonstrated to the Bahá'ís that their youth remain barred from universities and other higher education institutions. Despite sometimes achieving the highest grades in entrance examinations, Bahá'ís are denied entry on spurious grounds. A few individuals who have been able to begin their studies have never been allowed to finish. In some "particularly cruel instances", Bahá'ís have been expelled "just weeks or days" before completing their courses.

The community had to meet its educational needs. The Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education , an informal arrangement, provided what the government withheld - an opportunity to study and learn. The benefits were limited: degrees could not be awarded and prospects were not improved by attending the Institute. The aim was "to nurture the intellectual faculties of youth", to "prepare them for service to their society".

The Islamic Republic "has made repeated attempts to hinder the Institute's progress and harass its participants". On 6 June 2011, Iranian media reported that Mr Daneshjoo's ministry had declared the Institute illegal. Thirty homes of Bahá'ís had been raided - such raids have happened several times in the last decade - and 19 individuals arrested. A number now face charges of conspiracy against the state.

And yet in the international arena, Iranian officials confronted with these facts "maintain that no one is deprived of education in Iran on account of his or her religion". The open letter challenges this categorically: it is "regrettable that the representatives of the Islamic Republic repeatedly peddle such obvious falsehoods". The Iranian government's credibility is undermined - and its inhumanity is exposed. To "actively deprive any youth of access to education is reprehensible and against all legal, religious, moral and humanitarian standards". There are sympathetic heads inside Mr Daneshjoo's ministry. But orders from the top force them to execute a policy that violates human dignity.

Despite its strained resources, scores of Institute graduates have been accepted into postgraduate programmes in other countries. Once abroad, they have earned the "deep admiration" of their professors and classmates - not simply because of their story, but their determination to return to Iran "despite numerous obstacles ... to contribute to the advancement of their country". But this dedication is unappreciated Iran's government.

By obstructing the progress of the Bahá'í community, by denying its youth places at university and by dismantling their private attempts to study, the government is declaring illegal for some of its citizens the use of their minds to acquire knowledge. And yet - how can it be illegal to study, to learn, to accompany others in the quest for knowledge?

In the end, the letter asks, what is illegal - the "efforts of a community to educate its own youth" or a "government policy that excludes its citizens from higher education on the basis of their religious affiliation"? The standards of international law and basic human rights can only result in a single answer.

Bahá'ís are enjoined by the Founder of their Faith, Bahá'u'lláh, to obey their government. But this obedience is not absolute. The open letter warns Mr Daneshjoo, the government official whose ministry is willfully neglecting its duty to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, that Bahá'ís will not accept any compromise "on matters of fundamental principle". The education of children and youth "is one such principle".

"Knowledge", according to the Bahá'í Writings, "is as wing's to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent". Its acquisition is "incumbent upon everyone". Bahá'u'lláh adds that "the happiness and pride of a nation consist in this, that it should shine out like the sun in the high heaven of knowledge". If we look at the Iran on this noble measure, we can see that the government is making the country a miserable place - for Bahá'ís, Kurds, women, indeed anyone who falls foul of the Islamic Republic's repressive policies.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.923819 2011-08-10T19:00:00-04:00 2011-10-10T05:12:02-04:00

Dr Kishan Manocha http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-kishan-manocha/
It is part of a long-standing pattern of callous abuse: the sentencing to 20-years in prison of seven former community leaders on trumped-up charges; the detention of over 100 other believers; the denial of education and livelihoods; the harassment of school children; the desecration of Bahá'í graves; the razing of homes. Thousands of Bahá'ís have been arrested since the 1979 Islamic revolution and hundreds executed.

The Institute began in 1987 as an informal programme to give young Bahá'ís a chance to study. Bahá'ís were barred from university and had nowhere else to go. It offered 17 undergraduate courses taught by Bahá'í academics who, because of their beliefs, had been dismissed from state positions. A 1991 policy memorandum signed by the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, spells out the government's purpose - to block the progress and development of the community. It is an official policy of strangulation authorised at the highest level. Iran is trying to systematically eliminate the Bahá'í community by willfully destroying the future of its youth.

The eleven were arrested in May, along with eight others who have been released, after the authorities had raided 39 homes. Criminal charges were filed just before the expiration of a two-month deadline, in a subversion of due process intended to keep the Bahá'ís in jail. The families of the eleven fear that their loved ones will be imprisoned for an extended period of time. But Iranians are now scrutinising the actions of the authorities. They understand better than ever the character of their government. Iran's actions are at odds with its rhetoric and its officials disregard their human rights obligations. Iran has never yet offered a vaguely tenable reason for persecuting Bahá'ís, other religious minorities, Kurds, intellectuals and journalists, artists, academics, homosexuals, and women.

The Institute has been attacked three times before, in 1998, 2001 and 2003, and it has now been banned outright. These eleven Bahá'ís have been charged not because they are enemies of the state but because they are active servants of society. It is a nonsense to declare illegal the acquisition of knowledge. Debarring Bahá'ís from study, whether in state-run institutions or private homes, is absurd and indefensible. The Iranian authorities clearly feel no need to justify a policy that mocks their own humanity.

Education is enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is affirmed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a treaty to which Iran is a state party. The right to an education is as fundamental and essential to human life as breathing. Barring Bahá'ís from university and then declaring illegal their peaceful attempts at study - an attempt made necessary by the government's own decree - demonstrates that the authorities care nothing for justice. By not granting Bahá'ís the same rights as other Iranians, the authorities are making it clear, in case any doubt remained, that Bahá'ís are not accepted as citizens. The government would rather the Bahá'ís left the country or recanted their faith; the only way for Bahá'ís to be left alone at university is to say they are Muslims. The government has written off 300,000 of its own people.

All the basic rights that make a life are being stripped away from the Bahá'ís. They have no organisation as a community. They cannot meet to administer their affairs. Bahá'ís are banned from state jobs, they are often denied business licenses, firms are pressured to dismiss their Bahá'í employees. Those few Bahá'í businesses that are able to operate find that they are suddenly forced to close. The central figures of their Faith are slandered in the official press. Some officials have described the Bahá'ís as a cancer on society. Farmers are expelled from villages and their homes are bulldozed. Their cows are not allowed to graze with other cows because, as infidel cows, they are unclean.

The Islamic Republic is tightening the noose. The authorities are motivated by a senseless determination to impoverish the Bahá'í community. The only crime of these eleven Bahá'ís is to help thousands of young students further their education, to pursue their dreams, and to serve as productive citizens. Iran is the birthplace of the Bahá'í Faith and Iran's Bahá'ís naturally feel responsible to the country they love. They will not leave Iran because it is their home.

Concerned citizens, the media, civil society organisations, and fair-minded governments must intensify their challenge to the Iranian government. Bahá'ís are barred from work, from university, from the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of their homeland. But as the Bahá'í writings say, human beings are "a mine rich in gems of inestimable value ... education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures". The Bahá'ís want to educate themselves to serve society. Those who are denying Bahá'ís the possibility of receiving an education are trying to strangle the community. They do not realise that their hands are wrapped around their own necks.]]>