These two stories, the first from january 2009, the other from 2007, detail a host of human rights violations against the Baha'is in Iran, including the continued bulldozing of Baha'i cemeteries.
http://news.bahai.org/story/691
http://news.bahai.org/story/578
Baha'i International Community deplores destruction of Khavaran cemetery
30 January 2009
GENEVA — The destruction earlier this month of a cemetery in Iran used for the mass burial of hundreds killed in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution in 1979 is an outrageous violation of human dignity, the Baha'i International Community said today. More than 50 Baha'is were among those buried at the site.
"The destruction of the Khavaran cemetery by government agents goes against all concepts of respect for the dead in any culture, including values preached in Islam," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.
"We join with other human rights groups inside and outside of Iran in condemning this shameful deed, which is yet another sign of the intolerance of the current Iranian regime," said Ms. Ala'i.
Located southeast of Tehran, the Khavaran cemetery was used as the burial site for hundreds who were killed in the early years of the Iranian revolution.
Earlier this month, a group of unidentified individuals using bulldozers demolished an area of the cemetery known as the "graveyard of the infidels," the area where many of the people executed in the early years of the revolution were buried.
Reports indicate the group clearly represented a branch of the government. It was also reported that the officials told the cemetery custodian that the parcel was being demolished to develop a green space or park.
Human rights groups inside and outside of Iran have since registered protests.
On 20 January 2009, Amnesty International called on Iranian authorities to "immediately stop the destruction of hundreds of individual and mass, unmarked graves in Khavaran, south Tehran, to ensure that the site is preserved and to initiate a forensic investigation at the site as part of a long-overdue thorough, independent and impartial investigation into mass executions which began in 1988. ..."
Iranian human rights advocates, including Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, have also condemned the cemetery's destruction.
"We have recently learned that Khavaran cemetery, where the victims of the illegal massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s and especially 1988 are buried, has been destroyed by some officials," the Human Rights Defenders' Centre said in a statement issued on 25 January, according to Agence France-Presse. "The Human Rights Defenders Centre condemns this ugly and appalling act and notes that everyone including the authorities is required to maintain the dignity of the dead."
At least 15 Baha'is were buried in the same section of the cemetery, all victims in the early 1980s of the government's campaign to systematically persecute Iranian Baha'is for their religious beliefs.
Specifically, it is known that eight members of the national Baha'i governing body killed on 27 December 1981 are buried there, along with six members of the Baha'i Spiritual Assembly of Tehran, killed on 4 January 1982. It is likely that other Baha'is were buried there, too.
According to a Baha'i whose husband is buried at the site, most of the graves in that section of the cemetery were unmarked, designated only by numerical row markers.
"They called it the place for 'infidels,'" said the widow, who currently resides outside of Iran. "They just gave us row numbers, and that is how I knew where my husband was. But there were no markers and we were not allowed to identify which grave was which."
(Editor's note: On 9 February 2009, after additional verification had been received concerning the identities of Baha'is who were buried in the Khavaran Cemetery, the number given in the first paragraph was raised accordingly.)
21 September 2007
NEW YORK , United States — The bulldozing of a Baha'i cemetery in Iran last week is the latest in a series of incidents in a government-led campaign of hatred against Baha'is.
The destruction of the cemetery by individuals using heavy equipment occurred between 9 September and 10 September near Najafabad, on the outskirts of Isfahan. What happened there is nearly identical to what happened in July in Yazd, where another Baha'i cemetery was extensively damaged by earth-moving equipment.
The list of anti-Baha'i incidents is growing, as are human rights violations against other groups in Iran.
In Najafabad, a few days before the destruction of more than 100 Baha'i graves, threatening letters were delivered to some 30 Baha'i families. In May, in Mazandaran province, the unoccupied homes of six Iranian Baha'is were set on fire. In June, in Abadeh, vandals wrote hateful graffiti on Baha'i houses and shops.
Since May, Baha'is in at least 17 towns have been detained for interrogation. Six new arrests have been reported. In Kermanshah, a 70-year-old man was sentenced to 70 lashes and a year in prison for "propagating and spreading Bahaism and the defamation of the pure Imams." In Mazandaran, a court has once again ruled against three women and a man who are charged with "propagation on behalf of an organization which is anti-Islamic."
All these events are results of the Iranian government's long campaign to incite hatred against Baha'is, a spokeswoman for the Baha'i International Community said today.
"This should be a cause for concern among human rights activists everywhere," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.
She appealed to the world to hold the Iranian government accountable for its actions and to help prevent the situation from deteriorating into further violence. Baha'is in Iran number about 300,000 and represent the largest religious minority in the country.
"Put in a historical context, these kinds of attacks too often have been a prelude to campaigns of oppression and violence that are far worse.
"While some of these incidents may seem to be minor, the fact that such events are increasingly commonplace and reported as occurring in virtually every region of Iran shows that the persecution of Baha'is remains official government policy, and therefore is something for which Iran must be held accountable," she said.
"The graffiti in Abadeh included slogans such as 'Death to Baha'is, the mercenaries of America and England,' 'Hezbollah despises the Baha'is,' 'Baha'is - mercenaries of Israel' and 'Baha'is are unclean' - phrases that relate directly to government propaganda that has been disseminated in Iranian news media in recent years," Ms. Ala'i said.
She noted that other groups in Iran are also suffering human-rights violations.
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"Hezbollah is awake and despises the Baha'is" reads this piece of graffiti on a building in the city of Abadeh. Dozens of hateful anti-Baha'i slogans have been… »
The Baha'i cemetery in Yazd, Iran, was destroyed in July. The tracks left behind and the severity of the damage show that heavy equipment was used.
Desecration of graves is part of a government-led hate campaign against Baha'is in Iran. This grave is in a cemetery in Yazd that was bulldozed in July 2007.
"In recent months, the Iranian authorities have been carrying out a widespread crackdown on civil society, targeting academics, women's rights activists, students, and journalists," said Ms. Ala'i.
Among the anti-Baha'i incidents reported in recent months are the following:
-- On 19 June 2007, a report was received that a 70-year-old man of limited means had been arrested in April 2007 in Kermanshah. Authorities charged him with the possession of three Baha'i CDs. He was tried on 23 April 2007 and charged with "propagating and spreading Bahaism and the defamation of the pure Imams." His lawyer was given only 10 minutes to prepare a defense. Although the verdict has not been published, the judge orally sentenced him to one year in prison, which he is currently serving, and 70 lashes. The latter part of the sentence has not yet been carried out.
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