Maryland Community Newspapers OnlineGermantown woman shares story of uncle imprisoned in Iran
Uncle is one of seven imprisoned for espionage and religious offenses
Monir Khanjani has lost family in Iran, relatives who were killed for their religious beliefs. She fears it may happen again.
Khanjani's uncle, Jamaloddin Khanjani, is one of seven Baha'i leaders — five men and two women — arrested more than a year ago whose trial was reportedly postponed from Saturday in Iran for espionage and religious offenses that include "spreading corruption on earth," a crime punishable by death, according to media reports. The international community, including the United States Commission on International Religious Freedoms, have condemned the arrests and asked for the prisoners to be released.
With more than 300,000 members, Baha'is are the largest religious minority in Iran. Baha'is have faced a long history of persecution in Iran by those who believe the religion, which states that 19th century Persian nobleman Baha'u'llah is the latest in a series of prophets to emerge throughout human history, is heretical to Islam.
The attacks intensified after the 1979 revolution, and religious persecution against Baha'is became government policy, according to The Baha'i International Community, a non-governmental organization recognized by the United Nations.
At a Baha'i prayer meeting in Germantown last week, Khanjani began to cry as she shared memories of her uncle. Others in the crowd of about 20 people also wiped away tears as she spoke.
"He was very dedicated as a humanitarian to helping the underprivileged and people who needed jobs. He was always a champion of justice," said Khanjani, a therapist in the county's corrections department who left Iran 30 years ago and lives in Germantown. "Their home was open to everybody, a safe sanctuary for all Baha'is and non-Baha'is, family or not family."
"It's hard to live in the U.S. and try to imagine the emotional pressure and psychological pressure, let alone that their lives are in danger, that is just because of their Baha'i faith," Khanjani said. "…When you live in a country where there's freedom of speech and you can speak your mind, it's hard for Americans to comprehend why they are being persecuted. They don't understand. With what's happened in Iran the past few weeks, the world is finally seeing the fanaticism and what it's been like. It's nothing new — for the past 30 years, this has been happening to Baha'is."
The group prayed for the prisoners.
"We're all just keeping them in our prayers," said Sereena Fiorini of Germantown. "Because we tell people about unity and peace, we're spreading false messages. It's sad that in the 21st century, we still have people being persecuted for their faith."
Khanjani said her parents, who live in Iran, have visited her uncle about once a month, and they told her that all the prisoners have remained in high spirits and that they are at peace with whatever their fate may be.
"They're not even slightly worried about their own lives — they believe whatever happens is the will of God," Khanjani said. "They don't have the glitz and glamour of our material world, but they are real-life heroes and through their suffering and through their faith they'll help change the world."
Exiled Iranian Baha'i members pay tribute to executed friends
By Stephen Magagnini
Published: Friday, Jul. 31 2009
Hesam Sabetian and dozens of other Baha'i immigrants from Iran took a tearful trip down memory lane at the Arcade Learning Library in Sacramento this week.
They saw a slide show featuring dozens of old friends in Iran who they say have been executed over the years for their religious beliefs.
Phtoto by RANDALL BENTON / rbenton@sacbee.com
Marjan Aziza-Elahi caresses her daughter Raha, 6, as she speaks to fellow Baha'is at the Arcade Learning Library in Carmichael on Wednesday night. Aziza-Elahi was one of about 100 local Baha'is who gathered to try to save seven longtime leaders of Iran's Baha'i community. A spokesman for the religion fears the seven are being scapegoated for protests that challenged the legitimacy of Iran's June elections.
"I knew six of them," said Sabetian, 60, who fled Iran in 2001 and now has a calligraphy business in Folsom. "It brought me back to my life in Iran." He said it was a life of fear, ridicule and repression by the Islamic revolution that deposed the shah in 1979.
Sabetian and about 100 other local Baha'is gathered Wednesday night to try to save seven longtime leaders of Iran's Baha'i community, including Sabetian's nephew by marriage, optician Vahid Tizfahm.
The seven were members of an informal Baha'i council in Iran who performed priestly functions such as marriage, the education of children and answered questions of faith.
They regularly reported to the Iranian government for the past 25 years, said Farhad Sabetan, spokesman for the Baha'i International Community, which has a seat at the United Nations as a nongovernmental organization.
The seven have been imprisoned for more than a year. According to official Iranian news reports, they all are awaiting trial on charges of spying for Israel and "spreading corruption on earth." If convicted, they could face the death penalty, Sabetan said.
Sabetan said he believes that "any time there are significant social, economic and political problems in Iran, the Baha'is are being blamed for being behind it."
He said he fears that some of Iran's 300,000 Baha'is are being scapegoated for protests challenging the legitimacy of the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"The Iranian government has announced it is going to try demonstrators, which include Baha'is," Sabetan told the Wednesday night gathering. "But we have absolutely no report of any Baha'is participating in those demonstrations in Iran because Baha'is do not get involved in partisan politics."
Baha'is also want Iran to honor the country's constitution and international treaties "calling for freedom of religion.
Founded in the 1800s, the Baha'i faith has no clergy and followers elect their leaders. Baha'is have been considered heretics by the Islamic Republic of Iran from the beginning. They believe their founder Bahá'u'lláh (1817- 1892), is the latest in a line of prophets that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad; Muslims believe Muhammad was the last prophet.
There are an estimated 6 million Baha'is worldwide, including about 120,000 in the U.S. and about 500 in the Sacramento area.
Ahmadinejad has said the only official "divine" religions recognized by Iran's constitution are Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Zoroastrianism.
In February, a top Iranian prosecutor declared, "the misguided Baha'i sect is illegal at all levels. … They have extensive and established ties with the Zionist regime and their members try to collect information, carry out infiltration and destroy people's belief … it's enmity to Islam and the Islamic system is evident."
Dr. Abbas Milani, director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said Iran's Islamic regime "has been obsessive about persecuting them."
Baha'is, he said, "are a peaceful religion and try to stay out of politics as much as possible."
Their fear of execution is real, Milani said.
Under the shah, Baha'is "more or less had freedom to practice their faith," Milani said.
The government has printed lists of Baha'i businesses and told people to boycott them and Baha'is have lost government jobs and pensions, Sabetan said.
At Wednesday's gathering, Azadeh Fares of Carmichael recognized her father Khusrow Mohandessi, a professor of educational psychology who she said was executed in 1982.
"They took everything and put us out on the streets," Fares said. "We lived at the mercy of our Baha'i friends."
Fares, referring to a Baha'i prayer read in Farsi calling for peace and reconciliation among all humans, clings to her belief "in the goodness of human beings at their core."
Editor's Note: This story has been changed from the print version to correct the location of Arcade Learning Library.
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