201979 NATIONAL SPIRITUAL. ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ'ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES 136 MIKRIDAN ROAD, WILMETTE, ILLINOM 400DI • (281) 1824-1·100 • CABLE: BAHA'I WILMETTE Recent events in Iran have raised fears for the future of religious minorities, particularly the largest of them the Bahá'í community. Since last September a number of anti-Bahá'í outbreaks occurred in various cities, towns and villages with some deaths and a great deal of injury to persons and properties. The campaign directed against the Bahá'ís has reached the shores of America. On Thursday, February 8, 1979, Mansour Farhang, an Iranian who teaches at Sacramento State College, accused the Iranian Bahá'ís of hating Muslims and committing many crimes against the nation. He claimed that General Nasiri, former head of the Savak, is a Bahá'í, implying the guilt of all Bahá'ís by association. The fact is that Nasiri is not a Bahá'I. The February 14 issue of The New York Times reported the assurance given to Jewish leaders by a representative of Ayatollah Khomeini that all religious minorities except the Bahá'ís would have "full political, cultural and religious rights." The Ayatollah, it was said, regards the Bahá'í Faith as a "political rather than a religious movement. ་་ The Bahá'í community in Iran, like Bahá'í communities everywhere, CLEMENT J. ZABLOCKI, WIS..., CHAIRMAN L.M.INTAIN, M.C. DANTE B. FASCELL, FLA. BENJAMIN 8. ROSENTHAL, N.V. GERRY E. STUDDS, MASS. MICHAEL D. BARNES, MD. GEO. W. CROCKETT, JR., MICH. SAM GEJOENSON, CONN. WILLIAM 8. BROOMFIELD, MICH. LARRY WINDL, JR., KANG. ARLEN ERDAHL, MINN, OLYMPIA J. SHOWE, MAINE JOHN LIBOUTILLIER, M.Y. JOHN J. BRADY, JR. CHIEF OF STAFF Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, P.C. 20515 June 26, 1981 His Excellency Kurt Waldheim United Nations United Nations Plaza New York, New York 10017 Dear Mr. Secretary General: Attached is a copy of an appeal to you from We appeal to you to do everything in your power NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF TUK BAHÁ'ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES 830 HUKRIDAN ROAD, WILMETTE, ILLINOIS GOODI • (812) 250-4400 • CABLE: BAHA'I WILMETTE 16 June 1981 The Honorable Edward J. Derwinski House of Representatives Dear Mr. Derwinski: We send herewith for your kind and immediate attention a copy of the urgent appeal we addressed yesterday to Dr. Kurt Waldheim, SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, in the wake of the worsening persecution of the Bahá'í community in Iran. Given the gravity of the plight of our co-religionists, we respectfully request your support of our appeal to the Secretary-General for purely humanitarian reasons and in affirmation of America's traditional role as the champion of human rights. Please be assured of our thanks and best wishes. Very truly yours, NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF Glenford E. Mitchell Secretary ZCZC 01 EVANSTON IL 15 JUNE 1981 1 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA NEW YORK NY 10017 BT DEAR MR. SECRETARY-GENERAL: DELIVER, DONT PHONE WE HAVE LEARNED WITH HORROR OF YET ANOTHER GROUP EXECUTION OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COUNCIL IN TEHRAN APPROVED THE EXECUTION OF FAR MORE OMINOUS, HOWEVER, HAS BEEN THE VERDICT ANNOUNCED FOR THE THE IMMEDIATE THREAT OF SUMMARY EXECUTIONS HANGS OVER THE SCORES OF PROMINENT BAHA' IS NOW BEING HELD IN PRISON IN A DIABOLICAL ATTEMPT TO FORCE THE RANK AND FILE OF THE BAHA'I COMMUNITY TO RECANT THEIR FAITH. IRANIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE REMAINED IMPERVIOUS TO THE THOUSANDS OF APPEALS ADDRESSED TO THEM BY THE BAHA'IS OF MORE THAN 300 COUNTRIES AND DEPENDENCIES. THE PERSECUTION OF THE IRANIAN BAHA'IS: ABETTED BY THE RECENT HIGH COURT RULINGS, CLEARLY HAS ASSUMED THE PATTERN OF A GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN. SHAKEN AND DISTRESSED BY THE DARK FATE RAPIDLY ENVELOPING THE PLEASE BE ASSURED OF OUR GRATITUDE AND RESPECT. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHA'IS OF THE UNITED STATES GLENFORD E. MITCHELL, SECRETARY WILMETTE, ILLINOIS 60091 [From the Congressional Record, July 24, 1981] RAMSEY CLARK, WHERE ARE YOU WHEN WE NEED YOU? (Mr. DERWINSKI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. DERWINSKI. Mr. Speaker, hardly a day goes by in Iran without the radical government there announcing it has executed someone else for antirevolutionary activity. More than 200 Iranians have been shot in the wake of Bani-Sadr's ouster from the presidency. The cruelty of this regime is abundantly clear, yet I have detected no expressions of outrage from those "human rights" activists who were so long critical of the Shah. Indeed, the silence is deafening from the likes of Ramsey Clark and company who were so quick to condemn the Shah and embrace Khomeini as an alternative. Such silence is particularly perplexing, given the fact that most of the victims have been from the left end of the political spectrum Mr. Clark identifies with. Admittedly, the Shah and his associates had their shortcomings. But this regime makes them look thoroughly benevolent in contrast. In fact, the Islamic militias and secret police have resorted to tactics that are far worse than those attributed to the Shah's SAVAK. I also want to call the attention of the House to the continued persecution of members of the Baha'i religious group in Iran by the Khomeini government. The Baha'is in Iran have long suffered tremendous pressure and persecution but they are now being murdered by the Khomeini regime for adherence to their faith. Mr. Speaker, it is high time that this Congress spotlighted what is happening in Iran. Therefore, today I am asking the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee's Human Rights Subcommittee to hold hearings post-haste on the human rights situation in Iran. In view of his consistent record on human rights, I am confident that the chairman of that subcommittee, Mr. Bonker, will respond in a forthcoming manner. FOR BAHA'IS IN IRAN, A THREAT OF EXTINCTION BY HON. EDWARD J. DERWINSKI OF ILLINOIS, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1981 Mr. DERWINSKI. Mr. Speaker, in late June, my distinguished colleague, Dan Mica, and I wrote to U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, to appeal on behalf of the Baha'is in Iran. "Baha'is in Iran have long suffered tremendous pressure and persecution," as we reminded the Secretary General in our letter. We appealed to him to do everything in his power to allevate their suffering at the hands of the Iranian Government. Firuz Kazemzadeh, professor of history and chairman of the Committee on Middle Eastern Studies at Yale, and a member of the national governing body of the American Baha'i organization, wrote a moving column in the New York Times on August 6 describing the treatment of Baha'is in Iran. It is reprinted here for the benefit of the Members. FOR BAHA'IS IN Iran, a Threat of Extinction, AUGUST 16, 1981 1 (By Firuz Kazemzadeh) NEW HAVEN.-The Baha'is in Iran are in danger of extermination. Not a week passes without a sinister incident. Already more than 60 people-storekeepers, artisans, teachers, Government employees, doctors and a distinguished university professor-have been lynched by mobs or executed by revolutionary firing squads. Hundreds have been dismissed from jobs; thousands have lost their homes and possessions. From every province pour in accounts of atrocities. Two men are burned alive in Shahmirzad; a clinic is dynamited in Kata; a community center is burned to the ground in Tavil; graves are desecrated at Hoseynabad; houses and shops are set on fire in Zenjan; mobs attack Baha'is in Ardistan; families that refuse to recant their faith are driven out of several villages near Hamadan; a man, his wife, their 7-year old child and 4 year-old grandchild are beaten nearly to death with iron-tipped staves near Birjand; the Baha'is are forbidden to bury their dead in the cemetery at Chahbahar; the Baha'i hospital is confiscated in Teheran; seven Baha'is are executed in Yezd... . 1 Copyright 1981 by the New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission. |