New attacks on the Bahais of Semnan

HRANA, 7 September

Following inflammatory sermons at some of the mosques of Semnan, it appears a new wave of attacks and pressure on the Bahais of Semnan is under way.

Bahai arrested for immorality ?

Reuters is reporting the arrest of an unnamed Bahai in Gulestan in northern Iran for seducing women (implied to be Muslims) to have illicit sexual relationships with him. The story is probably fictional, and is mentioned here only because, unusually, it has been carried by Reuters.

Sorur Soruriyan update

Sahba Khademi and Sorur Soruriyan ( صهبا خادمی و سرور سرورِِیان ), who are 24 and 25 years old respectively, were arrested in March 2009 and spent some time time in prison in Hamadan. On 30 December 2009 they were sentenced to one year in prison for teaching the Bahai Faith. Sorour Sorouriyan began serving her sentence in Hamadan on May 23rd. She was transferred to the Nahavand Prison on August 31st. The conditions there are said to be worse.

Source (and earlier reports on this blog)

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Centenary of Abdu’l-Baha’s western journeys begins

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

29 August 2010

To the Baha’is of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

‘Abdu’l-Baha’s departure one hundred years ago from Haifa for Port Said signalled the opening of a glorious new chapter in the annals of the Faith. He was not to return to the Holy Land for three years.

Arrest, releases, in Isfahan province

Committee of Human Rights Reporters, 28 August [update 29 August]

Mazgan `Ebadi ( مژگان عبادی ), a Bahai of the Isfahan region, was arrested at her home on 28 August. Her computer and mobile phone were confiscated. Four Bahais arrested in the region recently for participating in literacy work with women and children in a village near Isfahan are still being held. They have been allowed a 15 minute visit from their families but have not been enabled to continue their studies in prison.

Update 29 August: Mihan News is reporting that all five have been released on bail.
1 September: Iran Press Watch report in English

An earlier report on “Bahais arrested in Isfahan province for literacy work” (August 9) is in the news archive

Source (in Persian)

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One Bahai among the dead at Spain’s Afghan base

Gente en Toledo, 28 August

An Iranian-Spanish Bahai interpreter and two Spanish officers from the Civil Guard were killed on Wednesday 25 August in an attack by an Afghan driver working for the Spanish forces in Afghanistan. The driver opened fire during a training exercise at the Spanish base in Badghis province. He was shot dead by other Spanish officers.

Following the shooting hundreds gathered outside the Spanish base, chanting religious slogans and hurling stones. The protesters tore down fences around the base and started fires. Provincial health director Abdul Aziz Tariq said 25 people were wounded in the protest, with two in a critical condition.

The remains of the dead have been returned to Spain, where they were met at Torrejon Air Base by President Zapatero. There was a religious ceremony for the next of kin, led by two priests and a Bahai representative. The interpreter, Ataollah Taefy, was later buried in a Bahai ceremony. He was 54 years old, and had lived in Spain for more than 20 years. He leaves a Spanish wife and two children aged 21 and 16, all members of the Baha’i community of Zaragoza.

Source (in Spanish)

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Information resources regarding the imprisoned ‘Yaran’

The Baha’i World News Service has published a special report comprising articles and background information about the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders – their lives, their detention, trial and sentencing.

Secret Foreign Office documents show …

May 13 1918, FO Appreciation of Eastern Report LXX

The punch line is, they show nothing. At least this time. A site called Bahaism and the British Government is presenting “Documentation pertaining to historical connections of the leadership of Bahaism with the British government.” It’s a new site, with just two documents so far. It’s advent has been greeted with relief by the anti-bahai ideologues, who have been claiming for generations that the British established the Bahai Faith to weaken Islam, without finding any evidence. (For a brief treatment of the “British did it” scam, see the Wikipedia article. For a thorough treatment see Adib Masumian’s short book on anti-Bahaism in Iran (PDF))

The funny thing is, the documents are evidence that the British were not involved with the Bahais. You can click on the images to get a larger view, but I’ve typed them over so that search engines can find them – and the owners of “Bahaism and the British Government” cannot remove the evidence.

The first is a British Foreign Office cover letter, dated dated May 30 1918, accompanying the Eastern Report, which is another Foreign Office publication. The writer (M.S.) evaluates the material in the Eastern Report as follows:

The wise speak not — unless they obtain a hearing

If you’re reading this, you have access to a great way of ‘teaching the Faith’ – by which I mean, talking about the Bahai Faith, to people who want to know. You may also have an alternative. You could join one of the direct teaching projects and ring on doorbells with ‘Anna’s presentation’ at the ready, confronting people who have never done you any harm with a choice: being rude enough to get rid of you, or suffering through an imposition with a smile. I really hope you won’t choose that course. “Ring the bells no longer” says Baha’u’llah.

The blood libel : Qom variant

An Iranian version of the ‘blood libel’ story has been doing the rounds in Iranian media this week. I repeat it here so that those propagating such libels may know that their deeds are seen, and also because it illustrates the way in which anti-Bahaism is a substitute form of anti-semitism in Iran.

According to this story, the Bahais in the holy city of Qom, on the holy evening of Ashura when Shiah Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, held a loud festivity where alcohol was served, killed a Muslim boy they had kidnapped, and laid his body on the table with the food and drink.

Bahai assassinated in Suriname

Various sources, 21 April (updates to 20 August)

The Dutch-language news services are reporting the liquidation-style shooting of John Veira, a Bahai who was the well-respected Director of Civil Aviation in Suriname. He was shot at his house in Commewijne about 9 p.m. on Wednesday 21 April (a Holy Day in the Bahai calendar) , by one of two men riding a motorcycle.

Debunking the myths – free to download

Adib Masumian’s short book on anti-Bahaism in Iran, “Debunking the Myths: Conspiracy Theories on the Genesis and Mission of the Baha’i Faith” is now in the public domain and available to download as PDF files, in English and Persian versions. The short version of this is on Wikipedia under ‘Allegations of Bahai involvement with foreign powers’, and that is very useful for a quick reference, but I recommend downloading the book, given that wikipedia is writing on the water. It includes

A nasty slander

A website devoted to attacking the Bahai Faith and the Bahais has published a photograph purporting to be “Baha’u'llah receiving revelation” and claiming to have received the photograph from Ahang Rabbani, a reputable, indeed outstanding, Bahai historian. Naturally no competent historian would have any part in such a deception. Dr. Rabbani replies

“The author of whatever website you found this lies when he says he got it from me — particularly since
I’d never seen it before!”

I suppose the image will eventually appear in image searches and the like. I post it here so it may be recognised as a fraud, and its attribution to Dr. Rabbani as an attack on his professional reputation. As it happens, the image is one held in the National Ethnography Museum in Leiden (my home town, and a great museum). The photograph was taken by Anton Sevruguin, who was taking photographs in Tehran in 1870-1930. By 1870, Baha’u'llah was already imprisoned in Akka, in Palestine. A larger copy of the image is available here.

~~ Sen

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