A systematic campaign of attacks orchestrated by the Iranian authorities on the Baha’is of the city of Semnan has alarmed Australian relatives of the victims.
The coordinated and escalating attacks on the Baha’is of Semnan are being perpetrated by government ministries, clergy, police and semi-official groups.
Family members in Australia, many accepted here as refugees in the 1980s, have become highly anxious after hearing details of the campaign.
Farisa Rohani of Sydney, a spokesperson for Australian relatives of Baha’is in Semnan, said the family knew of relations who had been imprisoned and otherwise persecuted.
Semnan, with a population of 125,000, is 200 kilometres east of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
A spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community, Venus Khalessi, said the ongoing assault on Semnan’s Baha’is is terrifying.
“So persistent are the attacks that young Baha’i children have come to fear that a knock on the door will mean the arrest of their parents,” Ms Khalessi said.
“The perpetual hounding of the Baha’is is psychological cruelty aimed at the complete subjugation of their spirit.
“The inhumane treatment of these people solely because of their faith is absolutely unwarranted and completely indefensible.
“Semnan has been assailed with particular severity but other targeted Baha’i communities are in the cities of Abadeh, Aligudarz, Bukan, Isfahan, Ivel, Khorramabad, Laljin, Mashhad, Parsabad, Rafsanjan, Ravansar and Shiraz. “
Ms Khalessi said the coordinated attacks on Baha’is include:
Incitement to hatred
- virulent propaganda campaign in government-controlled mass media
- public seminars and rallies
- incendiary hate sermons by clerics calling for expulsion of Baha’is from the city
- videos misrepresenting activities and intentions of Baha’is
Spread of terror
- raids on homes
- firebombing of business premises and homes
- desecration of cemeteries, and prohibition against Baha’i funerals
- abuse of schoolchildren by teachers and school administrators
- death threats
- vandalism characterised by provocative and insulting graffiti
- constant surveillance and tailing of individuals by intelligence officers
- ban on community gatherings
Arrests and imprisonment
- repeated summoning for interrogation, and revolving arrests
- jailing 26 people to a combined total of more than 70 years’ imprisonment
- jailing of both parents of young children
- imprisonment of defence lawyer
Economic pressure
- bans on jobs in the civil service, education, law
- revoking business licences; bans on business dealings
- prohibition of bank loans
- forced closure of shops
- destruction of farmlands, crops, livestock
- threats against those doing business with Baha’is
- confiscation of computers and mobile phones
Ms Khalessi said this campaign appears to have a twofold purpose.
“The first is to goad the population to violence so that the government is able to protest that Baha’is are responsible for inciting the people and that the authorities are powerless against such mobs,” Ms Khalessi said.
“The second is to allow the authorities to take direct or indirect action against Baha’is with impunity,” she said.
“The intensified persecution is clearly aimed at eliminating the 300,000-strong Baha’i community as a viable entity in Iran.
“The Australian Baha’i Community is grateful to the Australian Government for telling the UN Human Rights Council in June that it remains ‘deeply concerned’ about the treatment of Baha’is.”
Read the special report on the treatment of the Baha’is of Semnan.