Revolutionary Guards in Iran have disinterred the remains of up to 50 deceased Baha’is and placed them in an open canal to make way for a building project in the city of Shiraz.
The Guards exhumed the remains from their last resting places in the Baha’i cemetery, which they began demolishing earlier this year in preparation for the construction of a new cultural and sports complex.
Worldwide media pressure and expressions of outrage from Iranians of all religious backgrounds had led to a short pause in the demolition but it has now resumed.
Desecration of cemeteries is just one feature of an officially-backed comprehensive, systematic program of persecution of Iran’s biggest non-Muslim religious minority.
Between 2005 and 2012 at least 42 Baha’i-owned cemeteries were attacked by firebombing, toppling of gravestones, uprooting of trees, spray-painting of graffiti and exhumation of bodies.
The persecution also involves large-scale arrests and imprisonments, violent attacks, and systematic discrimination. Seven Baha’i leaders are now more than six years into 20 year sentences, and more than 100 other Baha’is are in jail, all without fair trials.
Australian Baha’i Community spokesperson Natalie Mobini condemned the interference with the graves and the ongoing demolition, and said the Iranian authorities should stop it immediately.
“Discarding human remains without respect is clearly a violation of civilised behaviour, a breach of standards of decency established for centuries,” Dr Mobini said.
“Baha’is in Shiraz have appealed to authorities to halt the construction, and also proposed that the sports complex be built elsewhere on the site while the graveyard itself is turned into a green space – but their efforts have been to no avail.
“This appalling act has caused grief to many Baha’is in Australia whose relatives and friends are among the 950 Baha’is buried in the cemetery.”
Wollongong Baha’i Khosrow Kouhbor said the desecration was deeply distressing to him.
“My parents and grandparents are buried in that cemetery and deserve to be able to rest in peace,” Mr Kouhbor said. “The President of Iran should call an immediate halt to this shameful act,” he said.
Canberra Baha’i Fahimeh Khanlari said news of the desecration of the cemetery, where her brother was buried in 1966, had left her devastated. “When I heard the news of the excavation recently, I could hardly talk to anyone for two weeks and I would just cry and cry,” she said.
Albany Baha’is Mahshid Ferdowsian and Iran Milne said they have relatives buried in the cemetery, some of whom were executed solely for their religious beliefs. They expressed their distress about the desecration of the cemetery.
Mrs Ferdowsian: “In any culture, in any religion, this is a very forbidden thing to do.”
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