The reliable outlet Peyke Iran reported on Friday, July 3, 2009, that certain unknown individuals have widely disseminated a proclamation in Marvdasht, a district in Shiraz, warning people against business dealings with the Baha’is.  In this proclamation, they have cited high religious authorities who have issued rulings against such dealings and interactions with the Baha’is.

Pictures of two such documents were provided by the Baha’is of Iran to media outlets and appear below in translation.

The first is a letter to Grand Ayatollahs inquiring about the Baha’is and dealing with them:

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At midnight on Tuesday June 30th 2009, unidentified men broke the glass storefront of the Mr. Peyman Shadman’s automotive supply store in Semnan and set the place on fire by throwing explosives inside. Mr. Shadman is an Iranian citizen and a Baha’i.

As the store carried flammables like motor oil, the fire did tremendous damage. The firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to homes nearby. Mr. Shadman’s store has been set on fire several times but the authorities have shown no effort to stop the arsonists.

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The Prime Minister has promised to continue raising Britain’s concerns with Iran, over the issue of the seven Bahá’ís being detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

Gordon Brown’s comments came during Prime Minister’s questions in the House of Commons, in response to the MP for Montgomeryshire, Lembit Opik.

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The Persian page of Baha’i World News Service (BWNS) reported the following news on June 25, 2009.  Translation by Iran Press Watch:

After repeated appeals to the chair of the Judo Federation in Iran, on June 15, 2009, Mr. Khashayar Zare’i, a 16 year old Baha’i, was given permission to participate in qualifying contests for selection of Iran’s National Judo Team in the youth category.  This news was published on the internet site Iran University Journalists.

Despite the fact that Mr. Zare’i was one of the 21 winners in these contests, the Judo Commission of the province of Fars disqualified him from membership in the national team on the grounds that he was a Baha’i.  The Federation officials stated, “In accordance with instructions issued by the Protection Office of the Physical Education Organization, Khashayar has been barred from participation in future competitions.”

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Editor’s Note: The following cogently argued article caught our attention at Iran Press Watch because of its evident parallel with the situation of the Baha’is of Iran, who are constantly accused of being agents of imperialism or spies for this or that country in the west. That irrational aspect of the Iranian mindset is exposed in this article.

By Christopher Hitchens

I have twice had the privilege of sitting, poorly shaved, on the floor and attending the Friday prayers that the Iranian theocracy sponsors each week on the campus of Tehran University. As everybody knows, this dreary, nasty ceremony is occasionally enlivened when the scrofulous preacher leads the crowd in a robotic chant of Marg bar Amrika! (death to America!) As nobody will be surprised to learn, this is generally followed by a cry of Marg bar Israel! And it’s by no means unknown for the three-beat bleat of this two-minute hate to have yet a third version: Marg bar Ingilis!

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New Haven, Connecticut – Today [June 29], ILNA, an official Iranian news outlet, announced the creation of a special commission to “determine the fate of recent arrestees.” If history is any barometer, the creation of this commission and the men appointed to it, are ominous signs that the regime intends to severely punish, and execute, demonstrators and other human rights activists. The world cannot stand by and watch.

Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of the Judiciary who is appointed by the Supreme Leader, directed that members of the commission will include Hojatoleslam Dorri Najafabadi (Iran’s General Prosecutor), Ibrahim Ra’isi (Deputy Judiciary Chief), and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (Head of the General Inspection Organization). He also directed the commission to coordinate its activities with the Prosecutor of Tehran, Saeed Mortazavi.

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