In recent years, there have been dozens of incidents of vandalism, arson, or other problems related to Baha'i-owned cemeteries or efforts by Baha'is to bury their dead. Authorities are currently trying to confiscate and destroy the Baha'i cemetery in Sanandaj, some 400 kilometers west of Tehran.

[BWNS, 19 Jan. 2012] GENEVA — Eighteen years ago, Baha’is in the Iranian city of Sanandaj were allocated a one-hectare parcel of barren land at the side of a road for use as a cemetery.

This rocky mountainside, devoid of vegetation, was hardly prime real estate but – after the first burial there in the autumn of 1993 – local Baha’is got together to landscape the site, dig out the rocks and replace the soil. They planted and watered by hand 250 cypress and fir saplings, contributed by the Office of Agriculture. They installed electricity and built a small room where bodies could be prepared for burial.

At every step of the way, proper permits were obtained. When the Baha’is wanted to dig a well, permission was sought and granted from the regional water board. At every expiry date, the permit was correctly renewed.

Impressed by the transformation of the site, the Office of Natural Resources suggested that the Baha’is consider planting trees on public land adjacent to the cemetery, thereby expanding the green zone. As a result, the largely Sunni Muslim residents of Sanandaj came to respect the place as a symbol of the Baha’i community’s peaceful presence in their city.

But now, the area’s beauty and greenery appears to have instigated a change in official attitudes. Authorities want to repossess the cemetery, reasserting the state’s claim on the land – even though Baha’is were once granted the deeds. An order for it to be confiscated, and the buildings and graves to be destroyed, will be heard in court at the end of this month.

In another example of vandalism of Baha'i-owned cemeteries in Iran, gravestones near Najafabad were left in a heap by a bulldozer that destroyed the Baha'i burial ground in September 2007.

Recent harassment of Baha’is in Sanandaj does not bode well for the verdict. On 19 December, Ministry of Intelligence agents carried out early morning raids on 12 Baha’i homes in the city. Baha’i books, pamphlets and photographs were confiscated, along with compact discs, audio cassettes, computers, mobile telephones, computer drives, and various personal documents.

“In the light of this upsurge of persecution of the Sanandaj Baha’i community, it looks like the fate of the cemetery has already been decided at the order of the Ministry of Intelligence,” said Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

In an announcement on 17 January, the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan called upon the authorities to practice “tolerance and acceptance of other beliefs.” It described the “new wave of pressure and restraints against the Baha’i community” as “inhumane and illegal actions…in violation of civil and political rights treaties and conventions.”

Disturbing the departed

Under Iran’s present regime, the case of Sanandaj is not unique. Since 2007, there have been more than 30 incidents of vandalism, arson, or other problems related to Baha’i-owned cemeteries or efforts by Baha’is to properly bury their dead.

“Not content with only persecuting the living, the Iranian authorities seek to disturb the peace of even those who have passed on,” said Ms. Ala’i. “This is the latest in a long string of attacks on Baha’i cemeteries and burial rites. All are in complete violation of international standards of human rights and any decent person’s understanding of respect for the dead.”

Among recent examples:

– A newly established cemetery in Sangsar, Semnan Province, given to local Baha’is by the municipality, was vandalized by unknown intruders in March 2011. The graves were piled high with dirt, the trees were uprooted, and the two small rooms were destroyed.

– In July 2010, graves in the Baha’i cemetery of Jiroft, Kerman Province, were destroyed by unknown intruders using bulldozers.

– In late May 2010, the Baha’i cemetery in Mashhad was vandalized at night using a front-end loader and other heavy machinery. The cemetery’s walls, the mortuary, and the place where prayers were recited were severely damaged.

Other incidents have involved efforts by authorities to interfere with Baha’i burial rites.

In Tabriz, for example, Baha’is had been allowed access to the city’s public cemetery for years. In August last year, the family of a recently deceased Baha’i woman was told that she would have to be interred with Muslim rites. The woman’s remains had to be buried in a Baha’i cemetery in another town. A similar incident occurred last October when the body of a Baha’i man was taken from Tabriz to another Baha’i cemetery some 100 kilometers away and buried without his family being informed.

“Iranian officials in international fora consistently claim that Baha’is are not treated differently from others and are only ‘punished’ when they do something illegal,” said Diane Ala’i. “What precisely have these dead people done to deserve such treatment?”

“The beautification of the cemetery in Sanandaj and its surroundings is evidence of the sincere and positive contribution Iranian Baha’is wish to make to their country. What is equally evident is that the authorities find such a thing impossible to accept.”

Baha’i World News Service coverage of the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran

The Baha’i World News Service has published a Special Section which includes further articles and background information about Iran’s campaign to deny higher education to Baha’is. It contains news of latest developments, a summary of the situation, profiles of imprisoned Baha’i educators, feature articles, case studies and testimonials from students, resources and links.

Another Special Report offers articles and background information about the seven imprisoned Iranian Baha’i leaders – their lives, their imprisonment, trial and sentencing – and the allegations made against them. It also offers further resources about the persecution of Iran’s Baha’i community.

The International Reaction page of the Baha’i World News service is regularly updated with responses from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and prominent individuals, to actions taken against the Baha’is of Iran.

The Media Reports page presents a digest of media coverage from around the world.

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Source: http://news.bahai.org/story/881

The report – titled "Inciting Hatred: Iran's Media Campaign to Demonize Baha'is" – documents and analyzes more than 400 press and media items between late 2009 and early 2011, which clearly expose Iran's state-sponsored effort to vilify its largest non-Muslim religious minority.

[BWNS, 21 Oct. 2011] NEW YORK — In a wide-ranging media campaign that has gone largely unnoticed outside of Iran, hatred and discrimination are being systematically stirred up against the country’s 300,000-member Baha’i minority.

In a report released today, the Baha’i International Community documents and analyzes more than 400 press and media items over a 16-month period, that typify an insidious state-sponsored effort to demonize and vilify Baha’is, using false accusations, inflammatory terminology, and repugnant imagery.

Read the full report here (PDF) [click here for the PDF from Iran Press Watch repository]

“This anti-Baha’i propaganda is shocking in its volume and vehemence, its scope and sophistication,” said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“It’s all cynically calculated to stir up antagonism against a peaceful religious community whose members are striving to contribute to the well-being of their society,” she said.

Titled Inciting Hatred: Iran’s media campaign to demonize Baha’is, the report’s main conclusions are:

• anti-Baha’i propaganda originates with – and is sanctioned by – the country’s highest levels of leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who gave a highly discriminatory speech in the holy city of Qom a year ago;

• the campaign spurns international human rights law and norms, including a precedent-setting resolution passed earlier this year at the United Nations Human Rights Council that specifically condemns and combats the negative stereotyping and incitement to hatred of religious minorities;

• Baha’is are branded as “outsiders” in their own land and as enemies of Islam in a manner that is clearly calculated to provoke the religious sensibilities of Iranian Shiite Muslims;

• the campaign aims to deflect attention away from calls for democracy in Iran by using Baha’is as an all-purpose “scapegoat” – and, in so doing, to smear those who oppose the government as well as human rights campaigners as Baha’is, “as if that were the most heinous crime.”

• the authorities disseminate ludicrous conspiracy theories including that foreign broadcasters, in particular the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA), are controlled by or under the influence of Baha’is because they report stories about human rights violations in Iran;

“The diverse content of these attacks demonstrates tremendous effort and commitment of resources by the Islamic Republic,” says the report.

“Many attacks are built on gross distortions of Baha’i history; some attempt a strategy of guilt by association through lumping Baha’is together with completely unrelated groups – such as ‘Satanists’ or the Shah’s secret police; still others deploy a tactic of connecting Baha’is with ‘opponents’ of the regime, which allows the Government to discredit both the Baha’is and its opponents in a single transaction. The campaign makes extensive use of the World Wide Web, and often uses graphic images that portray Baha’is as fiendish ghouls or agents of Israel.”

Bani Dugal said the demonization of Iran’s Baha’i community is a matter that deserves the attention of governments, international legal institutions, and fair-minded people everywhere.

“The campaign not only clearly violates international human rights law,” she said, “it also utterly contradicts Iran’s long-standing claim at the UN and elsewhere that it is working to support measures to outlaw or condemn hate speech directed against religions or religious followers.”

“The parallels between the campaign of anti-Baha’i propaganda in Iran today and other state-sponsored, anti-religious campaigns of the past are undeniable. History shows us that such campaigns are among the foremost predictors of actual violence against religious minorities – or, in the worst case, precursors of genocide.

“It is time for Iran to be told that such egregious violations of international law and norms cannot be tolerated,” said Ms. Dugal.

Special Section – Inciting Hatred: Iran’s media campaign to demonize Bahá’ís

A Special Section of the Baha’i International Community United Nations Office website presents the full report, Inciting Hatred: Iran’s media campaign to demonize Bahá’ís in English and Persian, as well as an online only 197-page appendix that summarizes each of the 400-plus documents or articles that were collected during the period of this survey, from 17 December 2009 to 16 May 2011.

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Source: http://news.bahai.org/story/861

According to HRA reporters, on Saturday Tir 26th [July 17th], agents of the Ministry of Information raided the house of Hedayat-Allah Rezayi, a Baha’i living in Abadan, searching the premises and arresting him.

In addition, on Thursday Tir 31st [July 22nd], a few unidentified individuals began demolishing Baha’i cemeteries using bulldozers.

Translation by Iran Press Watch

Source: http://www.hra-news.org/1389-01-27-05-24-07/2983-1.html and also see http://www.iranpresswatch.org/fa/post/1008