Recent Developments

Legal appeals launched by the Baha’i educators jailed for their involvement in the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education have failed. The appeals court has ruled that the original verdicts and sentences still stand: Mahmoud Badavam, Noushin Khadem, Farhad Sedghi, Riaz Sobhani and Ramin Zibaie must each serve four years' imprisonment; Kamran Mortezaie will continue to serve a five-year jail term. Vahid Mahmoudi, originally imprisoned for five years, was released on 9 January 2012 after his five-year sentence was suspended.

The seven were sentenced in October 2011 for "membership in the deviant Bahaist sect, with the goal of taking action against the security of the country, in order to further the aims of the deviant sect and those of organizations outside the country." ' The judgements also cast the activities of the accused in support of BIHE as crimes and as evidence of their purported aim to subvert the State. There is no foundation whatever to the judiciary's assertion that the seven sought to undermine Iranian national security, and the authorities are themselves fully aware that such an accusation is utterly without credence. The prohibition on the attendance of foreign diplomats at the trials and the refusal of the judiciary to provide written documentation of the verdict to the accused demonstrate how unjustifiable are the assertions and actions of the government.

Prior to their trials, the seven had been detained for almost five months solely in connection with their services to an informal community initiative – known as the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) – aimed at helping young community members barred from attending university.

Some 39 homes of Baha'is associated with BIHE were raided in a coordinated attack in May, which included the confiscation of a number of personal belongings.

On 28 November, Ms. Faran Hessami, who was arrested on 13 September along with her husband, Kamran Rahimian and two other psychology instructors in an ongoing attempt to restrain the activities of BIHE, was released from prison. Kamran Rahimian still remains in prison.

Faran Hesami and her husband Kamran Rahimian, who taught psychology with BIHE, have been sentenced to four years in prison. The couple were summoned to court with two other Baha’is on 13 September 2011. Mr. Rahimian and Ms. Hesami gained Masters Degrees in Educational Counseling from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in December 2003. They are appealing their sentences.

Read profiles of the BIHE prisoners http://news.bahai.org/human-rights/iran/education/profiles

The Baha'i International Community addressed an open letter to Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology on 26 August calling for an end to "the unjust and oppressive practices" that bar Baha'is and other young Iranians from university.

Read the letter in English here
Read the letter in Persian here

The Iranian government's policy of systematically denying Baha'is access to higher education continues to generate considerable condemnation from around the world.

In Slovakia, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Slovakian parliament issued a proclamation describing the Iranian government's incitement to hatred based on religion and belief is as "abhorrent." The statement also says that the "regime's endeavors to persecute Baha'is is chilling indeed," and demands an end to Iran's "spiralling efforts to destroy the Iranian Baha'i community." See http://news.bahai.org/story/882

In the United Kingdom - in a debate held at Westminster Hall – members of parliament highlighted the fact that virtually every religious minority in Iran is now facing oppression. See http://news.bahai.org/story/880

In Canada, two pre-eminent university presidents have urged all of their fellow Canadians to join them in calling for an end to Iran's persecution of Baha'i educators and students. The appeal came from Canada's former minister of foreign affairs and president of the University of Winnipeg, Lloyd Axworthy, and Allan Rock – who is president of the University of Ottawa and former Canadian ambassador to the UN. See http://news.bahai.org/story/878

Forty-eight Deans and Senior Vice-Presidents – who between them head more than a third of American medical schools – have signed an open letter addressed to Iran’s representative to the United Nations. It calls upon the Iranian government to release the BIHE instructors and administrators from prison. “We also request that your government extend Baha’i students and faculty in Iran the same rights to education that we offer every student and professor at our institutions regardless of their heritage, religion or country of origin.” See http://news.bahai.org/story/874

In Ireland, more than 50 academics called upon the Iranian authorities to cease attacking Baha'is and allow access to higher education for all. In Germany, some 45 prominent professors also demanded the immediate release of the seven. In Brazil, 26 international filmmakers, producers and actors urged the government to defend the rights of filmmakers, journalists and Baha'i educators and call upon Iran to immediately release them.

Support for the imprisoned educators has also come from Scholars at Risk (SIR), an international network of over 260 universities and colleges in 33 countries dedicated to promoting academic freedom, and freedom of thought, opinion, expression, association and travel. See http://news.bahai.org/story/864.

Two Nobel Peace laureates - Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, and Jose Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor joined the global calls for the unconditional release of Baha’i educators in an open letter to the academic community published in The Huffington Post. See http://news.bahai.org/story/852

For a detailed digest of international response, see http://news.bahai.org/human-rights/iran/education-special-report/international-response

Since 1979, the government of Iran has systematically sought to bar young Baha’is from entering higher education. Recent examples of Baha’i students expelled from university include:

A student at Payam-e Nour University, Zahedan, was expelled while studying in her first term; another was prevented from registering at the University of Applied Science and Technology of Zahedan University; an architecture student and a language student in Shiraz were expelled.

Two Baha’i students prevented from registering at the Isfahan University of Technology on the grounds that their applications were incomplete, requested written notification of their expulsions. Their appeal was ignored. The university then classified them as having withdrawn from their courses of study on the grounds that they did not register for or select classes by the due date, and has barred them from continuing their studies as a consequence.

Shohreh Rowhani of Nowshar (Mazandaran Province), who ranked among the top 1% of candidates who took the national entrance university examination in the field of languages, was barred from higher education due to being a Baha’i. See http://news.bahai.org/story/853

Baha’i children at all levels continue to be monitored and slandered by officials in schools. In a recent example, a first grade student at one of the public schools in Shiraz, was physically assaulted by her ethics teacher, owing to her not participating in the school’s congregational prayer. The teacher hit the girl’s hand hard with a utensil, then heated up a spoon in the kitchen and put it on the child’s hand. When her mother objected to this assault, the ethics teacher, in the presence of the principal and other teachers, expressed pride in having committed such a deed. The teacher was eventually reprimanded, but only after the child’s parents protested to the authorities.

Secondary school students often face pressure and harassment, and some have been threatened with expulsion. Religious studies teachers are known to insult and ridicule Baha'i beliefs. In a few reported cases, when Baha'i students attempt to clarify matters at the request of their peers, they are summoned to the school authorities and threatened with expulsion if they continue to "teach" their Faith.

A Ministry of Education policy now requires declaration of religion on the registration form for the entrance exam for schools for gifted students. In the past, Baha'i pupils were allowed to take the entrance exam but any known Baha'i accepted to one of these schools was later denied admission. The new form only allows students to select between Muslim, Christian, Jew and Zoroastrian.