Back to Brief on Iran
Since the election of President Khatami more than a year ago, Iran watchers have been hoping for signs of new tolerance in that nation's policies. But if treatment of the most vulnerable minority is any indication, there is little reason to cheer Iran's recent record. Members of the Baha'i faith, a religion that claims about 6 million adherents worldwide and 300,000 in Iran, have been facing increasingly vicious persecution.
Since its religious revolution, Iran has made life difficult for all but its dominant Shiite Muslims. Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians at least enjoy certain protections; not so Baha'is... In 1993 a United Nations official uncovered an Iranian government document outlining a policy amounting to the eradication of the Baha'i community. Iran's government said the document was a fake, but -- as the U.S. State Department noted in its annual human rights report -- "it appears to be an accurate reflection of current government practice."
… In the past two decades, some 200 Baha'is have been killed or executed, including a prisoner hung last July allegedly for converting a Muslim woman to the Baha'i faith.
This month the government moved to shut down a Baha'i university created after Baha'i faculty and students were expelled from all other schools of higher learning. Officials ransacked more than 500 homes, most connected in some way with the university. Thirty-six Baha'i educators were arrested. Two more prisoners, jailed simply for participating in religious gatherings, have had their death sentences officially confirmed.
"Executing people for the practice of their religious faith is contrary to the most fundamental human rights principles," the White House said in response. How can such a self-evident principle even needs to be restated?
Iran Rejects UN Criticism on Human Rights, Agence France Presse, October 23
TEHRAN - Iran blasted on Friday a UN report charging that the Islamic Republic continues to significantly violate human rights, especially those of women and religious minorities.
Foreign ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi said the report issued Wednesday was "incompatible with realities and current developments" in Iran.
The UN Commission on Human Rights report acknowledged that "significant violations" of human rights were continuing.
The report said Iran violates the rights of women and religious minorities, such as members of the Baha'i sect, and criticized the slow pace of legal reforms.
Khatami Says Iran Will Oppose Mideast Peace Deal, Reuters, October 25
TEHRAN - Iran will oppose the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, President Mohammad Khatami said on Sunday, branding the accord a violation of Arab rights.
"We believe...this accord will not bring the region nearer to peace, and that it is detrimental to the Palestinian people and independent Arab states, whose interests are threatened by the Zionist enemy (Israel)," Tehran radio quoted Khatami as saying.
"As supporters of nations that are trying to preserve their own independence and rights and those of the Palestinians, we will not allow their rights to be infringed upon," he said.
Iran Says Mideast Deal Only Benefits Israel, Reuters, October 24
TEHRAN - Iran on Saturday condemned an interim peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, saying it only benefited Israel and would split Palestinian ranks, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
Iran's state media earlier said the agreement would provoke more violence and even a "civil war" among Palestinians.
Iran's state television also blasted the agreement in a program featuring Abu Mohammed Mustafa, the representative of the militant Palestinian Moslem group Hamas in Tehran.
"Without doubt this accord bears the seeds of civil war in Palestine," the television quoted Mustafa as saying. Iran says Israel has no right to exist.
Huge Explosions in Guards Corps, Iran Zamin News Agency, October 23
On the eve of the mullahs' Assembly of Experts elections, several huge explosions at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, in the Revolutionary Guards Corps' Kolahdooz garrison rocked the city of Ahwaz in the southwestern province of Khuzistan.
Following the explosions in the garrison's ammunition depots, a number of the Guards Corps personnel have been arrested.