(HRW/IFEX) – Human Right Watch’s Academic Freedom Committee is expressing its grave concern over the conviction and sentencing of four faculty members of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). Human Right Watch’s Academic Freedom Committee has learned that on 19 April 1999, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Isfahan sentenced four followers of the Baha’i […]
(HRW/IFEX) – Human Right Watch’s Academic Freedom Committee is expressing
its grave concern over the conviction and sentencing of four faculty members
of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE).
Human Right Watch’s Academic Freedom Committee has learned that on 19 April
1999, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Isfahan sentenced four followers
of the Baha’i faith to jail terms ranging from three to ten years
imprisonment, ruling that their participation in teaching religion to other
Baha’is constituted crimes against national security.
According to Baha’i representatives outside of Iran, the four were Sina
Hakiman (ten years in jail), Farzad Khajeh Sharifabadi (seven years),
Habibullah Ferdosian Najafabadi (seven years), and Ziaullah Mirzapanah
(three years). All four were teachers in the BIHE (also known as the Baha’i
Open University), which operates out of the homes of members of the faith.
The four were among thirty-six Baha’is who were arrested in late September
and early October 1998 in a concerted government crackdown against Baha’i
education in fourteen cities. Authorities reportedly raided over 500 homes,
which serve as classrooms for the institute, seizing files, equipment, and
other property used by the BIHE. The other thirty-two people arrested have
since been released.
Since the early 1980s, adherents of the Baha’i faith, viewed as heretics by
the clerical establishment, have been effectively banned from teaching or
studying at colleges and universities in Iran. Although Iranian officials
claim that no one can be punished because of their beliefs, Baha’is can be
and are punished for manifesting their beliefs in public. The constitution
of the Islamic Republic does not include Baha’ism among its list of
recognised religions, and Baha’i assemblies were officially outlawed in
1983, making participation in any Baha’i activity a basis for possible
criminal prosecution. Members of the religion have also been barred from
public employment, including teaching positions at public schools.
Discrimination against Baha’i students is intentional. A secret memorandum
on “the Baha’i question” from the Iranian Supreme Revolutionary Cultural
Council, dated
February 25, 1991, stated with reference to attendance at universities:
“They should be expelled from the universities, either at the time of the
admission procedure or during their studies, as soon as it becomes apparent
that they are Baha’is.” The Iranian deputy minister of education in December
1995 told Abdelfattah Amor, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Question of
Religious Intolerance, that Baha’is were free to enter institutions of
higher education as long as they do not “flaunt their beliefs.” Thus, even
the government’s defense of its policies has provided further evidence that
practicing Baha’is are not given equal access to higher education.
As a human rights organisation, it is not Human Rights Watch’s intention to
support or dispute the opinions, ideas, or religious beliefs of the
academics and students whose cases the organisation discusses. It is,
however, a central feature of the organisation’s mandate to defend their
right to express their views and to study, research, teach, and publish
without interference.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the head of the judiciary:
directly
violate principles established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
including their rights to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and
to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
directly contravenes
provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), which Iran has ratified and is therefore lawfully obliged
to uphold. The ICESCR guarantees, “without discrimination of any kind as to
race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion” (Article 2
(2)), “the right of everyone to education” (Article 13(1)) and the right of
parents and legal guardians “to choose for their children schools, other
than those established by the public authorities, whichâ¦ensure the religious
and moral education of their children in conformity with their own
convictions” (Article 13(3)).
authority to seek reversal of the convictions of the four Baha’i teachers,
to obtain their immediate and unconditional release, and to openly oppose
all forms of discrimination in higher education in Iran, whether based on
religious affiliation or political views
Appeals To
His Excellency Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi
Head of the Judiciary
c/o His Excellency Nejad Hosseinian
Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United
Nationscc: H. E. Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami
President
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail: iranemb@salamiran.orgH. E. Dr. Mostafa Moin
Minister of Culture and Higher Education
Islamic Republic of Iran
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
