NGO says Iran destroys Bahai homes in new escalation

An NGO has said thet Iranian authorities have destroyed half a dozen homes belonging to Bahais in a new phase of a crackdown that has shaken the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, the Arabnews reported, citing the AFP.

The Báb is the Herald of the Bahá’í Faith. In the middle of the 19th century, he announced that he was the bearer of a message destined to transform humanity’s spiritual life.

His mission was to prepare the way for the coming of a second Messenger from God, greater than Himself, who would usher in an age of peace and justice.

Bahais have been subjected to harassment ever since the inception in 1979 of the Islamic republic, which recognizes minority non-Muslim faiths including Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism but does not Bahaism.

Bahai representatives said 13 community members, including several prominent figures, had already been arrested in raids on Sunday (July 31) following dozens of arrests over the last two months.

A file photo shows Iranians walk past the branch of a local bank that was damaged during demonstrations against petrol price hikes, on November 20, 2019 in Shahriar, west of Tehran. (File photo: AFP)

A Bahai International Community representative to the UN, said that Iranian officials on Tuesday (August 2) sealed off the village of Roshankouh in the northern Mazandaran province and completely destroyed six Bahai homes as well as confiscating 20 hectares of land, Diane Alai.

Video footage posted on social media showed the residents of Roshankouh, which is known to have a strong Bahai presence, standing aghast in front of the wreckage of their homes.

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The BIC said in a statement that heavy earthmoving equipment was used to demolish the homes and one Bahai resident was arrested.

Alai said: “We ask everyone to raise their voice and call for these dreadful acts of blatant persecution to be immediately stopped.”

She denounced a “step-by-step plan” by the Iranian authorities of “first blatant lies and hate speech, then raids and arrests, and today land grabs, occupations and the destruction of homes.”

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Bahais have repeatedly complained in the past of seizures of land and property. The authorities have sometimes claimed they were owned by organizations now prohibited in Iran but the Bahais countered that the assets were subsequently transferred to state-controlled foundations.

Thirteen Bahais on Sunday were arrested in raids on the homes and businesses of 52 Bahais across Iran, with the Iranian Intelligence Ministry leveling accusations of spying for Israel that the Bahais dismissed as preposterous.

With concern growing over the crackdown, the US State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom on Tuesday (August 2) said the US “urges Iran to halt its ongoing oppression of the Bahai community and honor its international obligations to respect the right of all Iranians to freedom of religion or belief.”

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Bahá’ís believe the crucial need facing humanity is to find a unifying vision of the future of society and of the nature and purpose of life. Such a vision unfolds in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh.

The Bahá’í Faith began with the mission entrusted by God to two Divine Messengers—the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

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