A prominent group of more than sixty professors and scholars who specialize in Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies have added their voices in protest over the persecution of the Bahais in Iran and have asked the Iranian government to accord its Bahais citizens their full civil rights and freedoms.
Statement
We, the undersigned scholars and academic specialists in the fields of Middle Eastern and Iranian studies, call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to put an end to human rights abuses against Bahais in Iran, which have been greatly escalating in recent months, and grant them full civil rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. We note with great concern evidence of an ongoing campaign to deprive the Bahais of Iran of their fundamental human rights. This all points to a worrisome development inside Iran that appears to be preparing the way for further human rights violations against the Bahais. Recent events include but are not limited to the following:
— Arbitrary Arrests. Authorities arrested five Bahais in Tehran on January 14, 2009: Ms. Jinous Sobhani, Mr. Shahrokh Taef, Mr. Didar Raoufi, Mr. Payam Aghsani and Mr. Aziz Samandari, followed by the arrest of two Bahais in Mashhad, raids on eight homes and the arrest of Mr. Nima Haghar in Tehran on February 1, 2009. They join not only numerous individual arrested and detained in cities and towns throughout Iran, but also the seven Bahai leaders who were arrested in 2008, and who remain in prison, despite statements by the United Nations, six Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, and various human rights organizations calling for their immediate release.
— Attacks on Bahai Homes. Authorities have been entering homes either to arrest Bahais and/or confiscate personal belongings such as photos, books, and computers. A new and troubling development is the recent dissemination of a 31-page list of Bahais in Shiraz that includes their names, professions, and home and work addresses. The list was accompanied by several quotes from high-ranking clerics, including Ayatollah Khomeini, against the Bahais, and could lead to attacks on the listed Bahais.
— Denial of Access to Education. Since 1979, the Iranian government has enforced a ban on Bahai students from access to higher education, a recognized universal human right, and frequent restriction of home schooling to children who have been denied access to public education institutions.
— Campaigns of Intimidation. These include the harassment of school children, government sponsored propaganda against the Bahais in the media, public seminars and symposia, the distribution of anti-Bahai CDs in various school districts throughout the country, and harassment of those who seek to help the Bahais, such as Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi.
— The Financial and Economic Strangulation of the Bahai Community. The Iranian government has, over the course of the past decades, expelled all Bahai employees of national and local governments, and has moved to confiscate homes, businesses, financial assets, and other properties in a systematic attempt to destroy financially the Iranian Bahais.
— Attacks on and Desecration of Bahai Cemeteries. Bahai cemeteries in Qaimshahr, Yazd, Najafabad, and elsewhere have been repeatedly vandalized and then completely destroyed.
We stand in solidarity with the Bahais and indeed with members of all religious communities who do not have full rights and freedoms in Iran.
Signed:
Ervand Abrahamian, City University of New York
Janet Afary, University of California, Los Angeles
Gholam R. Afkhami, Foundation for Iranian Studies
Reza Afshari, Pace University
Hamid Akbari, Northeastern Illinois University
Payam Akhavan, McGill University
Abbas Amanat, Yale University
Camron Michael Amin, The University of Michigan-Dearborn
Said A. Arjomand, State University of New York, Stony Brook
Muriel Atkin, George Washington University
Sussan Babaie, Independent Scholar
Ali Banuazizi, Boston College
Shahzad Bashir, Stanford University
Nasser Behnegar, Boston College
Mansour Bonakdarian, University of Toronto (Mississauga)
Michael E. Bonine, University of Arizona
Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University
Charles E. Butterworth, University of Maryland
Houchang E. Chehabi, Boston University
Paul M. Cobb, University of Pennsylvania
Dick Davis, Ohio State University
Khalil Dokhanchi, University of Wisconsin at Superior
Fred M. Donner, University of Chicago
John L. Esposito, Georgetown University
Farideh Farhi, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Willem Floor, Independent Scholar
Latifeh Hagigi, University of California, Los Angeles
Nader Hashemi, University of Denver
Hormoz Hekmat, Foundation for Iranian Studies
Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown University
Mehrangiz Kar, Harvard University (Law School)
Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University of Maryland
Farhad Kazemi, New York University
Stephen N. Lambden, University of California, Merced
Kate Lang, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Todd Lawson, University of Toronto
Loren Lybarger, Ohio University
Denis MacEoin, Independent Scholar
Afshin Marashi, California State University, Sacramento
Lenore G. Martin, Emmanuel College
Rudi Matthee, University of Delaware
Ann Elizabeth Mayer, University of Pennsylvania
Farzaneh Milani, University of Virginia
Margaret Mills, Ohio State University
David Morgan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Negar Mottahedeh, Duke University
Roy P. Mottahedeh, Harvard University
Parvaneh Pourshariati, Ohio State University
Sholeh A. Quinn, University of California, Merced
Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California, Irvine
Thomas M Ricks, Independent Scholar
Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Sunil Sharma, Boston University
Nader Sohrabi, Columbia University
Rosemary Stanfield-Johnson, University of Minnesota
Mark L. Stein, Muhlenberg College
Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona
Georges Tamer, The Ohio State University
Mohamad Tavakoli -Targhi, University of Toronto
Nayereh Tohidi, California State University, Northridge
Frances Trix, Indiana University
A. L. Udovitch, Princeton University
Farzin Vahdat, Vassar College
Fereydun Vahman, University of Copenhagen
Margit Warburg, University of Copenhagen
Madeline C. Zilfi, University of Maryland
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