Sorrow as jailed Baha’i leader is unable to attend wife’s funeral Source: Baha’i World News Service
GENEVA, 11 March 2011 (BWNS) — The Baha’i International Community has described as “desperately cruel” the fact that one of Iran’s seven Baha’i leaders has been unable to attend the funeral of his own wife. 81 year old Mrs. Ashraf Khanjani – who was married to Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani for more than 50 years – died yesterday morning at the family home in Tehran. She had been unwell for many months.
Mrs. Ashraf Khanjani, pictured with her husband, Jamaloddin Khanjani. Mrs. Khanjani died on Thursday 10 March at the age of 81. The couple were married for more than 50 years.
Mr. Khanjani, 77, is serving a ten-year jail term at Iran’s notorious Gohardasht prison, along with six other Baha’is who were all members of a national-level ad hoc group that attended to the needs of Iran’s Baha’i community.
“This is a desperately cruel turn of events,” said Diane Ala’i, representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.
“For an innocent man to be denied the opportunity to be with his devoted wife as she passed away, and then to be unable to attend her funeral – this shows the depth of inhumanity to which the Iranian authorities have sunk,” said Ms. Ala’i.
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