Bahai Community: The Government Should Investigate if is Sincere

The Iranian Bahais International Community issues a statement in which it condemned the attacks on an Iranian Bahai family in the town of Birjand which resulted in body injuries to the victims. Dayan Alai, the representative of the Community at the United Nations said that this attack was carried out with “religious motives” and has asked Hassan Rouhani’s administration to investigate this and other similar cases.

According to some news reports published on Monday “an unidentified masked person” broke into the house of Ghodratollah Movadi on Monday February 3, 2014 and stabbed him, his wife Touba Sabzejoo and their daughters.

The Bahais International Community published details of the attack and wrote that all three members of the family had been injured and were taken to hospital for treatment. According to reports, Mr. Movadi was injured at his waist and stomach while his wife was injured on her neck and lost consciousness because of loss of blood. Their daughter managed to contact the police despite the serious injuries that she too suffered from the assailant.

Alai from the Community also said the assailant intended to kill the members of the family and “the attack most certainly took place with religious motives.” He also said that Movadi is recognized as a Bahai leader in his hometown of Birjand and had been on numerous occasions put under pressure by security authorities of the town.

In its statement, the community said it expect Iranian authorities to quickly investigate this incident and prosecute the assailant. But in a more moving report the Community also announced that there are some 50 instances in which Iranian Bahais have been physically attacked by unidentified individuals since 2005 and in none of these cases have the assailants been prosecuted. It mentioned 54-year old Ataollah Rezvani, as one Bahai victim of such physical attacks while adding that at least nine Bahai citizens have been murdered under suspicious circumstances and the assailants in these cases have enjoyed an identical immunity from prosecution. Rezvani’s body was on a remote road outside his hometown Bandar Abbas. The victim’s son Koorosh Rezvani and his cousin had earlier told Rooz the details of the murder, stressing that there were no personal reasons for it and that the killing was motivated by religious reasons.

Authorities Not Investigated Rezvani’s Murder

The Bahai Community’s statement at its conclusion points to the promises that president Hassan Rouhani has made regarding respect and implementation of civil rights and writes, “If the new administration and the new president Hassan Rouhani are sincere in their assertions that all Iranians should enjoy equal rights, then it must follow up this recent incident with utmost seriousness and make every effort to promptly start the process of finding the assailant who attacked the Movadi family.”

According to the Community statement over 200 Bahai citizens have been killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 revolution while thousands of others from the community have been arrested and persecuted. The Bahais are not recognized as a religious minority in the constitution of the Islamic Republic and have been subjected to extensive political, social, economic and cultural discrimination in the last thirty years.

In addition to make numerous pledges about creating the conditions for the fulfillment of civil rights of all Iranians, President Rouhani has also appointed a special aide for ethnic and religious minorities.