[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1580-E1581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           BREAK THE CYCLE OF PERSECUTION OF IRANIAN BAHA'IS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 6, 1998

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, adherents of the Baha'i faith in Iran have 
lived a precarious and dangerous existence since the religion 
originated in what was then Persia in the 1840's.
  Originally the Baha'i faithful were persecuted by Muslims in Iran as 
heretics. They were exiled to Baghdad and then to Akka, in Palestine, 
then part of the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the Baha'i World Center 
was established in Haifa, Israel, near the site of Akka, where it 
remains today. From those humble beginnings, today about 300,000 
Baha'is live in Iran, with millions more in communities elsewhere 
around the world. As such,

[[Page E1581]]

Baha'is comprise the largest religious minority in Iran today.
  Unfortunately, little has changed for the Iranian Baha'is since the 
time the faith was founded. Although the U.S. State Department reports 
that exile is not a tool presently used to persecute Iranian Baha'is, 
Baha'is in Iran are subject to ongoing, egregious violations of their 
human rights.
  SInce the Iranian Revolution in 1979, over 200 Baha'is have been 
executed by the government solely for their religious beliefs. It is 
important to note that Baha'is have never engaged in any illegal 
activity nor participated in any form of opposition to the Iranian 
government. In fact, one of the basic tenets of the Baha'i faith is 
obedience to the civil law in the country where the adherent lives and 
the Baha'is in Iran have followed the tenet to the letter. When Iranian 
law was changed to effectively forbid the administration of the Baha'i 
Faith by elected groups and require the disbanding of Baha'i schools, 
the Baha'is of Iran complied, although these steps are a major 
impediment to the continued vitality of the Baha'i community in Iran.
  Since the founding of the faith, Baha'is have been persecuted to 
varying degrees. Unfortunately, there are disturbing new signs that we 
may be entering a period of increased persecution. On July 21, the 
Government of Iran executed by hanging Mr. Ruhollah Rowhani, a Baha'i 
from the northern Iranian city of Mashad. He was arrested over ten 
months ago and charged with converting a Muslim to the Baha'i faith. He 
was held in solitary confinement without access to lawyers or his 
family. Then, after a sham trial in which he was deprived of the right 
to offer a defense, he was sentenced and killed.
  A further cause for alarm over this heinous act is the fact that 
fifteen other Baha'is are currently in detention in Iran and three may 
face imminent execution. It is unclear when or if these men--all 
charged with religious crimes--will be put to death, but three have 
been found guilty and are essentially in the same position Mr. Rowhani 
was immediately prior to his execution.
  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Iran clearly marches to the beat of 
its very own drummer. Nevertheless, I cannot see one single reason the 
Iranian government would execute Mr. Rowhani and threaten the lives of 
other Baha'is at a time when the outlook is more promising than it has 
been in a long time for an exploration of the possibility of a gradual 
move toward normalization with the rest of the world community. The 
Iranian authorities must be made to realize that the U.S. Congress, the 
administration, and the world community consider treatment of Baha'is 
and other religious minorities as one of the crucial yardsticks to 
measure Iran's progress toward re-entering the ranks of the global 
community.
  The Government of Iran must be aware that the U.S. Congress has 
passed no less than seven resolutions since 1982 condemning persecution 
of Baha'is in Iran and calling for their emancipation. The Iranians 
must also know that the UN has adopted a number of resolutions 
regarding the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran and that the U.S. 
State Department carefully monitors and releases a widely-read annual 
report on such persecution. Congress, the administration and the world 
know when the Iranian Government is violating the principles of the UN 
Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which Iran has signed. We are 
watching carefully.
  I call on the Government of Iran to cease the persecution of all of 
its citizens, including Baha'is, to release those currently being held, 
and to break the historical, mindless pattern of persecution of the 
Iranian Baha'i and all other religious minorities in Iran.

                          ____________________