Baha'is in Iran suffer new wave of persecution
By Michael Petrou - Tuesday, February 3, 2009 - 15 Comments
The father of an Ottawa man was arrested in May. More Baha’is were swept up and jailed in January. Baha’i graveyards are ransacked. I’ve written a more detailed story for the Maclean’s website. Yet the overt persecution of Baha’is in Iran receives little media attention elsewhere. Why not?
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“They don’t want to leave a trace of anything Baha’i”
By Michael Petrou - Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 2:28 PM - 52 Comments
Some fear the oppression of a little-known religious minority in Iran is intensifying
Naeim Tavakkoli last saw his father Behrouz three years ago in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison. Behrouz, a leader in among the 300,000 Iranians who follow the Baha’i religion, had failed to come home weeks earlier. Naeim, his mother, and brother searched hospitals and police stations but found no trace. Finally they were told Behrouz had been arrested by the Intelligence Ministry and were allowed to see him.
The three of them sat across from Behrouz on a small bench in a tiny room with two government agents standing behind them, watching and listening. “My father was slim, pale, with a long beard. They didn’t let him shave,” Naeim said in an interview with Maclean’s. “He was limping, wearing a jail uniform, not quite clean. Pajamas, basically.” Continue…
