Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide (73 page)

11
. Ayatollah Khomeini’s book,
Tahrir ul-Vassileh
(
http://www.melliblog.blogfa.com/post-301.aspx
), was a central source of the penal codes from the time of the Islamic Revolution, in addition to the new draft bill that would amend the code.

12
. “Dhabihullah Mahrami: Prisoner of Conscience,” Amnesty International, October 1, 1996,
http://web.amnesty.org/library/print/ENGMDE130341996
. A “public” or “national” apostate is someone born non-Muslim who first converts into Islam and then leaves the faith. A “natural” apostate is someone born into a Muslim family who converts to a different religion.

13
. The Islamic regime uses the absence of a codified law on apostasy to deny that it punishes apostasy. When the UN Special Rapporteur visited Iran in December 1995, government officials assured him that “under the Civil Code, conversion was not a crime and that no one had been punished for converting”; see “Dhabihullah Mahrami: Prisoner of Conscience.”

14
. For the full text in Persian, see
http://www.dadkhahi.net/law/Ghavanin/Ghavanin_Jazaee/layehe_gh_mojazat_eslami.htm
. An English translation is available at
http://rezaei.typepad.com/hassan_rezaei/2008/02/index.html
. On the development of the proposed law on apostasy, which was first introduced under Khatami, see Amir Taheri,
The Persian Night: Iran Under the Khomeinist Revolution
(New York: Encounter, 2009), 343–45.

15
. “Draft Iranian Law Threatens Gross Human Rights Violations,”
Bahai World News Service
, February 22, 2008,
http://news.bahai.org/story/606
; “Draft Iranian Penal Code Legislates Death Penalty for Apostasy,”
http://www.maavanews.ir/NewsPrint/tabid/602/Code/1726/Default.aspx
.

16
. The word
Melli
in this case means “of parents.”

17
.
Hadd
in Islamic penal law applies to fixed penalties—not to be changed, reduced, or annulled.

18
. “Draft Iranian Law Threatens Rights Violations,”
Bahai World News Service
.

19
. “Iran Parliament Requires Death for “Apostates” as Crackdown Continues,”
Compass Direct News
, September 30, 2008; “ ‘Apostasy’ Bill Appears Likely to Become Law: International Pressure Sought Against Mandatory Death Penalty for ‘Apostates,’ ”
Compass Direct News
, September 23, 2008; “USCIRF Concerned over Apostasy Death Penalty Threat to Christians, Baha’is, Muslim Dissenters; Calls for Release of Prisoners,” United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, September 17, 2008.

20
. Amnesty International’s Comments on the National Report by the Islamic Republic of Iran for the Universal Periodic Review, February 12, 2010,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/021/2010/en
.

21
. “A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran,” Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, 2006, 3,
http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/publications/reports/3149-a-faith-denied-the-persecution-of-the-baha-is-of-iran.html
; Ervand Abrahamian,
Iran Between Two Revolutions
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982), 17; Moojan Momen, ed.,
The Babi and Baha’i Religions
(Oxford: George Ronald, 1981); Abbas Amanat,
Resurrection and Renewal
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989).

22
. “A Faith Denied,” Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, 3; Abrahamian,
Iran Between Two Revolutions
, 17; Momen,
The Babi and Baha’i Religions
, 4; Reza Afshari,
Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 16, 120.

23
. See “Baha’is Killed Since 1978,” (which covers until 1998), Appendix I of “The Baha’i Question:
Cultural
in Iran,” Baha’i International Community,
http://question.bahai.org/index.php
; U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom Report 2007,”
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90210.htm
.]; “The Student Movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,”
Journal of Iranian Research and Analysis
15, no. 2 (November 1999); Abdolkarim Soroush’s official Web site,
http://www.drsoroush.com/English/On_DrSoroush/E-CMO-19991100–1.html
; “USCIRF Concerned over Apostasy Death Penalty Threat to Christians, Baha’is, Muslim Dissenters; Calls for Release of Prisoners,” United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, September 17, 2008; Afshari,
Human Rights in Iran
(n. 22 above), 16, 121.

24
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2001
, U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/
; U.S. State Department,
International Religious Freedom Report 2006
,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71421.htm
.

25
. See “Confidential Memo from Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology to Expel Bahá’íStudents from Universities,”
One Country
, October–December 2007,
http://www.onecountry.org/e191/e19108as_Iran_Denial_document_story.html
; also “Iranian Bahá’ís Face New Attacks—and Also Gain Increased Support,”
One Country
, July–September 2008,
http://www.onecountry.org/e194idx.html
.

26
. “Muslim Students Protest Baha’i Expelled from Iranian University,” December 1, 2008,
http://iran.bahai.us/2008/12/01/muslim-students-protest-baha%E2%80%99i-expelled-from-iranian-university/
.

27
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2007
.

28
. “Iran: Amnesty International Seeking Clarification of Official Letter about Baha’i Minority,” Amnesty International, July 24, 2006,
http://www.amnesty.ca/resource_centre/news/view.php?load=arcview&article=3620&c=Resource+Centre+News
.

29
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2007
.

30
. “Release Baha’is Detained in Mazandaran,” International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, December 12, 2008,
http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2008/12/release-baha%E2%80%99is-detained-in-mazandaran/
; “Detention of Bahais Continues,”
Iran Human Rights Voice
, November 19, 2008,
http://www.ihrv.org/inf/?p=1296
.

31
. “Six Bahais, Christian Arrested in Iran: Judiciary,”
Agence France Presse (AFP)
, January 27, 2009,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gx82ftet4H2W9CQ3S1gj8arJnmSA
.

32
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2007
; “Six Bahá’í Leaders Arrested in Iran; Pattern Matches Deadly Sweeps of Early 1980s,”
Bahai World News Service
, May 15, 2008,
http://news.bahai.org/story/632
.

33
. “Iranian Bahá’ís Face New Attacks,” 7; also, Freedom House, “Baha’i ‘Spying’ Case Strikes New Blow Against Religious Freedom in Iran,” February 12, 2009,
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090213102310zzzz.nb/topstory.html
.

34
. “A Glimpse of Conditions Faced by Baha’i Prisoners Inside Iran’s Evin Prison,”
One Country
, July-November 2009,
http://www.onecountry.org/e203/e20308as_Roxana_Saberi_Interview.html
.

35
. “Prison Sentences for Iran’s Baha’i Leaders Reportedly Reduced to 10 Years,”
Baha’i World News Service
, September 16, 2010,
http://news.bahai.org/story/793
.

36
. “Governments Condemn Iran’s Reversal on Jail Terms,”
Baha’i World News Service
, April 6, 2011,
http://www.news.bahai.org/story/815
.

37
. “Iran Accuses 7 Jailed Leaders of Bahai Faith of Espionage,”
The Washington Post
, February 18, 2009, A9; “Tehran Puts 7 Bahai’s on Trial for Spying,” AFP, January 9, 2010. Also, U.S. Department of State, “Persecution of Religious Minorities in Iran,” February 13, 2009; House Resolution 175, “Condemning the Government of Iran for Its State-sponsored Persecution of Its Bahai Minority and Its Continued Violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights,”
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.res.00175
; Iran Visual News Corps, “Iran to Try Seven Baha’is for ‘Spying’ for Israel,” February 11, 2009,
http://www.iranvnc.com/floater_article1.aspx?lang=en&t=1&id=7819
; Human Rights Without Frontiers, “EU concerned by arrests of Baha’i in Iran,” May 21, 2008,
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2187451220080521
; and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Iran: USCIRF Calls for Justice for Baha’i Prisoners,” February 13, 2009,
http://www.uscirf.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2347&Itemid=1
; Senate Resolution 71, “Condemning the Government of Iran for Its State-sponsored Persecution of Its Bahai Minority and Its Continued Violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights,”
http://iran.bahai.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/s-res-71.pdf
.

38
. “Bahá’i International Community Sends Letter to Iran’s Prosecutor General,” March 6, 2009,
http://iran.bahai.us/2009/03/06/bahai-international-community-sends-letter-to-irans-prosecutor-general/
.

39
. “Pressure on Iranian Baha’i Community, Which Has Not Been Officially Recognized as a Minority Religious Group by the Islamic Republic, Has Been Steadily Increasing,”
Iran Human Rights Voice
, March 5, 2009,
http://www.ihrv.org/inf/?p=1957
.

40
. Open Letter to the Baha’i Community, February 4, 2009,
http://www.iranian.com/main/2009/feb/we-are-ashamed
.

41
. “Iran’s Arrest of Baha’is Condemned,” Human Rights Without Frontiers, May 19, 2008,
http://www.hrwf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=124#_Toc207425156
.

42
. “Baha’i International Community Rejects Allegations That Arrested Baha’is Had Weapons in Their Homes,”
Bahai World News Service
, January 9, 2010,
http://news.bahai.org/story/747
; “Baha’is Arrested in Iran After Protests,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, January 6, 2010,
http://www.rferl.org/content/Bahais_Arrested_In_Iran_After_Protests/1922834.html
; “Trial of Seven Baha’i Leaders in Iran Looms,”
Bahai World News Service
, January 5, 2010,
http://news.bahai.org/story/745
; “Citizens Speak up for Baha’is in Iran,” DNA, January 8, 2010,
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_citizens-speak-up-for-baha-is-in-iran_1332211
.

43
. “Next Court Date for Baha’i Leaders Will Be 11 April,”
Bahai World News Service
, February 19, 2010,
http://news.bahai.org/story/759
; “Iranian Crackdown on Baha’is, Opposition Activists, Journalists Continues,”
VOA News
, February 14, 2010,
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Iranian-Crackdown-on-Bahais-Opposition-Activists-Journalists-Continues-84347022.html
; “Iranian Police Arrest Baha’is Ahead of Protests,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 11, 2010,
http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Police_Arrest_Bahais_Ahead_Of_Protests/1955669.html
; “Iran: End Persecution of Baha’is,” Human Rights Watch, February 23, 2010,
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/23/iran-end-persecution-baha
.

44
. Headline translated from
Kayhan
by Michael Rubin, in “Religious Freedom Also Taking a Hit in Iran,”
National Review Online
, The Corner Blog, January 6, 2010,
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWM0NDFhMmYzNWM2NzA0YTQ5YWNjMmJhMGM1MmEyOTA
. Firuz Kazemzadeh has provided us with a photograph of a progovernment demonstrator with a placard reading “Baha’i Mousavi should be put to death” (e-mail to the authors, January 2, 2010).

45
. “State Injustice: Unfair Trials in the Middle East & North Africa—Appeals Cases,” Amnesty International, March 1, 1998,
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde010031998
.

46
. “Background Information on Recent Event in the Ongoing Persecution of the Baha’is in Iran,”
Baha’i Community of the USA
, July 31, 1998,
http://www.bahaindex.com/en/news/human-rights/271-mrruhollah-rowhani-executed-in-iran-21-july-1998
. Sirus Zabihi-Moghaddam and Hadayat Kashefi-Najafabadi were tried alongside Rowhani. A revolutionary court in Mashad later gave death sentences, lowered in 2000 to seven- and five-year prison terms, respectively. Authorities released Kashefi-Najafabadi in October 2001 and Zabihi-Moghaddam the following June.

47
. “The Bahá’í Community of Iran Speaks for Itself,” The Bahai Question: Cultural Cleansing in Iran, November 15, 2004,
http://question.bahai.org/003_3.php
.

48
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2006
.

49
.
International Religious Freedom Report 2005
.

50
. “Iran Nobel Laureate Faces Death Threats,”
AFP
, March 16, 2006. In the 2009 presidential election, parliamentarian Mahmoud Ahmadi Bi-Ghash attacked candidate Mehdi Karrubi for supporting “the Bahai sect,”
IRNA
, May 27, 2009,
http://www.irna.ir/View/FullStory/?NewsId=497035
.