Baha'i community in Limerick issue concern for members in Iran

A Limerick GP, Dr. Negin Reyhani, a member of the Baha'i community Limerick say they are extremely worried and concerned about the increased persecution of Baha’is in the face of an escalating COVID-19 health pandemic.

The Iranian authorities have ramped up their persecution of the Baha’is, targeting more than 70 individuals across the country in recent weeks.

Limerick has a small but vibrant Bahai community with over 60 Baha'is living in both city and county.

Limericks Baha'is come from every background and all walks of life, commented Pat Murphy, Chair of the Limerick Baha’is Assembly. “We are very proud that Limerick is a member of the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities network. Inclusion and diversity are central aspects to Bahai beliefs and we are excited to belong to a place that is working so hard to create a city and county where everyone belongs" Mr. Murphy added.

"Unfortunately the freedom to belong is not available to Baha'is in Iran and the present upsurge in arrests and imprisonments of Baha'is in that country makes us very conscious of how fortunate we are in Limerick and in Ireland.

In a court hearing in Iran held for a group of Baha’is, a court official threatened to “uproot” the Baha’is in the city of Shiraz. The sentences received by these Baha’is ranged from one to 13 years in prison. Reports of these new threats to “uproot” the community in Shiraz, along with an unprecedented number of new prison sentences, re-incarcerations are raising concerns amongst human rights bodies within and outside of Iran.

Such an outrageous statement by a court official is not just frightening but is also clear evidence of the prejudice against the Baha’is within the judicial system and the authorities’ true motivation,” said Dr. Negin Reyhani, who is an Irish citizen but was born in Iran and has been living and working in Limerick since 2003.

“The recent incidents have placed great pressures on hundreds of families,” said Dr. Reyhani. “Subjecting them to the constant threat of imprisonment under these circumstances and emotional anguish associated with it, is hard to believe. To do all this during a health crisis, at an alarmingly escalated rate without any ustification whatsoever, is extremely cruel.”

She says Baha’is are routinely arrested in Iran, simply because they are Baha’is. After being arrested and released on high bails, these people of all ages and backgrounds, often have months, and sometimes years, of waiting between their arrest, trial, appeal court, and the beginning of a jail term. To live like this with a prison sentence hanging over you is an additional psychological burden.

She says, the Baha’is, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, have been persecuted in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A secret memorandum approved by Iran’s Supreme Leader in 1991 calls for the “progress and development” of the Baha’i community to be blocked by barring them from university and disrupting their ability to earn livelihoods.

The recent pressures come as Iran’s state-affiliated media have also stepped up the public defamation of the Baha’is through an increasingly coordinated spread of disinformation.

Since the beginning of 2020, more than 3,000 articles of anti-Baha’i propaganda have appeared in television channels, newspapers, radio stations and social media, all while Baha’is are denied the right of reply.