Monthly Report of Violations Against the Rights of Followers of Religions in Iran – August 2019

Tables Preparation: Hamid Reza Dehghan Tabrizi

Data Compiler: Mohammad Hosein Molaei Barzi, Mohammad Aftabi

Translated by: Amin Jafari

Edited by: Alireza Jahanbin

Article 18 (The right to freedom of opinion)

Everyone has the right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19 (The right to freedom of expression)

Everyone has the right of freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

This report consists of statistical information about violation against the rights of followers of other religions in Iran until the end of Mordad 1398 (22 August 2019). This report has been presented statistically-analytically.

It is obvious that because of strict actions of Islamic Republic of Iran with the Human Rights activists especially in observation and reporting the Human Rights violations and also deprivation of free circulation of information and constantly refusal of Iran`s government to recognize an independent domain in civil activities, at the present time, reporting is very difficult and dangerous for many reporters and activists (whom are in prison or custody) and are facing a lot of limits.

The pressure on followers of other religions still continues:

The current authorities in Iran and its leaders are believing that some religious groups are the enemies of the country, because their religious beliefs may challenge the loyalty to the regime and under the pretext of preserving national and political security, they suppress the religious activities of other religions followers.

Detentions and targeted violence against the followers of other religions in Iran still continues by the security and judicial organizations of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In Iran, citizens on the basis of religion beliefs are divided into two official and non-official categories.

the Baha`i religion is one of the non-official religions in Iran which is under more pressures rather than other religions. The Baha`is are deprived of performing ritual rites, propagating their religion and teaching and educating in higher educational levels. At the present time, hundreds of Baha’i citizens are suffering from long prison terms in different jails of the country, including Semnan, Mashhad, Tehran, Karaj and other cities of Iran.

Official religions like Christianity have faced great limitations. The government only recognizes the Assyrian Christians, Armenian and Chaldean worships, preaching the gospel to Iranian is a crime, the Persian language people are forbidden to enter the churches, and churches are tasked to submit their members names to the Ministry of Intelligence, along with copies of their national identification card.

Based on the Article 13 and 26 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran Christianity in a recognized religion, and the right to pray or build a community has been given to the Christians but confrontation with the Protestant Christians who are believing in the gospel of their religion still continues, and domestic churches are facing widespread suppression.

Religious discrimination is strictly enforcing against the Sunni Muslims. They mostly are living in the boarder sides of the country, and are deprived of the right to build mosques and their religious rituals like Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha prayer in central areas as well as Tehran.

Even in some cases the destruction of the Sunni Mosques has been reported and These people are dealing with execution, detention and persecution. They are prohibited from hiring in governmental organizations. A prominent example is the Bijan Zolfaghar Nasab who was appointed to the Minister of Sports in the Hassan Rouhani government, but because he is Sunni they did not give him the vote to be selected for this position.

Sunni:

Sunnis are seeking the security and brotherhood, they expect to have the religious liberty and this is the demand of every member of the Sunni community.  It is expected that the Sunni community in the great cities of the country, like Isfahan and other cities, can pray freely and educate their children. This expectation is perfectly legal.

The right to build the mosques in any city or have the freedom for Friday and Eid prayers or have the complete freedom, are completely legal and they do not have a lot of demands. The Sunnis are believing that their right should be consider and that no one would be deprived of their rights for religion beliefs, because respecting the rights of the people causes unity and closeness.

Because of religious propaganda the Sunni prisoners are convicted with charges of action against national security, they have the sentence of combat against GOD, they are spending their conviction time in jail and in an inappropriate space and constantly being insulted by the prison officers and guards because of their opinions.

Article 20 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran stresses that based on the rules of Islam, all Iranian citizens are equal. However, along with other religions in Iran, the constitution has failed to ensure equality for more than three decades to guarantee the rights of citizens. Sunni followers in Iran are in the same condition, even though they are Muslims. They are deprived not only, of the management responsibilities of the country and military but also, equal opportunities and facilities. They are facing strict obstacles and constraints to publicize their beliefs and to perform their religious rites from the Iranian government.

In this Month:

1. Based on Human rights report on 17^th of August Abdolghani Goharamzahi, a Sunni citizen, was arrested by intelligence service forces and was transferred to an unknown place.
2. Based on Harna report on 8^th of August at the time of starting holidays in Sunni schools, Javad Karimzai a student in religious school in Shoorshadi village was arrested by forces of intelligence service.
3. Based on Human rights report on 7^th of August Kak Ezat Halagh a Sunni activist after summoning to the intelligence office in Kordestan was interrogated for an hour about his religious and social activities.
4. Based on human rights report on 3^rd of August Hamze Darvish a Sunni prisoner in Rajai prison has gone on a hunger strike. On 8^th of August, the fifth day of his hunger strike, the authorities haven’t done anything yet and even this case was not reported. On 11^th of August in the evening on his 9^th day of hunger strike, after being unconscious, he was transferred to prison clinic and after some injections was transferred again to his cell. On 19^th of August after 16 days due to authority’s promises he ended his hunger strike.
5. Based on human rights report on 4^th of August some of the family members of Abdollah Karamolachaab and Ghasem beitabdollah two Arab Sunni citizens who were hung on Saturday, were arrested by agents of intelligence forces in Shosh.
6. Based on Harna on 3^rd of August Molavi Alam Hakimi, has gone to Mashhad to attend special religious court of law.
7. Based on Harna on 29^th of July Mansour Choopani, a Sunni prisoner was gone on a hunger strike due to the request of his conditional freedom. On 5^th of August at 1 pm he ended his hunger strike due to authorities’ promises.
8. Based on human rights on 5^th of August Farhad Salimi a Sunni prisoner in Rajai prison after passing 10 years in prison and unknown fate with Anvar Khezri, Kamran Shikhe, Ghasem Abste, Khosro Besharat, Ayoub Karimi and Davoud Abdolahi, six Sunni prisoners with the same case, were sentence to death due to joining a Salafi group and propaganda against the government.
9. Based on Harna: on 29^th of July a Sunni citizen in Javanroos town was arrested. His name is Yasin Azmi and is 20 years old.
10. Based on Harna: on 29^th of July a court of law was held for Tohid Ghoreishi, a Sunni prisoner in Rajai prison. This court was about a case that intelligence office opened against him.
11. Based on human rights: citizens in Dask city in Sistan province were banned from Friday prayer in this city.

The statistical report of violations against the Sunnis:

Baha`i:

Iran, a country that many Baha`is are living in, The Baha’i is still considered as an “apostate sect” in Iran. It is well known that Baha`is are seeking the peace, they do not want political power and do not pose the security threat. However, the Iranian religious regime pursues them. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, methodically Baha`is were deprived of access to higher education levels as well as employment rights, and if they persevere in claim for their lost rights, they will face the false accusations, imprisonment and intimidation, and always have been exposed to arbitrary arrests and imprisonment. They have never been able to follow their religious instructions in public. They are being abused almost all the way of their life.

It is not possible to transfer the knowledge and human experience, except through specific trainings. And so the right to education is one of the fundamental human rights which has been mentioned in Articles 26 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Articles 13, 14 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, that everyone has the right to educate  without discrimination based on distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The Iranian government is obliged to provide all essential facilities for enjoyment of all citizens from this natural right and also should remove any kind of obstacles based on geographical, political, economic and cultural conditions in order to provide these fundamental rights.

Prohibition of work and business is another strain and harassment that the Baha`is are facing in society. In most of the provinces, the Public Places Surveillance Authority which is affiliated with the Police Force, without any permission is sealing their businesses places.

In this month:

1. Based on Human’s right report: on 18^th of August, Sima Behroozi Mehdi Abadi, a Bahai citizen in Yazd, after the presence in Engheleb court was trialed because of her activity in Telegram and joining in an anti-regime group (Baha`i) and advertising against the government.
2. Based on Harana on 10^th of August, Parisa Sobhanian Najaf Abadi a Bahai citizen in Roodhen city is arrested.
3. Based on Harana on 10^th of August, Soheyla Haghighat, a Bahai citizen in Shiraz was arrested by Intelligence forces.
4. Based on human rights report on 3^rd of August, Farid Moghadam Ziraki a Baha`i citizen in Birjand was arrested by intelligence forces. At the same day that the intelligence office in Khorasan Province announced that they have arrested another Baha`i citizen but they didn’t mention his name.
5. Based on human rights report on 10^th of August, Golamhosein Mazloomi, Monire Bavil Saflai, Mino Zamanipoor, three Baha`i citizen in Tehran were arrested in their houses by intelligence forces and after inspection of their houses they were transferred to Evin prison.
6. Based on human rights report on 9^th of August, Jamalodin Khanjani’s house and his daughter were inquired by intelligence forces and some of their personal properties were taken away. They were both interrogated by intelligence forces in the same place.
7. Based on human rights report on 10^th of August, Hasan Momtat Sarvestani, a Baha`i citizen in Shiraz in Evin prison was granted a few days off. This Baha`i citizen teaches Literature in Baha`i E-University to Baha`i university students who are deprived of education.
8. Based on human rights report, Farough Izadinia, a Bahai writer and translator in Tehran who was trialed at the end of February 2019 was sentenced to 10 years of discretionary custodial.
9. Based on Harana, Hanan Hor, a Baha`i citizen who passed the university entrance exam with great points was denied to attend Babol University.
10. Based on human rights report on 4^th of August, the residential place of Toraj Amini a Baha`i writer and researcher in Karaj was inquired by security forces and after taking away some of his personal properties like books and hand notes, was asked not to leave Alborz province in order to be questioned by intelligence forces.
11. Based on Harana, Rohollah Zibai, a Baha`i citizen in Karaj on the contrary to his bad physical condition after 4 days is still in detention. The detention of Rohollah Zibai and Abolfazl Ansari extended for one weak. Their bad physical condition made their families worried.
12. Based on human rights report on 3^rd of August, Kheirollah Bakhshi, Monika Alizade, Kambiz Misaghi, Shabnam Esakhani, Faezad Bahadori and Shahriar Khodapanah, six Baha`i citizens in Tabriz who were sentenced to 6 years of discretionary custody, were acquitted by second court of law.
13. Based on human rights report on 3^rd of August, Abolfazl Ansari, a Baha`i citizen in Karaj, was arrested and taken away by unknown forces.
14. On Harana report on 3^rd of August, Rohollah Zibai, a Baha`i citizen in Karaj was in custody. His house was inquired on December 2010.
15. Based on human rights report, at the beginning of July, Sohrab Naghipoor a Baha`i citizen in Esfahan prison, who was sentenced to 5 years of discretionary custody, was released due to his bad physical condition.
16. Based on Harana, after passing 2 years, fereydoon Aghsani’s trade place is still sealed. This 84 Baha`i citizen had to make his living in front of his supermarket as a pessler.

The statistical report of violations against the Baha`is:

Christians:

The Islamic Republic is trying to destroy the Christianity, and this is a bitter fact about the violations against the Christians rights. Christians, who have been charged and sentenced to persecution by the Islamic Republic because of their heresy and religious conversion.

Violation against the Christian rights is increasing in the Islamic Countries and many of them are facing the racial harassment on a daily basis.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a numerous number of Christians are jailed for religious conversion and religious activities. Currently, according to the human rights organizations in Iran, a large number of well-known Christians are in prison for offences such as preaching the gospel, or teaching and distributing the Bible or other citizens who are convicted of spying and many rights of Christian neophytes have been violated, they have been punished, persecuted, sentenced to the imprisonment or penalties like whip only because of some of their religious rituals like drinking the wine in the Eucharist (the Lord`s Supper) or even in some cases they were threatened to the death.

Security and judicial Organizations pressure on churches still continues and in continuation of the series of restrictions imposed by the security authorities, the Official Evangelical Churches, the Central Numinous Community Church in Tehran, the Protestant Immanuel Church, Peter ‘s Evangelical Church in Tehran and etc. have been forced to cooperate with the security Organizations and accepting their demands on revealing the list of their members along with other information about them, including their national identification number, also preventing the participation of the Persian language Christian neophytes in their religious rituals, preventing them to hold the ceremonies in Persian.

Even the churches are refusing to accept the Persian language Christians, and they must hold their ceremonies in non-Persian language.

Prison sentences for Iranian Christians continue to be issued. In the Constitution of Islamic Republic, the religious freedom of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians has been recognized but so far, the government’s actions against religious propaganda and the performance of their religious rites has shown that the Principles of the Constitution on the freedom of religion and prevention of ideas and beliefs Inquisition, were only intended to cover the violations against the rights of other religions in Iran. Based on the Islamic Republic Constitution, the twelve Imam Shia is the official religion of Iran and the religious and security organizations of the Iranian government are considering that the propaganda for the principles of these religions is a threat to the dominant ideology of the government and it is one of the main reasons why the regime has suppressed the Christian followers and missionaries by closing their churches and preventing them of religious propaganda.

In this month:

1. Based on human rights report: 24^th of July, Abdoleeza Ali Haghnejad, Shahrouz Esmaildoost, Behnam Akhlaghi, Babak Hoseinzade and Mehdi Khatibi, 5 Christian neophytes in Rasht city, because of their newly opened case, were ordered to pick the lawyer who Enghelab court has chosen for them. And also Khalil Dehghanpour, Hosein Kadivar, Kamal Nematian and Mohamad Vafadar are going to go the court without any lawyer!

The statistical report of violations against the Christians:

Gonabadi Dervishes:

Gonabadi and Nematolahi Dervishes are 11 million people, almost 9 times more than Iranian army. In January and February 2018 in Tehran, they fought against security forces. In a tension between police and Dervishes, 3 police officers and 2 of Basij forces were killed and 300 Dervishes were arrested. The fight started because of the limitation that the government put on visiting their leader, Nourali Tabande. These limitations were the new start of harassment against Dervishes across the country. These harassments continued so that the security forces wanted to surround the Dervishes leader’s house (Doctor Tanabande, a 90 year-old man) with the charge of acting against national security. In result of that, these fighting aroused more. Amirali Mohamadi Labaf, a Gonabadi Dervish member on 18^th of February was invited to the police station and was interrogated and beat. Other Dervishes after getting informed about Amirali Mohamadi Labaf had gone to the police station and made him free but that led to arresting Nematollah Riahi, another Gonabadi Dervish. Mr. Riahi on the same day was transferred to the security forces. These atmosphere continued until 18^th of February that Dervishes gathered in front of Police station number 106 in order to free Mr. Riahi. But this gathering turn to a fight when Special Forces came to the scene and 5 Dervishes were killed and 300 Dervishes were arrested.

In this month:

1. Based on Harna: Elham Hamidi, a Gonabadi Dervishes woman, on 13^th of August, after serving her sentence was freed from Evin prison. Elham Hamidi on 20^th of February was arrested and due to Enghelab court was sentence to serve 5 years in prison. This sentence was reduced to one year and half according to appeal court.

The statistical report of violations against the Gonabadi Dervishes: