Baha'i shops threatened in Iran

arthra

arthra

Baha'i
Messages
3,801
Reaction score
239
Points
63
Location
Redlands, California
There are eleven Baha'i Holy Days of which nine Holy Days where work is suspended .. In Iran Baha'is who own shops and business that close on the nine Holy Days have been threatened by government authorities.


GENEVA, 16 June 2015, (BWNS) — Tens of Baha'is' shops in the cities of Rafsanjan, Kerman, Sari and Hamadan have been sealed by government authorities in an effort to pressure Baha'is not to observe their religious holy days.

These shops, mostly small businesses, offering services like household appliance repairs or the sales of automobile parts or clothing, were sealed in April and May when the owners closed their stores in observance of Baha'i holy days during those months.

Further to these closures, Iranian authorities told some of the shopkeepers that if they do not sign a pledge that they will only close their stores on recognized national holidays their business licenses will be revoked and their stores closed permanently.

Read more at

http://news.bahai.org/story/1057
 
Last edited:
Continuing story:

"...Iranian authorities have launched a renewed attack on Iran’s Baha’i community, targeting Baha’i-run shops and small businesses. In a bid to prevent the religious minority from observing holidays, authorities ordered the closure of dozens of shops owned by Baha’is in Rafsanjan, Kerman, Sari and Hamedan.The small businesses, which were closed down in April, May and June, included repair shops, automobile parts outlets and clothing stores. Authorities ordered the closures after shop owners failed to open their premises to the public on Baha’i religious holidays, and warned some shopkeepers that if they did not sign a document stating that they would observe official national holidays only, their trading permits would not be renewed and shops would face permanent closure.The Baha’i International Community representative at the UN in Geneva, Diane Ala’i, said the recent measures were illegal. “Stopping Baha’i shopkeepers from observing their religious holidays is against Iranian law, as well as against human rights.”

Read more at

http://iranpresswatch.org/post/12420/
 
Thanks for your post Senthil! Yes destruction of temples has indeed occurred.. I post these articles about the Baha'is in Iran because they normally don't appear in the general media and we feel it's important to share the information on sites like this one... actually for Baha'is there are two sites of pilgrimage...one was the House of the Bab in Shiraz, Iran which was destroyed by fanatics around 1979 and the other was the House of Baha'u'llah in Baghdad which was destroyed a few years ago... No organized pilgrimages have occurred in either site for some time because of the fanaticism in Shiraz and Baghdad. Muslim shrines around Medina sacred to Sufis and Shiahs have also been destroyed.
 
They (radical Islam, plus a few others scattered about the planet) won't stop at anything. I was particularly saddened by the destruction of the large Buddha a few years back. In Sri Lanka, the war affected the Tamil community so badly that it'll never return. The law on the ground today regarding temples is that you can continue to maintain the ones that survived, but not rebuild any that were destroyed. It will be total cultural genocide within another 50 years or so. Fortunately, many did get out, and the cultural won't be totally lost because of the work in the diaspora.

I think the peaceful Bahai should just try to leave, as much as possible. That sounds drastic, but I don't see any other solutions. The UN is largely ineffective in such matters. Very difficult to prosecute alleged war crimes internationally.
 
Thanks arthra ... I've looked into it before, and I got the perspective. Political persecution of anyone is horrible, and as you know, the Bahai in Iran is not unique. Sad, but not unique. Obviously, its close to your heart, as is the Sri Lankan Tamil genocide and the Hindu genocide in Bangladesh situation close to mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top