Geneva, Aug. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence issued an appalling statement of oppressive hate propaganda against the persecuted Baha’i religious minority yesterday, 31 July, in an attempt to justify the raids on the homes and businesses of 52 Baha’is across Iran and the arrest or imprisonment of 13 individuals.
The Ministry of Intelligence issued a formal statement about the moves—which came after weeks of escalating pressure on the Baha’is—and claimed the arrests were against members of the “Baha’i espionage [political] party” and that those arrested were “propagating the teachings of the fabricated Baha’i colonialism and infiltrating educational environments” including kindergartens. The mention of kindergartens is an apparent pretext for the targeting of a number of Baha’is who are preschool teachers.
The Baha’i International Community rejects these absurd and preposterous allegations as outright fabrications. What the Iranian government is doing is simultaneously an act of gross oppression and a brazen example of the worst kind of hate speech.
Thirteen individuals—among them Mahvash Sabet, Fariba Kamalabadi and Afif Naemi, formerly part of the community’s leadership and prisoners of conscience who each spent a decade in jail—were arrested during the raids. One is being held in solitary confinement in Evin Prison and the whereabouts of the other two are unknown.
“We are outraged that a…
