Mar07
Iranian policy calls for Baha’i expulsions
A letter issued by a university in Iran shows that the expulsion of Baha’i students from Iranian universities is official government policy.
Letter from Payame Noor University, Iran,
dated November 2, 2006
The letter, dated November 2, 2006, from the headquarters of Payame Noor University to its regional branches, cites instructions from Iran’s Cultural Revolutionary Council and Ministry of Information that Baha’i students “cannot enroll” in Iranian universities and that if they are already enrolled, “they should be expelled.”
The content of the letter sharply contradicts denials issued last week by an Iranian government spokesperson when asked to comment on the large number of Baha’i university students who have been expelled so far this year, solely because of religious discrimination. As reported by Reuters on February 28, 2007, a spokesperson for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, who requested his name not be used, was asked about the expelled students and replied: “No one in Iran because of their religion has been expelled from studying.”
Baha’is were barred from all institutions of higher education from 1980 until the Fall of 2006, when about 178 Baha’i students were admitted to a number of Iranian universities and colleges. As of mid-February 2007, at least 70 of those students had been expelled after their universities became aware that they were Baha’is.
For further background on the denial of higher education to Iranian Baha’is, see the following reports from the Baha’i World News Service:
- Official character of Baha’i expulsions in Iranian university revealed (March 7, 2007)
- Iranian Baha’is face continuing discrimination in higher education (February 28, 2007)
For media inquiries regarding the expulsion of Baha’i students from Iranian universities or about the persecution of Iranian Baha’is, please contact the Office of External Affairs of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States at 202-833-8990.
