Adherents of religious groups not recognized by the Constitution, such as the Baha’is, do not have freedom to practice their beliefs. The Government prohibits Baha’is from teaching and practicing their faith. Baha’is are barred from all leadership positions in the Government and military.
The Government considers Baha’is to be apostates and defines the Baha’i Faith as a political “sect.” The Ministry of Justice states that Baha’is are permitted to enroll in schools only if they do not identify themselves as such, and that Baha’is preferably should be enrolled in schools with a strong and imposing religious ideology. There were reports that Baha’i children in public schools faced attempts to convert them to Islam.
On July 9, 2009, Robert A. Oden, Jr., president of Carleton College in Norfield, MN, sent a letter to Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee, advocating for Baha’is’ right to higher education in Iran.
On Saturday, March 7, 2009, several Persian online journals carried this report about the expulsion of Miss Minoo Shahriari on the grounds that she was a Baha’i. Continue Reading »
Iran Press Watch published today the translation of an account by an Iranian Baha’i student who was expelled from university this fall. Continue Reading »
The Bahá’í representative at Harvard Chaplains gave a short talk for the Morning Prayer service in late October, in which she was also able to address the situation of Bahá’í students in Iran. Continue Reading »
Twenty-six Muslim students at Goldshat College in Kelardasht, Mazandaran, refused to take their first-term final examinations in protest of the expulsion of a fellow classmate because he is a Baha’i. Continue Reading »
A professor who teaches English literature at Shaheed Beheshti University posted this account about the expulsion of his Baha’i students at www.Fallosafah.org, a site dedicated to “the Journals of M.S. Hanaee Kashani”. You can access the account in Persian here, and a translation here.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S. has just launched a video contest to raise awareness about the plight of Baha’is in Iran trying to gain access to higher education. The contest is open to everyone and you can learn more about it by visiting http://www.youtube.com/group/bahaistudentsiran
On Monday, 13 October 2008, Human Rights Activists of Iran published the following account by Arash Shahsavandi, a Baha’i student expelled from his university on account of his religion: http://www.hrairan.com/Archive_87/1114.html. An English translation of the report can be found here
On October 6, Human Rights Activists in Iran published the following letter by a Baha’i student: http://www.hrairan.com/Archive_87/1095.html. You can access a translation of the letter here
NEW YORK, October 3, 2008 (BWNS) — As the new academic year got under way, young Baha’is in Iran again found the door to higher education closed. Continue Reading »
The American Association of University Professors passed a resolution on June 15, 2008, urging the government of Iran to “remove barriers that deny access to higher education on religious or ethnic grounds.” In particular, the AAUP wants to ensure that Iran does not keep members of the Baha’i religious community “out of universities.”
A news story released today by the Baha’i World News Service provides further developments of the Iranian government’s campaign to deny Baha’i students access to higher education.
Almost 800 of the more than 1,000 Baha’is who sat for and properly completed the entrance exam in June 2007 have received word that their files are “incomplete” — thus preventing their enrollment.
President Faust of Harvard University has sent a letter to the Permanent Representative of Iran at the United Nations expressing her concern regarding the systematic denial of access to higher education to members of the Bahá’í community in Iran.
The Daily Utah Chronicle published an article, From Iran to Utah, the passion for study burns, about the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran, and the denial of education to Baha’i students. They interviewed an Iranian Baha’i student who is now a sophomore at the University of Utah.
Some 300,000 Baha’is live throughout Iran, making the Baha’i Faith the country’s largest minority religion. The persecution of Baha'is in Iran has been taking place since the religion began there in the mid-nineteenth century. More than 200 Baha’is were killed in Iran between 1978 and 1998, the majority by execution, and thousands more were imprisoned.More
