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Baha’is have ‘no civil rights’, Iranian cleric close to Hassan Rouhani decrees

boroudjerdi

Iran’s Baha’is minority have no civil rights in the regime because their beliefs are contrary to Islam, a senior cleric close to Hassan Rouhani has decreed.

Mohammad Mousavi-Bodjnordi – head of Iran’s civil rights watchdog – told the state-run Fars news agency: “The Baha’i belief is contrary to Islam. In Iran, Baha’is have no civil rights and in particular, they do not have the right to study.”

Instead, civil rights are defined as in line with the beliefs of former Supreme Leader and founder of the clerical regime Ali Khomeini, Mousavi-Bodjnordi said.

Mohammad Mousavi-Bodjnordi is a member of “combatant clergy” a clerical body that descibes itself as ‘moderate’. Hassan Rohani appointed Mousavi-Bodjnordi as a member of this group to define “civil rights” shortly after he became president of the clerical regime.

Earlier this month, a senior regime cleric also called for all Baha’is to be expelled from the southern city of Rafsanjan because they are ‘unclean’ and doing business with them is ‘forbidden’.

Friday prayer leader Abbas Ramazanipour told officials in the city on December 2: “The Baha’is are considered unclean based on decrees issued by religious leaders. This sect has created many problems in the city and they should not be here.”

The Iranian regime has stepped up suppression of Baha’is in recent months with frequent arrests and interrogations. Recently in the city of Orumieh, Iranian Baha’i citizens Farahnaz Moghaddam and her husband Fardine Aghsani were each sentenced to three years in prison, and Baha’i Neda Forsati was sentenced to six months in prison. Prior to this, three other Baha’is in the same city were also arrested and imprisoned.