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Search for tag "Persecution, denial of burial"
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| 1981 5 Dec |
The Bahá'í cemetery in Tehran was seized "by order of the Revolutionary Court". Five caretakers and eight temporary workers were arrested and the cemetery was closed. [Mess63-86p510]
The Baha’i cemetery, known as “Golestan-i-Javid” – the Eternal Garden – was confiscated. Ten years later, the City of Tehran demolished the cemetery in order to build the Khavaran Cultural Complex. In accordance with Shi’a jurisprudence, the conversion for the purpose of so-called “improvement” of a cemetery is only permissible after 30 years, but in this case only ten years had passed. The construction of the Khavaran Cultural Centre required deep excavation and the disinterment of more than 1,000 bodies. The design for the sunken yard and the vast basement of this complex was in reality a modern solution to the doctrinal problem of cleansing the soil of the “contamination” of the “unclean” remains of Bahá'ís. During the excavation and recycling of the soil, the remains of the “non-believer” Bahá'ís were apparently used in the foundation for the road and a new overpass. [Iran Press Watch 11 June 2018]
For the historical background of the mistreatment of the dead in Iran see Iran Press Watch 19288.iiiii
Since the Bahá'ís have always been prohibited from burying their dead in Muslim cemeteries, the acquisition of burial grounds has been a major goal of the Bahá'í communities. From the earliest days, Bahá'í dead have been buried in their own private properties, in plots of land donated by individual Bahá'ís to the community as local endowments, or, where possible, in the community-owned cemeteries obtained by collective financial contributions of individual Bahais. A systematic process of acquiring separate Bahá'í cemeteries, however, was inaugurated in most Bahá'í communities in the 1920s and continued in later decades. Prior to the 1979 revolution, most of the principal Bahá'í centers had their own cemeteries run under the supervision of the local Spiritual Assembly. After the revolution most of them have been destroyed and desecrated. [BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati]
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Tihran; Iran |
Cemeteries and graves; Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Destruction; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution; Golestan-i-Javid; Eternal Garden; Khavaran Cultural Complex; Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2008 27 - 28 Sep |
The Bahá'í Cemetery of Isfahan, known as Gulestan-e Javid [Eternal Garden], was attacked by a certain group and some 2,500 trees and an irrigation system were destroyed. Windows of a hall at the end of the cemetery were broken and the walls were blackened by incendiary materials.
[Iran Press Watch 35; Iran Press Watch 48]
See youtube video. |
Isfahan; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2011 Aug |
As of this time the Bahá'í community of Tabriz had been prohibited from burying their dead in that city and the bodies were being transferred by intelligence officers to the city of Miandoab, in West Azerbaijan province some 175km away.
[Iran Press Watch 19720]
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Tabriz; Miandoab; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2012 Dec (mid) |
Sangesar’s old Bahá'í cemetery was thoroughly covered in soil and rubble by bulldozers and trucks and all the graves were covered by dirt and rocks so that no more graves could be seen.
[Iran Press Watch 19720]
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Sangesar; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2013 12 Dec |
After confirmation of a court order in Sanandaj and confiscation of the land belonging to the Bahá'ís which had been used as a cemetery, the site was demolished by a bulldozer.
[Iran Press Watch 19720]
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Sanandaj; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2014 Mar |
The Bahá'í cemetery in Ahwaz was closed and the alley leading to it was blocked by heavy cement blocks. No organization has accepted responsibility for this action.
[Iran Press Watch 19720]
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Ahwaz; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2016 14 Jul |
The Ghorveh Bahá'í cemetery, in the province of Kurdistan, was destroyed by government agents.
[Iran Press Watch 19720]
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Ghorveh; Kurdistan; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2018 15 Mar |
The Bahá'í cemetery in the city of Kerman was sealed by order of the Kerman judicial authorities and the burial of deceased Bahá'ís was prevented.
[Iran Press Watch 19720]
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Kerman; Iran |
Persecution, denial of burial |
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| 2018 24 Oct |
The body of a Bahá'í citizen, Shamsi Aghdasi Azamian, from Gilavand, a suburb of the city of Damavand was exhumed by unknown individuals several days after being buried in the Gilavand Bahá'í Cemetery and abandoned in the deserts of Jaban in the suburbs of that city. No individual or institution has accepted responsibility for this action, although security forces had told the Gilavand Bahá'ís earlier that they had no right to bury their deceased member in this place, and that they should perform burials only in Tehran. Her son refused to move the body but found that it had been taken to Tehran which is a distance of some two hours away. [Iran Press Watch 19720]
Subsequently, a group of progressive Muslims strongly condemned the “desecration and excavation of the grave of a Bahá'í compatriot.” In their statement the “systematic and deeply rooted denial of Bahá'í citizens’ rights” was denounced, and the violation of their citizenship rights was called a “hateful” act, “born of ignorant prejudice.”
The signatories of the statement called for an open investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and facilitators. The message can be seen at Iran Press Watch19731.
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Gilavand; Damavand; Iran |
Shamsi Aghdasi Azamian; Persecution, denial of burial |
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