Collateral Damage

The persecution of Baháí’s in Iran has spilled over to a high-profile non- Bahá’í citizen, an eminent personage no less than the 2003 Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. On April 14 the AFP reported that she had been receiving death threats pinned to her office building entry, signed by the “Association of Anti- Bahá’ís.” Ebadi is not a Bahá’í, so what’s their beef? Other groups in the country have been less than comfortable with her promotion of the rights of women and children, and her speeches made abroad on justice. But this group cites her “un-Islamic and “Bahá’í-based faith,” and include her daughter in these threats. Bahá’í-based? That’s a new one! Is this a reference to the Bahá’í principle of the Equality of the Sexes?
The Islamic Republic defends its record on human rights and its treatment of religious minorities, but it does not consider the Bahá’í Faith a religion but rather an apostasy of Islam, and therefore feels justified in denying the Bahá’ís the rights granted other minorities. The denied right currently receiving the most worldwide attention is that of higher education, and not only the Bahá’í Faith but campus groups around the globe and even the Presidency of the European Union are expressing their outrage and calling for justice. In America, a proposed bill from Illinois Congressman Kirk is gaining momentum and the American Federation of Teachers is expressing concern.

Ebadi has not been taking these threats as ideological rather than personal and has assigned a fellow colleague to defend her case.