Baha’is worried about Iranian community
The head of the Baha’i International Community, based in Haifa, said Tuesday that last week’s arrest of seven Baha’i leaders was the latest in an ongoing wave of persecution in Iran that has been escalating since the beginning of 2008.
“The latest incident is a ripple on the top of a wave,” said Albert Lincoln, secretary-general of the Baha’i International Community. “It is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Lincoln said that over the past few months, there have been numerous incidents of arson, threats, kidnappings and beatings directed at the Baha’i community of 300,000 in Iran.
“People’s houses and shops are being burned or bulldozed down, they are being kidnapped and beaten. Baha’i cemeteries are being plowed up, and members of the Baha’i community who have worked for the state of Iran for decades and are now retired are being asked to pay back the pensions they have received,” he said.
“Now there was this latest incident, the imprisonment of seven of our leaders, who were our primary source for information on what is happening there,” he went on. “Apparently, Iranian officials did not want anybody to know about the persecution.”
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman quoted by foreign media said the arrests were a judicial matter, but he did not give any further details.