wfn.org | Iran's Baha'is Kept Out of University in Human Rights Breach

["Brad Pokorny" <bpokorny@adelphia.net>]

PRESS RELEASE

The Baha'i International Community

Date: 11 August 2004

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact Bani Dugal (New York) 212-803-2500 / mobile:
914-329-3020 or Diane Ala'i (Geneva) +41 (-22) 798-5400 / mobile: +41 (-78)
-60-40-100

 

 

New Ploy by Iranian Government to Deprive Baha'is of Higher Education

 

Nearly 1,000 students told to enroll as Muslims or stay out of university

 

 

NEW YORK - In yet another clear violation of the human rights of the Baha'is
of Iran, nearly 1,000 Baha'i university-age students in Iran have been told
they must accept identification as Muslims in order to enter university this
year, the Baha'i International Community has learned.

 

Representatives of the Baha'i International Community heard yesterday about
the action, which involves pre-printing the word "Islam" in a slot listing a
prospective student's religious affiliation on national college entrance
examination results, which were distributed to students recently.

 

The move comes after Baha'i students were led to believe, through Government
pronouncements in the news media and private assurances, that their religion
would not be an issue on university entrance forms this year in Iran.

 

"The Iranian Government is, in effect, attempting to force Baha'i youth to
recant their faith if they want to go to university," said Bani Dugal, the
principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United
Nations.

 

"This action goes against all the assurances that Iran has been giving the
international community about its desire to respect religious freedom, and,
indeed, against international covenants on human rights to which Iran is a
party," said Ms. Dugal.

 

For more than 20 years, Baha'is have been banned from institutions of higher
education solely because of their religious beliefs - a violation that has
been condemned in numerous international human rights forums.

 

The Government's move effectively extends this ban, inasmuch as Baha'is, as
a matter of principle, do not deny their Faith.

 

In the past, entrance forms required that applicants list themselves as
followers of one of the only four religions that enjoy official recognition
in Iran - Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Zoroastrianism.  These being the
only choices given them, Baha'is, who refused to lie about their
affiliation, were excluded from university.

 

This year examination forms had no such slot for religious affiliation.
Instead, university applicants were merely asked to designate which of four
approved religious subject examinations - on Islam, Christianity, Judaism or
Zoroastrianism - they chose to take as part of overall university entrance
examinations.

 

Representatives of the Baha'i community were assured that by selecting Islam
as the subject for examination there would be no implication that the
students were members of that Faith.

 

However, according to reports from Iran, now that Baha'i students have taken
the exam, officials are saying that their action amounts to a de facto
declaration of faith in Islam. 

 

In that light, Baha'i students in Iran are unable to enter university, since
it would amount to a renunciation of their faith, and would be used by the
authorities as evidence of such renunciation.

 

"For more than a year, the Government has held out the promise that Baha'is
would, for the first time in some 20 years, be allowed to attend national
institutions of higher education," said Ms. Dugal. "Now, in what amounts to
a devious 'Catch-22', the Government is saying 'You can come, but you must
pretend you are a Muslim.' But that is something Baha'is cannot do. And the
Government knows that."

 

The Baha'i community of Iran, with some 350,000 members, is Iran's largest
religious minority. Since 1979, when the Islamic Republic was established,
more than 200 Baha'is have been killed, hundreds have been imprisoned, and
thousands have been denied education, employment and other rights in an
on-going episode of systematic religious persecution.

 

- end -

 

For more information, visit Baha'i World News Service at
www.bahaiworldnews.org