Baha'i News: UN investigator who revealed Iran's "Baha'i Question" memorandum dies aged 93

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UN investigator who revealed Iran's "Baha'i Question" memorandum dies aged 93
http://news.bahai.org/story/879


SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, 10 January 2012, (BWNS) – Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, a 
noted legal scholar who uncovered significant evidence of human rights 
violations in Iran in the late 1980s and early 1990s, passed away here last 
Thursday.

A prominent diplomat and professor of law, Prof. Galindo Pohl was well known 
internationally even before his 1987 appointment as the United Nations 
Commission on Human Rights' Special Representative on Iran. He had served as El 
Salvador's UN ambassador and was also – among other posts – the director of 
legal affairs for the Organization of American States.

But in the field of human rights, his eight years as Special Representative 
were particularly significant, principally for a series of reports that 
authoritatively documented the intense, often brutal, violations committed by 
Iran against its own citizens.

In 1990, for example, Prof. Galindo Pohl cited numerous interviews and 
documents to expose the Iranian government's extensive use of execution and 
torture, and lack of judicial safeguards.

"The Baha'i International Community wishes to express its deep condolences over 
the passing of Professor Galindo Pohl, whose impact and influence in the field 
of human rights will long be remembered," said Diane Ala'i, the representative 
of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"His tireless efforts to interview victims, their families, and others with 
direct or inside knowledge of the kinds of violations that the government hoped 
to keep secret became an essential feature of his reports to the UN Commission 
on Human Rights. These were critical in calling the world's attention to the 
brutality of the regime at the time," said Ms. Ala'i.

Prof. Galindo Pohl's 1993 report to the Commission was notable for its 
disclosure of the so-called "Baha'i Question" memorandum, a previously secret 
1991 letter – issued by the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council – that 
established a national policy for dealing with Iran's Baha'is, setting limits 
on their educational, economic and cultural activities.

"The public release of this memorandum was extremely important," said Ms. 
Ala'i. "It documented how the highest levels of the Iranian government had 
devised a plan to completely block the development of the Baha'i community in 
ways that would draw less attention than the executions and imprisonments 
carried out in the 1980s – but which would still eventually result in the end 
of the Baha'i community as a viable entity."

Prof. Galindo Pohl visited Iran three times during the course of his mandate 
and, on those visits, often boldly challenged Iranian authorities by conducting 
interviews in prison or with individuals that the government otherwise sought 
to prevent from meeting with him. He was also known to be scrupulously fair, 
reporting the extensive inquiries he made of Iranian officials – and also their 
responses.

Born 18 October 1918 in Sonsonate, El Salvador, Prof. Galindo Pohl was a 
graduate of the University of El Salvador, where he obtained a doctorate in law 
and social sciences. In 1950, he was elected President of the National 
Constitutional Assembly. He also served as Minister of Education from 1950 to 
1956. From 1960 to 1964, he was a member of the Inter-American Commission on 
Human Rights.






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