Baha’is in Canada are deeply concerned to learn that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have begun the excavation of a historically important Baha’i cemetery in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran. Among many Baha’is in Canada whose families came from Iran, a number have relatives or know of families with relatives who were buried in the cemetery.
The site contains the graves of more than 900 Baha’is, including the remains of ten Baha’i women executed by the Iranian regime in 1983. During the 1980s, the execution of the young women, and the story of one of them, a 17-year-old named Mona Mahmudnizhad, became a headline news story, and a Canadian-produced music video, “Mona with the Children,” captured the attention of an international audience. More than 200 Baha’is were killed at the height of the government’s campaign of persecution against the Baha’i Community, which is the largest religious minority community in Iran.
Owned and operated by the Baha’is of Shiraz since the early 1920s, the cemetery was confiscated by the government in 1983, at which time the grave markers were leveled and the main buildings destroyed. The recent excavation work is being carried out to build a new sport complex on the site.
This excavation work has commenced despite repeated appeals to municipal and provincial authorities from the Baha’is in Shiraz calling for protection of the graves. Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, has called for the “international community to raise its voice in protest at this disturbing act” even as some 40 to 50 trucks have arrived to accelerate the excavation work.
This recent attack is not an isolated act, as the Baha’i community is regularly persecuted by Iranian authorities. Baha’is are not permitted to bury their dead in civil cemeteries and are therefore forced to maintain separate cemeteries. These cemeteries, spread across the country, are often targeted for attacks. The members of this religious minority community, which is not recognized by the government, are also banned from pursuing post-secondary education and from positions in the public service.
Currently, more than 100 Baha’is remain in prison solely because of their religious beliefs. Among these are the seven leaders of the Iranian Baha’i community. These seven Baha’is are facing 20 years of imprisonment under false accusations, the most severe sentencing of any of Iran’s prisoners of conscience. This month marks the sixth anniversary of their incarceration.