“Paralyzed and devastated” were the two emotions most keenly felt by Sasha Eskandarian, member of the Baha’i Faith and resident of Mississauga, upon learning that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have resumed their demolition of a historic Baha’i cemetery in her home town of Shiraz, Iran. “All my relatives are from Shiraz, both of my parents and close friends. All of my deceased relatives and even my younger brother, who died before I was born, are buried there.”
After pausing for several months in the face of international pressure and expressions of outrage on the part of Iranians from all walks of life, reports from Iran indicate that the Guards have now removed human remains from some 30 to 50 of the 950 graves of Baha’is in the cemetery, placing them in an open canal to make way for the construction of a new cultural and sports complex.
This recent development follows a public celebration of the demolition’s progress held by the Guards on 14 June. At this celebration, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards of Fars Province gave a speech attacking Baha’is and calling the Baha’i Faith a “foul,” “perverse sect.” The commander delivered his speech on a carpet laid over several Baha’i graves, which had been flattened by a steam roller prior to the celebration.
“The manner in which the Revolutionary Guards have gone about destroying these sacred grounds and, now, celebrating its demolition goes beyond the pale in terms of humane behavior,” said Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.
“Clearly, this latest action – a public celebration held upon the graves of innocent people – is an attempt by the Guards to justify to an increasingly outraged Iranian public the desecration of the cemetery and the treatment of Baha’is generally,” she said.
“We call on the government of Iran to immediately put a stop to this desecration, and we ask the international community to likewise voice its concerns about this outrageous development,” said Ms. Ala’i.
According to Ms. Ala’i, members of the Shiraz Baha’i community have pleaded with local authorities to enforce a permanent halt to the construction, proposing an alternative, in which the sports complex would be built on the site away from areas where Baha’is are buried, and the graveyard itself turned into a green space. The Baha’is have been told, however, that local authorities have no control over the Revolutionary Guards, who acquired the land about three years ago.