"She sat alone in the dark, she held her knees tightly to her chest in a manner of a baby in its mothers womb. She pulled her knees ever so tightly with each sound she heard. Sounds of thunder, loud thunder they were, no these sounds were not that of the coming rain, they were the punishers." -- Excerpt from The Ground I Walk On
On Aug. 24, 2013, these punishers shot Mr. Ataollah Rezvani in the back of his head and threw his body in his car where he was found on the outskirts of the city where he lived, Bandar Abbas, Iran. These punishers clear motivation of this horrific murder was because he was a Baha'i.
Who are the punishers? They are the regime of Iran. They have killed mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children, but to them, they were nothing, nothing at all.
Did you know that the Iranian Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council (ISRCC) drew up a secret memorandum to suffocate the Baha'i community systematically as Hitler did to the Jewish community? This document was found out in 1993, in a report provided by UN Special Representative Reynaldo Galindo Pohl.
The document translation specifically calls for "Iran's Baha'i's to be treated in such a way that their progress and development shall be blocked."
Before the memorandum, The Revolutionary Guardsmen demolished a sacred pilgrimage site 'The house of The Báb in Shiraz' and they built a Muslim Mosque in its place.
After, it was clear and evident that the Baha'i's were to suffer innumerable consequences. In 2004, there were more sacred buildings destroyed, several cemeteries demolished and places of worship have been banned and their properties confiscated and vandalized. Thousands have no jobs, pensions and are denied education.
The remainder of the memorandum states that the government "keep the Baha'i's illiterate and uneducated, living only at a subsistence level, and fearful at every moment that even the tiniest infraction will bring the threat of imprisonment or worse."
There are over 100 Baha'i's imprisoned in Iran, and thousands more are facing discrimination and denied education. According to the Baha'i International Community to date, at least nine Baha'i's have been murdered or died under suspicious circumstances and another 52 have been physically assaulted, both by government agents and unidentified attackers without prosecution.
The Baha'i's are in danger and it is clear and evident that Iran wants them to be quietly eliminated!
Iran has denied the Nazi Holocaust and they are systematically playing host to a new one by their continuous persecutions of Baha'i's.
This week Iran's President told CNN's Christiane Amanpour "... that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis committed towards the Jews, as well as non-Jewish people, was reprehensible and condemnable as far as we are concerned." And during his United Nations speech he said, "every issue can be resolved through moderation and rejection of violence."
President Rouhani's words are without a tangible promise and no real mention about Human Rights. According to a sacred scripture in Islam, the Quran clearly reminds us the importance of justice which are:
"God commands justice and fair dealing..." (Quran 16:90)
"O you who believe, be upright for God, and (be) bearers of witness with justice!..." (Quran 5:8)
"We sent Our Messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Book and the Measure in order to establish justice among the people..." (Quran 57:25)
What is the agenda of the Supreme Leader? Why is the president really in the U.S.? Will he put action into thought and release the hundreds of religious prisoners in Iran? Why don't I just ask him? Well, I did just that! I sent President Rouhani an email and simply asked... "When will you release them?"
I'll post his response as soon as I receive one.
What is the Baha'i Faith?
Baha'i 's believe that all humanity is one family; that men and women are equal; all prejudices must be extinguished; individuals must investigate truth independently; science and religion are in harmony; economic problems are linked to spiritual problems the family and its unity are crucial; there is one God and all major religions are sent from God and World peace is vital!
For more information about the persecution of Bahá'í's, please visit this site.
A hui hou kākou