Persecution of the Baha'i Community

Right up until his final moments, Valiollah Toosky's thoughts were in Iran, with his students and colleagues at the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE).

His sister recalls in particular that, on the last day of his life, he was telephoning Iran from the United States where he had gone for medical treatment. Foremost on his mind was the arrest of fellow faculty members.

"Right at noon, the very last phone call he ever made, was to his colleagues in Iran," said Bahereh Smith. "His only concern was about how they were going to continue the BIHE. That was his last concern..."

A few hours later, 55 year old Mr. Toosky died, after a six month battle with brain cancer.

The series of raids carried out on some 30 homes of Baha'is, who were offering education to young community members barred by the government from university, is the latest action in Iran's ongoing policy to keep its largest non-Muslim religious minority on the margins of society.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Baha'is have been systematically deprived of higher education. With nowhere else to turn, the community initiated its own educational programmes.

"The Iranian authorities are clearly determined to make it impossible for the Baha'i community to educate its youth whose opportunities are blocked by the state," said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

A coordinated series of raids have been carried out on the homes of several Iranian Baha'is, active in a community initiative to provide a higher education programme for young members who are barred from university.

Reports indicate that raids took place on Saturday 21 May on as many as 30 homes in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, and Shiraz. It is now understood that some 14 Baha’is have been arrested.

"All of the targets were homes of individuals closely involved with the operations of the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education," said Diane Ala'i, representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

The injustice being faced by countless citizens of Iran has been highlighted around the world, as supporters marked three years since the arrest of the country's imprisoned Baha'i leaders.

In a message dated 14 May, addressed by the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of Iran, the jailed leaders were referred to as true prisoners of conscience. The letter also spoke of the numerous Iranian men and women who have accepted to face hardship for the sake of defending their freedom and human rights.