Killing of Baha’is to be commemorated

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 4

Killing of Baha’is to be commemorated

Members and friends of the Baha’i community will meet in Christchurch on Sunday to commemorate the execution of 16 of their followers in Iran last week. Ten women and six men were hanged in Shiraz after being subjected to long periods of interrogation pressuring them to recant their faith. When this failed they were put to death, said a New Zealand Baha’i

spokesman. Since Ayatollah Khomeiny became the leader of Iran, Baha’i followers have been actively persecuted. It was believed about 130 had been executed since 1978. The Baha’i faith differs from Muhammadanism, the chief religion of Iran, in that Baha’i believes that all prophets contain the essence of one God and each one is made to suit the needs of the age, while Muhammadanism believes that Muhammad was the

last of the prophets and therefore judges the followers of Baha’i as heretics. With 350,000 members, the Baha’i faith is Iran’s largest religious minority. The 16 people executed ranged in age from 18 to 54. Some of the women killed were the mothers and daughters of the six men put to death. Some New Zealand Baha’is had had friends exe-

cuted since the killings began, the spokesman said. Many Iranians living outside their country were afraid to express their opposition for fear of retribution to family and relations still in Iran. Baha’i communities have asked the New Zealand Government to protest about the executions. Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations are also trying to stop the killings.