(RNS) A group of Iranian expatriate intellectuals has publicly apologized for what they said has been a century and a half of persecution of the Baha’is in Iran.
“Thousands of our countrymen have been slain by the sword of bigotry and superstition only for their religious beliefs,” said the Feb. 4 document entitled “We are ashamed!,” which was published on Iranian.com.
The letter contains 11 points of apology and describes some of the injustices they believe Baha’is have experienced under the Iranian government.
“We will no longer be silent when injustice is visited upon you. We stand by you in achieving all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights,” stated the apology.
The letter was signed by 42 Iranian professionals, including Ramin Ahmadi, co-founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and a Yale University professor; and Muhammad Sahimi, chemical engineering professor at the University of Southern California. None of the signers live in Iran.
Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, more than 200 Iranian Baha’is have been executed or killed, according to the Web site of the Baha’i International Community.
The harsh treatment of Iran’s 300,000 to 350,000 Baha’is has escalated during the last few years, according to the 2008 report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
In the past two years, dozens of Baha’is in Iran have been arrested under charges such as “causing anxiety in the minds of the public and of officials” and “spreading propaganda against the regime,” according to the report. Baha’is are barred from the military, denied government jobs or pensions and can’t own property.