Iranian Spiritual Assembly

The first spiritual gathering of Iran

From the beginning of the revolution to the middle of 1980, members of the National Spiritual Assembly were continually harassed. In March 1358, Dr. Hussein Naji, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly, sent a telegram to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, President Abolhassan Banisadr, the Revolutionary Court Attorney General, Ayatollah Ali Ghodousi, and the Central Organization of the Medical System, in which several attacks on his residential home were armed And described his wife's arrest. He asked for advice on how to stop these violations. The complaint was not much considered.^[4] Each nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly, along with two Continental Consultative assistants, were arrested at a meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly at a private home, arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members on August 30, 1980, without legal due diligence.^[5] The families of the disappeared have persistently pursued the case since the disappearance of these individuals by Bahman Bahman in 1359, during a meeting with the Attorney General, Ayatollah Ghodousi, the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti and the Speaker of the Majles, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. In a meeting on September 19, 1980, Rafsanjani confirmed that he had ordered the arrest of eleven Baha'is, but said that members of the family of the prisoners could not meet with them to complete the interrogation process. However, on March 17, 1359, Rafsanjani changed his mind and argued that the government had not arrested any members of the clerical organization, and instead attributed the disappearance of the Baha'is as unacceptably to an independent group.

The fate of nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly and two undeclared continental council assistants remain. Although there are reports that these people have been detained in Evin Prison for a short time, no news of them has been obtained since September 7, 1980, and now all are considered deceased.

The Second Iranian Spiritual Meeting

Shortly after the disappearance of the members of the first national clerical assembly, Bahá'ís gathered to elect new members of the National Spiritual Assembly. The members of the second National Spiritual Assembly were all aware that they might have the fate of their predecessors.

The authorities quickly put the new members of the circle at the center of attention. Amnesty International reported that on December 22, 1981, Iranian authorities arrested eight members of nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly at the house of the believer.

The arrested were: Mehdi Amin Amin, Jalal Azizi, Ezatollah Foroughi, Jinous Nemat Mahmoudi, Mahmoud Majzoub, Ghost Allah Rouhani, Cyrus Roshani and Kamran Samimi. Mr. Momen and Farideh Samimi, the wife of Kamran Samimi, the secretary of the circle, who helped with the reception, were also arrested. Amnesty International issued a memorandum of urgent response and demanded a protest by post and telegram directly to the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, Deputy Prime Minister, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and the Attorney General, Mehdi Rabbani Ameshchi, and requested information about the whereabouts of the detainees. , Was. Amnesty International also called for protests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Interior Minister.

On December 6, 1981, eight of the nine members of the second Iranian national clerical assembly were executed without trial. After the initial denial of these executions, Ayatollah Ardabili, the new head of the judiciary, eventually announced that eight of Baha'is were executed for spying for foreign powers. Ardebili told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that no religious motive was the reason for the executions. Late that same month, Ayatollah Mohammadi Gilani, head of the Revolutionary Courts of the Center, justified the death of the members of the second national clerical assembly as saying that membership in the Baha'i community was synonymous with spying for colonial organizations.

Although the executions were not officially announced, the Baha'is succeeded in discovering the burial places of the bodies of the Kafrīn Khavaran cemetery. Some bodies were buried in mass. The daughter of Jonas Nemat Mahmoudi, reported that some families were forced to pay the first cost of bullets spent on executions in order to know where the bodies of their loved ones were.

Third Iranian Spiritual Meeting

On September 7, 1982, the Revolutionary Prosecutor General, Seyyed Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, banned all Baha'i community activities in Iran. It ordered the dissolution of the third national clerical assembly and about 400 local clerical congresses. Membership in any organization or activity that encourages religion for non-Baha'is was severely prohibited. The government justified the issuance of this order by claiming that the Baha'i militants and conspirators were involved in spying activities.

In an interview, the government affiliate, Mousavi Tabrizi, the Attorney General of the Revolution, said: "They spy on others for provoking and disrupting certain things ... These issues have prompted us to immediately announce that all activities Collective and organizational forms of Baha'is are prohibited in Iran and so far prohibited, and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the constitution have not recognized these "

Before the National Spiritual Assembly accepted the ban, he wrote to Iranian leaders in rejecting the allegations against the government. This letter points to harassment of Baha'is in the Islamic Republic and called on the Iranian people, the Islamic government and God to recognize their human rights. This letter was the last act of the National Spiritual Assembly before their rights as Iranian citizens and as human beings of voluntary dissolution.

Despite the voluntary dissolution, authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran continued to harass and terrorize the former members of the national and local clerical and other administrative authorities throughout Iran, as well as those who signed the open letter in defense of the Baha'is. In mid-1362, more than 500 Baha'is, most of whom were former members of the congregation or associated with these members, were arrested without charge.

Over time, seven members of the 3rd National Spiritual Assembly were arrested and eventually executed by the government.

Fellowship of Iran

All Baha'i elected and appointed institutions in Iran were banned from 1983 (1362), and most members of the three clerics murdered the Baha'i Faith. In the absence of these circles, a temporary assembly called "Fellowship of Iran" was formed with full knowledge of the government to address the early affairs of the 300-member community of Baha'is in Iran.^[6]

Since 1983, all government officials have been aware of the existence of this group. In fact, in all these years, government officials regularly, though often informally, have been in contact with members of the delegation. The Baha'i community claims that it is said that Iranian supporters are an illegal group.^[6]

The last members of this group who have been responsible for managing the Baha'i community in Iran are:

• Fariba Kamal Abadi
• Jamalodin Khanjani
• Afif Naeemi
• Saeed Rezaei
• Behrooz Tavakoli
• Vahid Tizfam
• Mahvash Feshti

Six of them were arrested on May 14, 2008 at their home. The seventh, before the other members, was arrested on March 5, 2008 (March 15, 2007) in Mashhad. At present, the women of Fariba Kamal Abadi and Mahvash Sabet are in Evin Prison and gentlemen Naeemi, Khanjani, Tavakoli, Rezaei and Tirafam are in the Rajaishahr prison of Karaj.^[7]