A/HRC/37/68/Add.1
are provided for Baha’is as well. As it was said, their special sectarian educations are provided
by themselves and start from kindergarten and continue. According to educational rules and
regulations, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s higher education centers are obliged to cover all
Iranian nationals regardless of their religion, sect and inclinations. Based on Iran’s laws, no one
has the right of inspection of and inquisition about individual’s personal affairs.
Baha’i university students and graduates: given that there is no inquisition of beliefs in the
Islamic Republic of Iran, there is no exact statistics about the number of Baha’is who are
graduates of and students in Iran’s universities. In some occasions, the presence of some
Baha’is has been found out by chance. For example: Ms. SaminHusseini, Ms.
BasimehKamjoo, Mr. RoozbehZohdi, Ms. Ferial RahimianKhormazard, Ms. Roshanak Safi
Ardestani and Ms. NedaSattarnejadOskooyi. The presence of tens of Baha’is in all levels of
higher education (BA, MA, and Ph. D.) in Iran’s universities is a confirmation for the fact that
individuals are not treated based on holding a certain belief. It should also be noted that the
presence of even one Baha’i in Iran’s higher education centers rejects all the false allegations.
About the scientific information provided in the historical programs of the media, it must be
noted that historical and documented realities cannot be altered based on the desires of sects
and individuals. The mentioned allegation is similar to omit the name of Hitler and his party as
the beginners of the World War from historical books in order to prevent insulting the Nazi
party. What is prepared in the programs of Iran’s media is based on the theories of historians
and researches; they contain no insulting words and include purely historical and scientific
information.
Investigating incidents and historical documents is of the requirements of freedom of
expression. Criticizing views cannot be against the international criteria of freedom of
expression, particularly when the criticism contains no insulting words. Considering the
records of the one hundred years long cooperation of Baha’ism with the tyrant Shah and the
SAVAK1, no restriction can be set for the statement of history. Moreover, official centers have
always tried to direct criticisms toward the past history or deviant ideas of sects and to exclude
individuals. On the other hand, the responsibility of the ideas expressed by individuals lies with
themselves; particularly members of the parliament have extensive rights to express opinions
about the issues of the state.
F. the sectarian structure of Baha’is in Iran
Based on Principle 19 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution, Iranian people, regardless
of their clan and tribe, enjoy equal rights. Additional to this, based on the twentieth Principle of
the Constitution, all people of the nation, whether man or woman, are equally protected by law
and enjoy all human, political, social and cultural rights according to the Islamic criteria.
On the strength of articles 12 and 13 of IRI’s Constitution, the official religion of the State is
Islam. Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian Iranians are the only recognized religious minorities
who are free to perform their rituals within the limits of law and act according to their religion
in their personal affairs and religious teachings.
Beside the mentioned religious minorities, the citizenship rights of followers of different sects,
including Baha’is, are observed. It is evident that the citizenship rights of individuals can be
observed if they perform their legal duties; since the validity of any right is conditioned by
performance of the mutual duty and this legal principle, i.e. the existence of a duty in return for
a right, is a known principle in most legal systems.
Given that inquisition of beliefs has been strongly prohibited in Islamic religious teachings and
as principle twenty three of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution stipulates, “it is
forbidden to enquire about beliefs and no one can be prosecuted merely because of holding a
certain belief”; despite numerous political and media propaganda, particularly by Baha’i
representatives, no individual is jailed or expelled from university only because he/she holds
certain beliefs.
The illegal and political Baha’i formation is administered by a hierarchical sectarian system.
The center of this organization is located in the Occupied Palestine and at the lower levels
there are the two main pillars, i.e. “continental counsels” and the “international community”.
These two pillars have very close relations with even lower levels such as the “friends of Iran”.
1
Organization of Intelligence and National Security; the secret police, domestic security and intelligence
service established by Iran’s dictator Shah.
31
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