Baha'i, Families Of Executed Prisoners Say Iranian Government Pressuring On Mass Gravesite

A group of families of Iranian political prisoners killed in the 1980s and Baha'is have launched a campaign condemning the Intelligence Ministry for pressuring Baha'i families to bury their dead in the mass graves occupied by prisoners executed in the 1988 massacre.

A group of the families on April 27 launched the Khavaran Perseverance Campaign, which rights activist Reza Moeini said aimed to prevent the government from erasing the memory of those executed and preserving the dignity of the deceased.

Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer and human rights advocate, said that the pressure to bury both groups together showed how the Baha'is are being oppressed by the government both while living and once deceased.

She noted the government's confiscation and demolition of Baha'i cemeteries called "Golestan Javid" in Tehran and other cities. Kar added that the Intelligence Ministry had, for the past two years, denied Baha'is permission to bury their deceased according to their own rites, even in areas adjacent to Khavaran.

The Khavaran cemetery in the east of the capital was traditionally a final resting place for members of religious minorities who were interred there to keep them separate from the graves of Muslims.

But following the mass executions, Khavaran became best-known as a secret burial ground for some of the thousands killed.

The graves at Khavaran are unmarked, and Tehran has for decades barred families of the dead from mourning there and punished those who left flowers and mementos.

The strict official stance has contributed to accusations that Tehran has attempted to cover up the killings of dissidents and religious minorities by death squads and has even desecrated the burial sites of victims.

Iran accuses Baha'is of having links to Israel, where the city of Haifa hosts a center of the Baha'i faith. Baha'i leaders reject the allegations and say they are used as a pretext to persecute members.

There are some 300,000 Baha'i adherents in Iran and an estimated 5 million followers worldwide.

In Iran, where their faith is not officially recognized in the constitution, its leaders say they face systematic persecution.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has on several occasions called the Baha'i faith a cult and, in a religious fatwa issued in 2018, he forbade contact, including business dealings, with followers of the faith.

Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, hundreds of Baha'is have been arrested and jailed for their beliefs. At least 200 have been executed or were arrested and never heard from again.

Thousands more have been banned from receiving higher education or had their property confiscated, while vandals often desecrate Baha'i cemeteries.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda