U.S. State Department
Daily Press Briefing
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1998
Briefer: JAMES P. RUBIN
[First question after brief opening announcement]
QUESTION: Jamie, there are credible reports of a severe round-up of
Baha'is in Iran. While you're looking for moderation in Tehran - we're
told that 32 professors and teachers, who already were barred from
teaching in universities and schools, but were teaching their own people,
have been rounded up in 14 cities. And you know sometimes that isn't the
end of it - they sometimes get killed. And I wonder if you could confirm
that and if there's anything the State Department's got to say on this
subject?
MR. RUBIN: Yes. It's not only the round-up, but the imminent prospect of
a death sentence that concerns us. We understand that two individuals of
the Baha'i faith currently in prison in the Iranian province of Khorasan
have had their death sentences confirmed and are in imminent danger of
execution for nothing else than the free exercise of their religion.
The two individuals were arrested in October 1997 for violating a ban on
religious gatherings. The United States urges the government of Iran to
exercise restraint and not to carry out these death sentences.
As you know, in July the United States strongly condemned the Iranian
Government's execution of a Baha'i charged with converting a Muslim to
the Baha'i faith. As you indicated in your question, we are also aware of
other recent official acts of persecution against the Baha'i, including
the arrest of 32 faculty members of the university operated by the Baha'i
community, as the Islamic republic does not allow Baha'i's to enroll in
public universities. We have urged publicly, and will continue to urge
publicly, that the government of Iran protect members of the Baha'i faith
and we have also urged the government of Iran to ease restrictions on the
practice of religion and to recognize and uphold the fundamental human
right to freedom of conscience and belief. We've urged that in the past
and we are urging it again today.
©Copyright 1998 by United States State Department.
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