Who is Mr. Rowhani?
The Baha`i Question — The Ongoing Threat of Execution
Bahá’ís International Community (copyright 2008)
SINCE 1978, more than 200 Bahá’ís have been killed or executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most were killed in the early 1980s, before international attention was focused on the crisis.
Although in recent years the government has sharply reduced its killing rate, it continued occasionally to execute Bahá’ís through the late 1990s. The most recent execution of a Bahá’í in Iran was in July 1998, when Ruhu’llah Rowhani was hanged in Mashhad.
Nevertheless, the threat of execution or killing still looms large for Iranian Bahá’ís, who remain without recognized legal status in Iran.
A number of Bahá’ís in recent years have been held in prison under the sentence of death, for example. Fortunately, international pressure has helped to convince Iranian authorities to commute or reduce those sentences.
Ruhu’llah Rowhani, a father of four and an active Bahá’í during his entire life, suffered through the indignities of religious persecution throughout much of Iran’s recent history. In 1984, Mr. Rowhani was arrested and imprisoned for more than a year, during which he was tortured, according to relatives. He was subsequently released but then was arrested a second time in the mid-1990s. The charge was apparently related to his volunteer work at purely religious activities, such as prayer meetings and children’s classes. He was released after 24 hours.
In September 1997, however, the medical supplies salesman was arrested for a third time, and placed in solitary confinement in Mashhad. Mr. Rowhani had been accused of “converting” a woman from Islam to the Bahá’í Faith. The woman, however, denied that she had converted; she explained that her mother was a Bahá’í and that she herself had been raised as a Bahá’í. She was not arrested.
Mr. Rowhani was kept incommunicado for the duration of his imprisonment and no information is available regarding his treatment in prison. There is no evidence that he was accorded any legal process, and no sentence was announced. It appears certain that he was not allowed access to a lawyer.
On 20 July 1998, someone from the Iranian Intelligence Department telephoned a Bahá’í in Mashhad stating that Mr. Rowhani was to be executed the next day. Initially, this statement was not believed, as Bahá’ís in Iran have received similar calls previously in apparent attempts to frighten them.
The next morning, the family was called, told to come to the prison to collect Mr. Rowhani’s body, and given an hour to bury him. Rope marks on his neck indicated he had been hanged.
In addition to these government-sponsored executions, Bahá’ís have also recently been killed under circumstances that indicate continuing disregard for Bahá’ís as individuals who deserve protection under the law.
Bahá’ís International Community (copyright 2008)
SINCE 1978, more than 200 Bahá’ís have been killed or executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most were killed in the early 1980s, before international attention was focused on the crisis.
Although in recent years the government has sharply reduced its killing rate, it continued occasionally to execute Bahá’ís through the late 1990s. The most recent execution of a Bahá’í in Iran was in July 1998, when Ruhu’llah Rowhani was hanged in Mashhad.
Nevertheless, the threat of execution or killing still looms large for Iranian Bahá’ís, who remain without recognized legal status in Iran.
A number of Bahá’ís in recent years have been held in prison under the sentence of death, for example. Fortunately, international pressure has helped to convince Iranian authorities to commute or reduce those sentences.
Ruhu’llah Rowhani, a father of four and an active Bahá’í during his entire life, suffered through the indignities of religious persecution throughout much of Iran’s recent history. In 1984, Mr. Rowhani was arrested and imprisoned for more than a year, during which he was tortured, according to relatives. He was subsequently released but then was arrested a second time in the mid-1990s. The charge was apparently related to his volunteer work at purely religious activities, such as prayer meetings and children’s classes. He was released after 24 hours.
In September 1997, however, the medical supplies salesman was arrested for a third time, and placed in solitary confinement in Mashhad. Mr. Rowhani had been accused of “converting” a woman from Islam to the Bahá’í Faith. The woman, however, denied that she had converted; she explained that her mother was a Bahá’í and that she herself had been raised as a Bahá’í. She was not arrested.
Mr. Rowhani was kept incommunicado for the duration of his imprisonment and no information is available regarding his treatment in prison. There is no evidence that he was accorded any legal process, and no sentence was announced. It appears certain that he was not allowed access to a lawyer.
On 20 July 1998, someone from the Iranian Intelligence Department telephoned a Bahá’í in Mashhad stating that Mr. Rowhani was to be executed the next day. Initially, this statement was not believed, as Bahá’ís in Iran have received similar calls previously in apparent attempts to frighten them.
The next morning, the family was called, told to come to the prison to collect Mr. Rowhani’s body, and given an hour to bury him. Rope marks on his neck indicated he had been hanged.
In addition to these government-sponsored executions, Bahá’ís have also recently been killed under circumstances that indicate continuing disregard for Bahá’ís as individuals who deserve protection under the law.