Religious minorities in Iran

There are several major religious minorities in Iran, while the majority and state religion is Shi'a Islam.cite web | url = http://www.fidh.org/asie/rapport/2003/ir0108a.pdf | author = Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de L'Homme | publisher = fidh.org | accessdate = 2008-05-19 | date = 2003-08 | title = Discrimination against religious minorities in IRAN|format=PDF] About 88% of all Iranians are Shi'is (this applies to all peoples of the country) and 8% are Sunni Muslims, 2% Baha'is, and more than 1% are Christians.cite web | url = http://lexicorient.com/e.o/iran_4.htm | title = Iran: Religions & Peoples | publisher = Looklex Encyclopedia | accessdate = 2008-05-20 | first = Tore | last = Kjeilen] Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are considered as People of the Book, and little oppression is reported. The Bahá'í Faith is outlawed and sometimes systematically discriminated and persecuted against, [cite book | title = Human Rights in Iran: The Abuse of Cultural Relativism | first = Reza | last = Afshari | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | id = ISBN 081223605X | pages = p. 122] but often tolerated.cite news | title = IRAN: Bahais rounded up | publisher = Los Angeles times | date = 2008-05-15| first = Borzou | last = Daragahi | url = http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/05/iran-bahais-rou.html | accessdate = 2008-05-19]

Religious minority groups

Islamic

Sunni Muslims (about 8% of the population - mainly among the Kurds of the north-west, the Balochis of the south-east, and the Turkmens in the north-east) are the largest religious minority in Iran.cite web | url = http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90210.htm| title = International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Iran | author = US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | year = 2007 | publisher = US State Department | accessdate = 2008-05-19] While no official statistics are available for Sufi groups, there are reports that estimate their population between two and five million. Some Sufi sects in Iran include the Nimatullahi (the largest Shi'i Sufi order active throughout Iran) and the Naqshbandi (a Sunni order active mostly in the Kurdish and Azeri regions of Iran).

Non-Islamic

In addition to the Islamic minorities in Iran, there exists multiple other religious minorities. They include the Bahá'í Faith (estimated 300,000-350,000), Christianity (estimated 300,000), Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeanism, Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq), as well as local religions practiced by tribal minorities. [cite encyclopedia |last= Halm |first= H. |encyclopedia= Iranica |title= AHL-E ḤAQQ |publisher=Iranica |url = http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/v1f6/v1f6a066.html] There are also people who describe themselves as Atheistic or Agnostic.

Historical status

Under the regime of Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, only Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism were considered officially accepted religions in Iran,cite journal | first = Janet | last = Afary | title = Civil Liberties and the Making of Iran's Constitution, Retrospectives on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1905-1909 | journal = Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East | publisher = Duke University Press | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | year = 2005 | pages = 341–359 | doi = 10.1215/1089201X-25-2-341] and adherence to any one of those religions was a requirement for any government or state position (at least in the application form).

Contemporary status

The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes only Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as official religions. Conversion from Islam to any other religion is considered apostasy and could result in criminal sanction. Legally, apostasy still retains a death sentence, but in recent years this law has not been used or enforced.

Sunni Muslims are accepted as fellow Muslims. In Article 13 of the Iranian Constitution, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians are recognized as "People of the Book" and they are granted the right to exercise religious freedom in Iran.cite book | first = Eliz | last = Sanasarian | title = Religious Minorities in Iran | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2000 | pages = pp. 73-84 | id = ISBN 0521770734] Sufis are considered Muslims by the Iranian Constitution, and granted the same rights as the other Muslims. However, the US State Department claims that there has been growing government restriction on Sufis' practice. Members of the Bahá'í Faith, Iran's largest non-Islamic religious minority, are not recognized by the Iranian Constitution as an official religious minority and are seen as heretics by the Shia clergy, and as a result, have sometimes faced systematic persecution,cite journal | first = Friedrich W. | last = Affolter | title = The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran | journal = War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 59– 89 | year = 2005| url = http://www.aa.psu.edu/journals/war-crimes/articles/V1/v1n1a3.pdf] but are often tolerated.

Reserved seats

After the Persian Constitutional Revolution, the Constitution of 1906 provided for reserved Parliamentary seats granted to the recognized religious minorities, a provision maintained after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. There are 2 seats for Armenians and one for each other minority: Assyrians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Given that the Bahá'í Faith is not recognized, they do not have seats in the parliament.cite web | author= Iran Human Rights Documentation Center | publisher = Iran Human Rights Documentation Center | title= A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Baha'is of Iran | date= 2007 | accessdate = 2007-03-03|url=http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/pdfs/Reports/bahai_report.pdf] Sunni Muslims have no specific reserved seats, but can take part in the ordinary election process at all constitutional levels. There are dozens of Sunni members of parliament, mostly from areas with strong Sunni ethnic minorities like Kurdistan and Baluchistan.

List of minority MPs in the last three Majlis:

	Armenians	Assyrian	Jewish	Zoroastrian
1996	Vartan Vartanian, Artavaz Baghumian	Shamshoon Maqsudpour Sir	Manouchehr Elyasi	Parviz Ziafat
2000	Leon Davidian, Georgik Abrahamian	Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh	Maurice Motamed	Khosro Dabestani
2004	Gevork Vartan, Robert Beglarian	Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh	Maurice Motamed	Kourosh Niknam

Foreign criticisms

Due to the restrictions or persecution of some religious minorities such as the Bahá'ís, the Iranian government has, like the government of the Shah, been severely criticized on multiple occasions by international human rights organizations, foreign governments and the United Nations. [cite book | title = Human Rights, the UN and the Bahá'ís in Iran | first = Nazila | last = Ghanea-Hercock | year = 2003 | publisher = Martinus Nijhoff Publishers | id = ISBN 9041119531] [cite web | url = http://www.amnestyusa.org/regions/middleeast/document.do?id=787C72C9B2B433B8802569A6006040A2 | author = Amnesty International USA | title = Iran: Serious Violations Continue amid Political and Religious Repression | date = 1993-11-23 | accessdate = 2006-10-20 | publisher = AI Index: MDE 13/11/93] cite book | title = EU Annual Report on Human Rights | url =http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/librairie/PDF/ENHR2004.pdf | date = 2004-09-13 | accessdate = 2006-10-20 | publisher = European Communities | location = Belgium | ISBN 92-824-3078-2|format=PDF]

Persecution of religious minorities

The persecution of Bahá'ís has been common throughout Iranian history. In the 1950s, under the regime of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, Bahá'ís and their holy places were attacked with tacit state approval. [ [http://www.bahai.org/article-1-8-3-7.html The Case of the Bahá'í Minority in Iran ] ] Since the Iranian revolution, more than 200 Bahá'ís have been executed or killed, hundreds more have been imprisoned, and tens of thousands have been deprived of jobs, pensions, businesses, and educational opportunities. All national Bahá'í administrative structures have been banned by the government, and holy places, shrines and cemeteries have been confiscated, vandalized, or destroyed [http://www.efsha.co.uk/farsi/photos/ghabrestan.htm] .

Even more recently the situation of Bahá'ís has worsened and the United Nations Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has stated on March 20, 2006, after revealing a confidential letter from Command Headquarters of the Armed Forced to identify Bahá'ís and to monitor their activities, that "The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this latest development indicates that the situation with regard to religious minorities in Iran is, in fact, deteriorating." cite web | publisher = globalsecurity.com | title = Iran: UN, U.S. Concerned Over Situation Of Baha'is | first = Golnaz | last = Esfandiari | date = 2006-03-30 |url = http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2006/iran-060330-rferl03.htm | accessdate = 2006-10-20] cite web | title = Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion of Belief concerned about treatment of followers of Bahá'í Faith in Iran | date = 2006-03-20 | accessdate = 2006-10-20 |first = Asma | last = Jahangir | publisher = Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights | url = http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/5E72D6B7B624AABBC125713700572D09?opendocument]

Similarly Christian minorities, particularly those formed largely from converts describe continuing harassment and occasionally persecution. Several members and church workers, most prominently Reverend Hussein Soodmand of Mashad and Rev Mehdi Dibaj were formally convicted of apostasy. Reverend Soodmand was executed by hanging. Many more ministers and leaders have been murdered under unclear circumstances (Bishop Haik Hovsepian, Rev Mehdi Dibaj, Rev Ghorban Tourani et al) (see also Christians in Iran)

Bahá'ís, or Christian converts from an Islamic background are considered heretics, enrollment in public university programs or work in government agencies or judiciary is not permitted, but can be achieved by wrongly identifying oneself or not declaring one's religion. [Discriminatory law and practices, in [http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/irn-summary-eng Iran] , Amnesty International report, 2005.] As practicing Bahá'ís do not generally lie about their faith as a matter of religious principle, some sources state that many Bahá'ís are therefore generally prevented from such participation. [cite web | title = The Plight of religious minorities | date = 2006-06-30 | author = Committee on International Relations] Some Bahá'í sources claim that since the early 1990s the government, through an "government circular" allegedly issued by the Supreme Revolutionary Council and signed by Khamenei, has allegedly organized methods to debilitate the Bahá'í community and block its development using more silent methods, while avoiding the most excessive types of persecutions..

Notes

See also

*Dr. Sapir Hospital and Charity Center
*Status of religious freedom in Iran
*Tehran Jewish Committee
*Ethnic minorities in Iran
*Zoroastrians in Iran
*Christians in Iran
*Judaism in Iran
*Manichaeism

External links

* [http://www.wfn.org/2004/08/msg00057.html Iran's Baha'is Kept Out of University in Human Rights Breach]
* [http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370046 Chris Zambelis, "Violence and Rebellion in Iranian Balochistan,"] "Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor," Volume 4, Issue 13, June 29, 2006.
* [http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373589 Iran's Challenges from Within: An Overview of Ethno-Sectarian Unrest] by Chris Zambelis
* [http://www.uga.edu/bahai/News/021600.html Reuters, Iran's religious minorities waning despite own MPs, February 16, 2000]
* [http://www.uga.edu/bahai/News/060201-1.html Agence France Presse, Islamic republic's non-Muslims stand behind Khatami, June 2, 2001]
* [http://www.zoroastrians.info/news/newsDetail.jsp?newsID=42 Associated Press, Iran O.K's Equalizing 'Blood Money', November 3, 2002]
* [http://216.239.51.104/search?sourceid=navclient-menuext&q=cache:http%3A//www.netiran.com/%3Ffn%3Dartd(107) Morris (Maurice) Motamed, A report on the activities of Iranian Jewish member of The Islamic Parliament, Ofegh Bina (Quarterly Magazine), Vol. 5, No. 21, Autumn 2003, pp.61-62]
* [http://216.239.51.104/search?sourceid=navclient-menuext&q=cache:http%3A//www.netiran.com/%3Ffn%3Dartd(600) Sergeh Barseqian, Interview with Armenian MP Leon Davidian, Yas-e-no (Daily Newspaper), No. 268, Jan. 31st, 2004, p.9]
* [http://www.iranhrdc.org Iran Human Rights Documentation Center]