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Latest Updates: religious persecution RSS

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  johnpi 10:32 pm on February 5, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Charlie Flowers (3), cyber-bullying (3), cyber-terror (11), edl (8), English Defence League (15), English Defense League (10), English Democrat Party (3), fascism (10), fascists (6), internet attacks (5), Internet predators (6), intimidation (3), Joel Titus, Matthew Kaplan edl, racist morons (14), racists (43), religious persecution, stalking (2), UK (121), vigilantes (13), vigilantism (7)

  Several days ago I posted a photo from Internet vigilante Charlie Flowers’ Facebook page that i contended showed he had an English Defence League connnection. Richard Bartholomew looked at the same photo and thought I had made an ‘imaginative leap.’

  Flowers’ or one of his ‘Cheerleader’ associates has resolved the issue themselves by posting new photos to Facebook of Flowers meeting with EDL youth division leader Joel Titus, an activist with a history of violence who was recently arrested for assaulting a photojournalist, and Matthew Kaplan, who Bartholomew reports is the paid EDL publications coordinator responsible for leaflets and press releases.

  In comments to Bartholomew’s earlier post, Flowers’ or one of his supporters seems to have been most animated by the accusation that Flowers may be affiliated with or have affinity for racists or white supremacists. This latest photo seems a calculated response meant to subvert that conclusion. An anti-Fascist publication describes the mixed-race Titus as the figure the EDL “parades to the media as proof of their non-racist agenda.” Kaplan is a Jewish American student from Seattle, which supposedly rebuts the EDL’s reputation for Nazi affinities. Kaplan has appeared at several EDL demonstrations waving the Israeli flag. However the presence of minorities and Jews is hardly a defense. Racism and religious persecution are as much about who you exclude as who you let in.

  Flowers and his Internet vigilante friends the ‘Cheerleaders’ claim to be opposed to Islamic extremism, but they are actually against Islam and target Muslims indiscriminately, just as their fellow travelers in the EDL do, and there is no better evidence of that than the intimidation tactics they engaged in here at Talk Islam, publishing several front page contributors’ home addresses and sending mail to one blogger’s home. They have also repeatedly threatened me.

  None of those targeted – Hussein Rashid, Aziz Poonawalla or myself – could be described as anything other than moderate or progressive Muslims who have wrtten against extremism and religious violence.

   

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  johnpi 10:44 pm on January 19, 2010 | 13 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: colonialism (29), ethnic identity (5), ethnic relations (5), ethnicity (30), Malaysia (99), post-colonialism (8), postcolonial (6), Racism in Malaysia (9), religious persecution

  Root of the Malaysian controversy over ‘Allah’ may be in internalized British colonial prejudices that Malay Muslims are ‘precious flowers that need to be protected.’

  The British colonial rule of Malaya set precise ethno-religious boundaries, with a certain level of protection for the Muslim Bumiputra, which the independent nation, and its constitution and legislation, have ideologically maintained.

  Although there is clear evidence that the majority Muslim Malays have benefited from such privileges and closed the social and economic gaps with the other ethnic populations, particularly the Chinese, the continued reliance upon protectionist measures has helped to create a general feeling that these privileges are essential to maintain the equality of Muslim Malays vis-a-vis the non-Muslim Malaysians of other ethnic groups.

  This way of thinking is arguably an internalization of British colonial opinions, in which Muslim Malays were seen as admirable for their artistic ability and beautiful “heritage”, but otherwise lazy by nature, unadapted to business and childish in their way of being. To the British, these negative descriptions were not made as criticisms but rather as statements of ‘natural’ fact. Hence, to preserve and protect this population, the British implemented particular protections, which at the end proved to be counterproductive in many respects.

   
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  johnpi 8:15 am on January 10, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: christians (25), church (5), Malaysia (99), Muslim persecution of Christians (4), persecution (17), religious persecution

  Number of churches firebombed rises to six plus one convent school in Malaysia. AP reports ‘Christians defy church attacks.’

  Thousands of Malaysian Christians came out for weekly services Sunday despite three new attacks in a campaign of fire-bombings that has sent tensions soaring in the Muslim-majority nation.

   
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  johnpi 9:17 pm on January 7, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Malaysia (99), religious persecution, violence (161)

  Malaysian church fire-bombed ahead of Muslim protests.

  A church in Malaysia has been fire-bombed in an attack that gutted its ground floor, church officials said Friday, escalating a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

  A fire department official said all stations were on alert for more blazes at religious buildings, ahead of planned nationwide protests Friday by Muslim groups angry over the use of the word as a translation for “God” by Christians.

   
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  johnpi 12:22 pm on December 27, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Arrogance (3), diversity (10), diversity in religious practice (4), Divine intent, Extremism (166), Islamic civilization (2), koran (7), Mandeans, minorities (11), muslim minority issues (3), Muslim persecution (19), persecution (17), Quran (37), Religious Bigotry (5), religious discrimination (14), religious dissent (2), religious liberty (4), religious minorities (27), religious persecution, religious pluralism (2), religious tolerance (5), religious tyranny (4), secular (5), secularism (38), Terrorism (399)

  Bloodshed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir as a suicide bomber attacks Shiites. Five people dead, 81 wounded, 10 of them seriously.

  Earlier I blogged about the issue of minority victimization in Pakistan which seems to be finding its source and inspiration in strident Sunni Islam. The Spittoon has a blog post about minority victimization in the Middle East. It raises a fair question: What will be consequence to Islamic civilization if large segments of the Muslim population lose the experience of living respectfully with diversity?

  The Spittoon blogger accurately describes the situation now:

  Together with the Jews, Zoroastrians, Mandeans, Bahai, Yazidis, and other, smaller groups have all left the region that gave birth to all the monotheistic faiths. Those that remain have often been reduced to what one Christian commentator has called an underground, “catacomb” faith, recalling the persecuted faith of the Early Church.

  Anecdotally, I live near a large city in America that has a huge refugee population of Mandeans. According to Wikipedia, before the US overthrew the secular Saddam government, there were about 60,000 Mandeans in that country. Today, there are 5,000.

  The Quran speaks to diversity as well:

  …the Quran says: “O humankind, God has created you from male and female and made you into diverse nations and tribes so that you may come to know each other. Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous.” Elsewhere, the Qur’an reaffirms that diversity is part of the Divine intent and purpose in creation, and so it states: “If thy Lord had willed, he would have made humankind into a single nation, but they will not cease to be diverse…And, for this God created them [humankind].

  In answer to the question I posed, the consequence will be, I think, a devolution – not an evolution – of Islamic civilization as Muslim communities thwart Divine intent and are acculturated to arrogance and disrespect.

   
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  johnpi 11:40 pm on December 20, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: civil liberties (37), civil rights (42), deportation (5), discrimination (27), discrimination against Muslims (14), immigrant persecution (12), immigration (51), Muslim persecution (19), persecution (17), profiling (10), racial profiling (19), religious discrimination (14), religious persecution, religious profiling (13), US immigration (11), US Persecution of Muslims (2)

  A US appeals court has ruled that Muslims and Arab non-citizens have no right “to be free of selective enforcement of the immigration laws based on national origin, race, or religion….”

  The plaintiffs initiated the lawsuit in 2002 on behalf of Arab and Muslim aliens who were held on immigration violations following the Sept. 11 terror attacks and subjected to abuse, mistreatment and lengthy detentions.

  The abuse included beatings, strip searches and sleep deprivation. The allegations have been substantiated by two reports by the Office of the Inspector General.

  Five of the men settled with the government in November. A sixth plaintiff withdrew his claims several years ago.

  Rachel Meeropol of the Center for Constitutional Rights served as lead counsel for the plaintiffs. She called Friday’s ruling a “mixed bag.”

  “By dismissing [the equal protection] claim, the circuit has endorsed using religion and ethnicity as a proxy for suspicion of terrorist activity. That’s the part of the decision we’re disappointed in,” Meeropol said.

  Case ruling here.

  (via)

   
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  johnpi 7:22 pm on December 20, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Muslim persecution of Christians (4), Orthodox (4), orthodox church (4), religious persecution, secular (5), secularism (38), Turkey (65)

  A feature segment on the US national news show ‘60 minutes’ tonight looked at the status of the Eastern Orthodox patriarch – the leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide – who is located at the headquarters for the worldwide church in Istanbul.

  The report left a devastating impression that Muslim Turkey is working to destroy the leadership of the church – or at least undermine the church’s continued existence in that country where it was founded 1700 years ago – by closing the seminary where all future leaders of the church are trained.

  The reporter visited an Orthodox monastery that contains a letter that was written by the Prophet Mohammed himself (pbuh) instructing Muslims to protect the Christians in the monastery and to respect their faith throughout the world. The authenticity of the letter is not denied by Muslim scholars.

  However, the written story on ‘60 Minutes’ website presents the problem with Turkish authorities as arising from the state’s secularism, rather than Islam.

  Bartholomew finds the letter ironic. “I have visited the prime minister, many ministers, submitting our problems…asking to help us,” he tells Simon. But no help has come his way from the Turkish government, which prides itself on being secular and fears any special treatment for Orthodox Christians could lead to inroads by other religions, especially Islam.

  Nothing was mentioned in the televised report about secularism. The different impression between the two is so far apart that they cannot both be true. Which is it: Is the Orthodox church being persecuted by intolerant Islam, or by militant secular policy?

   
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  johnpi 9:51 am on November 3, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: immigrant persecution (12), Italian racism, italy (40), Muslim persecution (19), racism (201), racism in Italy, religious persecution, Silvio Berlusconi’s Superior Civilisation Watch (18), South Asians (8), Superior Sophisticated Civilisation Watch (25), violence (161)

  Due to the frequency of street violence against those identified as South Asians and Muslims in Italy, we need to create a new tag here at Talk Islam to categorize them since there are so many attacks. I haven’t been blogging them all, but I think it’s time to start. Any suggestions on a good short tag that describes the problem and/or might resemble the Google search of anyone trying to do research or reporting?

  Anyway, here’s the latest:

  Italy: Bangladeshi immigrant severely beaten on the outskirts of Rome, 30 arrested.

  The attackers were reportedly aged between 15 and 20 years of age. They were at a cafe across the street from the park when they spotted the migrants.

  A witness quoted by the Italian daily Il Messaggero heard them say “We must make these niggers disappear. We can’t allow these niggers to roam around Acilia any longer.”

  At that point the young men approached four Bangladeshi migrants who were sitting at a park bench.

  “You are a bunch of dirty people, we do not want you here in Acilia, you must all leave,” one of the young men reportedly shouted. “You dirty niggers we will show you that you have to do what we say,” said another one.

  Three of the immigrants reportedly ran away after being kicked and punched. One of the Bangladeshi migrants, Mohammed P. however, did not escape and was brutally beaten by the youths who surrounded him while shouting “Leave here you dirty nigger.”

  A witness called the police and the victim was quickly taken to hospital where doctors treated him for head trauma and a nose fracture.

   
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  johnpi 6:36 am on October 19, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: al Shabaab (39), al Shabab (43), foreign fighters (3), religious persecution, somalia (78), Sufis (10)

  Shabaab rebels destroy Sufi religious leader’s grave and mosque in Somalia.

  Witnesses said residents in the small town of Galhareeri tried to stop the al Shabaab fighters late Sunday, but the rebel gunmen opened fire in the air, forcing everyone to flee.

  “They destroyed the grave of Sheikh Ali Ibaar and our mosque. They also knocked down our Islamic university,” local elder Hassan Ali told Reuters by telephone from Galhareeri.

  “We are now just squatting among the trees on the outskirts of the town. We do not know where to flee.”
  ….

  Separately in the capital Monday, police displayed the body of a foreign gunman who appeared to be Arab and was killed Sunday during an al Shabaab attack on government forces.

  “You see this dead Arab. He was among the members of al Qaeda who came from other countries just to destroy Somalia,” police spokesman Abdullahi Barise told reporters, standing over the corpse of a light-skinned man with several bullets wounds.

  Al Shabaab have urged foreign jihadists to join their battle against what they describe as Somalia’s apostate government.

   
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  johnpi 10:57 pm on October 16, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 'Muslim spies' (12), bigotry (8), civic engagement, David Gaubatz (7), islamophobia (227), Muslim persecution (19), Muslims in Politics (5), politics of Muslim bashing (2), religious persecution, US Muslim political participation (4)

  Muslim ex-Bush official: ‘intern spy’ hunt threatens careers of good Americans.

  Suhail Khan has seen this happen before. He was working as a senior political appointee for the Bush White House through Sept. 11, 2001, until this past January.

  The same crowd of what he calls “professional bigots” — people, he says, like Frank Gaffney and Dave Gaubatz — have launched campaigns against specific Muslims working in the government, accusing them of terrorist sympathies.

  The only thing different about the call by four House Republicans this week for authorities to investigate alleged “infiltration” of the Hill by Muslim interns, Khan told TPMmuckraker today, is that “they’re not going after individuals by name.”
  ….

  Now the Fellow for Christian-Muslim Understanding at the Institute for Global Engagement, Khan says he thinks the types of charges made by the four Republicans this week could have a chilling effect on young Muslims considering careers in Washington.

  And the high-profile charges have an effect on the other side of the job equation, too. “Really what they’re trying to do here is to scare otherwise thoughtful members and chiefs of staff from hiring Muslims.”

  Discussing characters like Gaubatz, Khan is withering. “They’re MO is very insidious. They try to either smear Americans by guilt-by-association tactics, as they are in this case. Or they just kind of fear-monger by raising the specter of terrorism and extremism.”

   
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  johnpi 5:59 pm on October 15, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 'Muslim spies' (12), anti-Muslim fearmongering (41), anti-Muslim propaganda (27), David Gaubatz (7), fake Muslims (4), islamophobia (227), religious persecution, right-wing morons (71), secret agents (11)

  TPM has more on the author of the book that unleashed the Republican hysteria about “Muslim spies:”

  That would be David Gaubatz, a former Air Force investigator and Arabic speaker, who dispatched his son Chris to grow a beard and go undercover as a Muslim to obtain an internship at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Gaubatz, who has long warned about the threat of Islamism in the United States, has claimed that he found Saddam’s long-lost WMDs while in Iraq and has labeled Obama “Muslim” and a “self-admitted ‘crack head.’”

  Here’s a neat check list of teh Crazy of Gaubatz compiled by TPM:

  • He referred to “our Muslim leader” Barack Obama on his blog last year.

  • He has claimed that he personally found sites with Iraqi weapons of mass destruction when he was an agent with the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations in 2003. But the Syrians beat us to the punch on excavating the sites, Gaubatz claims, and the U.S. government suppressed the information to avoid the “explosive revelation of their own lethal incompetence.”

  • Just yesterday he wondered about Congress’ two Muslim representatives, “How much information do we have on Carson and Congressman Keith Ellison?”

  • According to Glenn Greenwald, Gaubatz in 2007 was focusing his time on creating “a comprehensive map of every mosque and Islamic school in the U.S” in order to determine which ones were preaching “Islamic law.” The Web site that explained that project has since been made private.

  • He said in September 2008 on a now scrubbed blog post at http://www.jihadishere.blogspot.com that: “We are now on the verge of allowing a self admitted ‘crack-head’ to have his finger on every nuclear weapon in America.”

  • He apparently has a history of faking conversions to Islam as part of his investigations.

   
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  johnpi 5:41 pm on October 15, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 'Muslim spies' (12), Andre Carson (4), anti-Muslim fearmongering (41), anti-Muslim propaganda (27), David Gaubatz (7), fake Muslims (4), islamophobia (227), John Conyers, John Shadegg (2), Loretta Sanchez, Paul Broun (2), religious persecution, right-wing morons (71), Sue Myrick (4), Trent Franks (2)

  TPM has been doing an excellent job of covering the response to the ‘Muslim spies’ accusation that four Republican reps. made yesterday, ie, that CAIR interns on Capitol Hill are actually “spies” who are somehow working against American interests in favor of a mythical Muslim collective. The four reps are Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.).

  First there were the strong denunciations that came from congressional Democrats Loretta Sanchez, Andre Carson and John Conyers. Carson called it “”fearmongering at its worst.” Here’s Sanchez:

  As a strong advocate for diversity and religious freedom, I find these claims to be outrageous and offensive. I urge the rest of my colleagues to join me in denouncing this witch hunt, which is clearly intended to create fear and distrust in our Capitol Hill community.

  Andre Carson, it turns out, was “infiltrated” by a fake CAIR intern who was actually the son of the author of a World Net Daily publication that incited the four Republican reps. to make their “Muslim spies” charge. The author is P. David Gaubatz, and his son is Chris. Here is a picture of Chris in his Muslim persona with Rep. Carson:

  

   
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  johnpi 5:45 am on October 15, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: chaplains (7), christianity (72), Islamic History (8), Obama (248), religious colonialism (4), religious history (4), religious persecution, religious practice (3)

  Obama’s new pastor views Islam as violent faith.

  More than a year after he was forced to disown his Chicago pastor, President Obama has begun to attend services led by a Christian chaplain who views Islam as a violent faith.

  The chaplain’s name is Cary Cash.

  Mr Cash calls Islam violent, a faith that “from its very birth has used the edge of the sword as a means to convert or conquer those with different religious convictions”.

  Cash, a chaplain in one of the first units to reach Baghdad, believes that a “wall of angels” protected his troops when they fought their way to the Iraqi capital in March 2003. During his deployment he baptized more than 50 servicemen. In his book, A Table in the Presence: The Dramatic Account of How a U.S. Marine Battalion Experienced God’s Presence Amidst the Chaos of the War in Iraq, Cash said of the mission: “Yes, our men were lost and separated. But our God was not confused. Just as He had from the very beginning of the war, He was providentially working all things together for the good of a cause that was just and true.”

  He added: “Sadly, grace is often absent in Islam, which is based upon binding religious law, requiring strenuous adherence to every tenet of the ‘Five Pillars of Allah.’

  “A religion that emerges from the soil of strict adherence to law as a means of gaining God’s favour will always tend toward extreme self sacrifice.”

   
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  johnpi 9:33 pm on October 13, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: India (174), Muslim persecution (19), religious persecution, Terrorism (399)

  Maoists draw attention away from Muslims in India.

  Muslim community leaders are a bit relieved — Maoists seem to have replaced Islamic terrorists as the country’s enemy No. 1.

  “We are glad the attention has shifted from Islamic terrorists to Maoists, at least for the time being. This will save many innocent Muslim youths from being picked up in the name of terror,” said Zafarul Islam Khan, president of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, an apex forum of Muslim organisations.

  “The Indian state took a long time to realise the potential threat posed by the Maoists as they were too busy with the so-called threat posed by Islamic terrorism. It’s a good sign as far as the Muslim community is concerned,” Khan, who also edits the magazine Milli Gazette, added.

  But Khan said the community was sympathetic towards the issues raised by the Maoists. “We don’t think the Maoists are anti-national…. Their modus operandi may be wrong but demanding land for the landless is no crime.”

   
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  johnpi 4:52 pm on October 13, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Hillel Stavis, j street (2), religious persecution, The David Project (4)

  Thug life: Richard Silverstein unravels the mystery behind the new website that attacks J Street, the liberal Jewish advocacy group. The likely creator is an unbalanced, violence-threatening David Project flunkie named Hillel Stavis.

  The David Project has a particularly egregious history of religious persecution against Boston-area Muslims.

   
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  johnpi 2:49 pm on October 13, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: al Shabaab (39), al Shabab (43), religious hatred (4), religious persecution, religious practice (3), somalia (78), Sufis (10), sufism (24)

  Feature article on Sufi communities resisting al Shabaab in Somalia.

  “Our Jihad is for the freedom of our religion and of Muslims’ property which Al-Shabab describes legal for them to loot,’’ Abu-Yusuf snappily said after taking a phone call from Mogadishu telling him that Al-Shabab executed two men for espionage.

  “They kill anyone who does not want their crazy ideologies and fake justifications,’’ he adds.
  ….

  In contrast to Al-Shabab, there are no strict religious punishments in the group’s strongholds such as, whipping, executions and amputations, rather people are being peacefully preached to practice the religion well.

  “The Sufis will forever be our religion’s clerics. They were the first ones to spread Islam in our country,’’ Somali educator Abdulle Nur told The Media Line by phone from Nairobi, Kenya.

  The central region of Galgadud is the only place in which Sufism was threatened as Al-Shabab forbade the performances of spiritual ceremonies in the region while it was under their control.

  But now the Sufis are in charge, and this time in Galgadud, Sufis are enforcing the law, patrolling the streets and implementing justice.

   
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  johnpi 11:36 am on September 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bangladesh (42), Muslim persecution of Christians (4), persecution (17), religious persecution

  Christians attacked by armed Muslim gang in Bangladesh.

  Armed Muslim gangs in Solepur, located close to Dhaka, have been targeting Christians for several weeks, forcing many members of the community to flee the area.

  Forced land sales and motorcycle thefts are rampant in the area and despite the incidents being reported, the police has done little to prevent the targeting of the minority community.

   
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  Kawthar 4:12 am on February 13, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Baha'is (5), hate speech (6), iran (364), religious persecution

  Clerics in Iran are inciting the public to attack Baha’is and burn their properties.

   
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  Kawthar 7:26 am on February 12, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Baha'is (5), iran (364), religious persecution, video (5)

  Yesterday, Iran announced that it will be trying 7 leaders of its Baha’i community for “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.”

  In addition to accusations that Baha’is are engaged in subversive activities, the list of allegations made against Baha’is includes:

  • Baha’is engage in incest
  • Baha’is wish to destroy the Kaaba and (my all-time favourite)
  • Baha’is use attractive women as “bait” to lure young men into converting.

  Months ago, we had created a video that summarises the persecution the Baha’i minority of Iran has been subjected to.