Baha’is

With a Mass Trial, the Persecution of Baha’is in Yemen Continues Unabated

The Baha’is, among them eight women and a teenage girl, face charges which can carry the death penalty in Yemen, including espionage apostasy. Making matters worse, this later chapter comes after hate speeches by Houthi leaders have incited violence against the community in the war-torn country.

New Delhi: The Baha’i community in Yemen is once again stuck in a fresh nightmare – on September 15, 24 Baha’i’s were indicted at a court hearing in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sana’a.

The pattern is familiar and the charges – ranging from espionage (being agents of the UK, the US or Israel) to apostasy – as absurd and irrational as they have been in the past. Not surprisingly, at the time of the hearing, only the judge, prosecutor and other court officials were present. The Baha’is being charged were not told about the session in court, nor were their lawyers informed.

Among those being charged are a teenage girl and eight women. Many of those who have been locked up hold leadership positions in the Baha’i community in Yemen.

The next hearing is scheduled for September 29. The charges are punishable by death.

“We are seeing trumped up charges and flagrantly unfair proceedings used to persecute Yemeni Baha’is for their faith,” said Lynn Maalouf, head of Middle East research at Amnesty. “It is particularly abhorrent that some of these men and women could face the death penalty for their conscientiously held beliefs and peaceful activities.” Maalouf said, calling for their immediate release.

“The charges are extremely alarming and mark a severe intensification of pressure at a time when the community is already being threatened and the general humanitarian crisis in the country requires urgent attention,” said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the UN.

“We have every reason to be concerned about the safety of the Baha’i community in Yemen. We urge the international community to call upon the authorities in Sana’a to immediately drop these absurd, false and baseless accusations against these innocent individuals who have been maliciously charged simply because they have been practising their Faith,” Dugal said.

In January, when Hamed Kamal Muhammad bin Haydara was sentenced to public execution by the specialised criminal court in Sana’a, he too was not allowed to defend himself against the charges that had been hoisted on him, which ranged from “insulting Islam” to “apostasy” and urging Muslims to “embrace the Baha’i religion”. At present, he is among six other Baha’is who have been in jail for more than a year. According to reports, the official charges against some of the current prisoners include ‘showing kindness to the poor’ and ‘displaying good behaviour’.

Hamed Haydara wasn’t even allowed to attend his own sentencing. Credit: Mwatana for Human Rights

Dozens of others have also been arrested and released in recent years. In August 2016, armed men stormed a Baha’i community workshop and arrested 65 people.

The UK has condemned the mistreatment of the Baha’i community by Houthi rebels in Yemen. “The persecution of members of the Baha’i community in areas of Yemen under Houthi control due to their religious beliefs is a serious violation of international human rights law,” Britain’s special envoy for freedom of religion and belief, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, said on Monday.

‘We will butcher every Baha’i’

The accusations against the 24 Baha’is also comes on the back of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi authorities openly inciting violence against the community.

In a televised speech earlier this year, the leader of the Houthis vilified and denounced the Baha’i faith.

Abdel-Malek al-Houthi denounced the Baha’i faith as “satanic”, and stated that it was “waging a war of doctrine” against Islam. He urged Yemenis to defend their country from the Baha’is and members of other religious minorities under the pretext that, “those who destroy the faith in people are no less evil and dangerous than those who kill people with their bombs”.

In the aftermath of the speech, the hate being spewed against the community turned up a notch. A prominent Houthi strategist tweeted that “we will butcher every Baha’i”. From the Mufti of Yemen, Shams al-Din Muhammad Sharaf al-Din, to prominent writers and news websites, many reiterated the speech and encouraged acts of violence.

Making matter worse, the ministry of information proceeded to hold workshops to train Yemenis active on social media on “how to respond to the war of doctrine waged by the Baha’is”.

Past, present, future

In Yemen, which, according to UN, is the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world” with more than 22 million people – three-quarters of the population – “in desperate need of aid and protection”, the Baha’i community has witnessed increased harassment since 2014 under the watchful eye of Tehran. From hate speeches, arrests, false imprisonment and even a death sentence, the community has been hit by a maelstrom of ill-will.

The government also announced the dissolution of all Baha’i administrative bodies in Yemen. More than one source has confirmed that Iranian authorities are directing efforts to persecute the Baha’is in Yemen.

“The manner in which the Houthis are targeting the Baha’i community in Yemen is eerily reminiscent of the persecution of Baha’is in Iran in the 1980s during which leaders of the Baha’i community were rounded up and killed,” Bani Dugal said.

Founded by Baha’u’llah in late-19th-century Iran, the Baha’i faith has been under attack since when it was learning to take baby steps. One of the founders of the faith, known to his followers as the Bab, was executed by a firing squad in 1850 at the age of 30. Over 2,000 of his early believers were massacred.

The cruelty towards the Baha’is has not abated since then. They’ve been targeted for being “heretics”, “enemies of Islam”, and “a depraved sect”, and subjected to waves upon waves of attacks.

In June 1983 in Iran, ten women and girls were hanged in Shiraz for refusing to give up their faith. Three days earlier, the authorities had executed their husbands, sons and fathers. Over the years, many members of the Baha’i spiritual assemblies have been rounded up and imprisoned or summarily executed.

On August 7, 2010, seven members of the Yaran, the leaders of the Baha’i spiritual assemblies in Iran, were sentenced to 20 years each in prison on fictitious charges which included espionage, propaganda activities, against the Islamic order and spreading “corruption on Earth”.

But steadfastly holding on in the face of persecution, the Baha’i faith has managed to spread around the globe. There are over six million Baha’is around the world, including 2,000 in Yemen and more than 100,000 local Baha’i communities, including in India.

The Baha’is, despite being among the most persecuted religious minorities in the world, pride themselves in being a universal religion, espousing kindness and peace. As Baha’u’llah’s said: “The Earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”

The latest developments only serve to prove that the international community must come together, as various rights groups have advocated time and again, to assist the Baha’i community in Yemen before the world is made to witness another genocide and bow its head in shame.

Amending the Citizenship Act: The Modi Government Needs to Think Beyond Hindu Votes

If the religious persecution of minorities was the actual reason to grant them citizenship, why does the policy fail to acknowledge the persecution of minority Muslim groups in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and China?

If the religious persecution of minorities was the actual reason to grant them citizenship, why does the policy fail to acknowledge the persecution of minority Muslim groups in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and China?

Representational Image. Credit: Reuters

With the government set to release amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955, to be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of parliament, there is a need to delve critically into the political issues raised by the proposed changes.

Since 2014, the government has been working on facilitating granting Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have faced persecution in their home countries. The move to amend the Act comes in response to a 2012 petition by two NGOs, which pleaded that Hindu and other minorities who migrate to India from Bangladesh to escape religious persecution must not be bracketed with illegal migrants and sent back to that country under the Assam Accord. In 2013, the matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court and became a national issue, with the bench observing that the problem of religious minorities coming from Bangladesh was not confined to Assam alone.

Making amendments to the Act became a major electoral plank during the 2014 general elections, as well as in the run up to the 2016 Assam assembly polls. In early 2015, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah declared that “some Hindus have come from Bangladesh due to religious disturbances. The BJP will give all of them citizenship once we come to power in Assam next year”.

Although this policy is meant to benefit religious minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is mainly geared towards consolidating a Hindu organisational base for the BJP. This became apparent when the BJP refugee cell urged the government to expedite the Citizenship Amendment Bill for Hindu refugees and to start granting citizenship to them under Section 18 of the Act. Although international norms under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention accord refugee legitimacy to those fleeing their home countries due to humanitarian crisis, by targeting only Muslim-majority countries the government’s policy subverts the varied status of cross-border refugees. Moreover, the move comes under suspicion as India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.

If the BJP refugee cell’s proposal is accepted, it will close the doors to migrant minorities, including Hindus, who might want to enter India for reasons other than religious persecution, thereby facilitating the cell’s formation of a data-record and public opinion about ‘Islamic atrocities’ perpetrated on Hindus migrating from countries like Bangladesh.

The proposal is akin to Israel’s Law of Return that allows only migrant Jews to return and settle in Israel. The Law of Return is based on a model that clearly seeks to send out a message of aggressive, reactionary nationalism, which perceives itself to be under siege from other communities. It is a move that violates the policy of pluralism and co-existence on which the constitutional practice of the Indian polity is based.

The proposal is also polarising in its logic, since it also subverts the ground of religious persecution by specifically targeting the Muslims only. If the religious persecution of minorities was the actual reason to grant them citizenship, why does the policy fail to acknowledge the persecution being faced by minority Muslim groups, such as Ahmadiyas and even Shias? The move is in keeping with the government’s exclusivist foreign policy and will lead to further exacerbation of tensions in the region.

Besides, India is already on a sensitive footing with Pakistan in the aftermath of the botched-up joint Pathankot probe, and its quest to better its bilateral relations with Bangladesh and Afghanistan will not be helped by legalising a policy that institutionalises the status of these countries as religious aggressors. The policy would also violate the government’s own ‘neighbourhood first’ policy. If the protection of religious minorities is indeed the target of the proposed policy, why does it not target other neighbouring countries such as Myanmar and China, where, respectively, Muslim, and Muslim and Buddhist, minorities are persecuted?

While it is easy to stoke fires of nationalism through an agenda of facilitating citizenship for Hindu minorities, does the government have answers about the future it wants to ensure for these citizens? The answer remains fraught with dark corners. Currently, Hindus who flee widespread persecution from Pakistan suffer a new set of challenges in India, from having to establish their identity to struggling for a better life, with many of them living on minimum wages in refugee camps without any sanitation or infrastructural facilities. Beyond the populist changes targeted at electoral victories, the government needs to seriously think about ensuring future justice for the groups it mobilises, lest it risks losing their support altogether.

Garima Maheshwari is a researcher at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies.

Baha’i Burial Ground Vandalised, Hand of BJP Sarpanch Alleged

This is the first time the tiny religious minority has been subjected to violence and intimidation in India

The entrance to the Baha’i burial ground in Jaipur. Credit: Special Arrangement

Jaipur: The 20,000 strong Baha’i community of Rajasthan is visibly in fear ever since their Jaipur burial ground – the only one they have in the state – was violently attacked and vandalised by a vigilante group allegedly led by the local BJP leader and sarpanch on October 30.

The group of 50-60 miscreants not only beat up the chowkidar but broke parts of the under-construction prayer hall. They broke his mobile phone and ransacked the guard room, kitchen and toilet. The group also attacked the labourers working on the site.

“This is the first time in India that such an attack has happened to the peace-loving, apolitical Baha’i community”, said Niyaz Alam Anant, chairperson of the burial ground management committee. His father, Ashfaq Ahmad Anant, a well known writer, was the first to have been buried there after the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) allotted 10,560 square metre of land to the community in 2002 in Ram-ji-ki-Nangal village on the outskirts of Jaipur near Sanganer Airport for establishing a burial place.

This is the only burial place of the community in Rajasthan, the largest state of India. The last Bahai who was buried there last month was Pundit Prakash Narayan Mishra, a writer, whose was body was brought from Kota, 250 km from Jaipur. The community’s population in the state is around 20,000.

The Baha’is have been coming to India since 1850, making the country their home and constituting one of the smallest religious minorities, pointed out Kavita Srivastava, president of the People’s Union For Civil Liberties, Rajasthan, a human rights organisation that has taken up their cause. “They have never before seen this kind of intolerance and aggressive behaviour towards them in the country.”

Representatives of Jaipur’s 1000-strong Baha’i population appeared before the media on Saturday to describe what happened. They said that Nathu Jangid, sarpanch of the village, had spearheaded a campaign against the burial place. This forced Rajesh Meena, treasurer of the local Spiritual Assembly of the community, to register an FIR with the Sanganer Sadar police station on October 30.

The community representatives pointed out that Jangid won his election on the ground that he would get the burial place removed and get it replaced by a school playground.

Land allotted by government

One of the considerations for choosing the location for the burial ground was that it was adjoining the cremation ground of the village, Anant pointed out.

The JDA’s Land and Property Committee in its resolution of August 8, 2002 not only decided to allot the land for the burial place but also resolved to build a boundary wall around the premises. Accordingly, the boundary wall was constructed by the authority while handing over the place to the community. Copies of the related letter of the JDA to the community and the resolution are with The Wire.

Since the land, being close to National Highway-12 (Jaipur-Jabalpur), had become very valuable over the years, the sarpanch decided to communalise the issue and get the land back, Srivastava alleged. Consequently, he motivated the tehsildar of the JDA, Juhi Bhargava, to stop construction of the prayer hall. Bhargava then gave a report to her superiors that on “orders” she would carry out demolition, Srivastava charged.

Though JDA officials with whom the Baha’i representatives met on October 28 had told them there was no dispute over the title of the land, the community temporarily stopped the construction.

According to the FIR the Baha’i representative filed with the police, Tehsildar Bhargava visited the burial place following a complaint by the sarpanch and advised the community to take proper permission from the JDA before going ahead with the construction of the prayer hall. In the Baha’i tradition, the hall is also needed for bathing the dead bodies and other pre-burial rituals.

The tehsildar also advised the Baha’is to come to her office to file their application for permission, Anant said. The community representatives complied with her instructions and stopped the construction work, he added. Before they could approach the JDA, however, the burial ground was attacked, he said.

Build up to the incident

The under-construction large prayer hall that was damaged in the incident. Credit: Special Arrangement’

The Baha’i representatives in a joint statement pointed out that during the sarpanch election campaign, Jangid was heard promising the villagers that he would get the burial ground demolished. On certain occasions he called the community ‘Muslim’ while on others ‘Christian’. “Since Baha’is, as a rule, don’t participate in party politics, we ignored the campaign”, the statement said.

“After the elections, the sarpanch’s men, from time to time, started threatening and intimidating the chowkidar. One day, the sarpanch, accompanied by some JDA officials, demanded that we produce the allotment letter for the land. This was shown to them. Despite this, he organised a series of village meetings for getting the burial place removed. But when chowkidar was threatened and told to leave the place or else face dire consequences, some Baha’is met Jangid to appeal for peace. He assured them that the chowkidar would no longer be harassed and that he would resort to legal remedy, to which we agreed,” the statement said.

The PUCL sees this incident as one more instance of the growing intolerance across India and as evidence of “state support for right wing groups”. The confidence of these vigilante groups is very high as there is direct or indirect state support, Srivastava alleged. “Even while the press conference was on, the chowkidar was threatened by the ‘villagers’ that he would not be spared if he gave their names (to the police).”

The PUCL says the police diluted the relevant sections while lodging the Baha’is’ FIR. Simple sections of unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint, mischief and trespass were applied, leaving out section 295 A – deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. Section 297 dealing with trespassing on burial places too was left out. Incidentally, the sarpanch was at the police station when the FIR was being lodged.

The PUCL has demanded the immediate arrest of the sarpanch and other attackers. It has also demanded that the role of the tehsildar be examined and conspiracy sections be applied. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje must publicly reassure the Baha’i community of its safety and security and justice in this matter and their burial place must not be disturbed, Srivastava said.

Jangid, an active member of the ruling BJP, told The Wire that as the villagers’ sarpanch, he was with their demand of replacing the Baha’i burial ground with a school playground. The matter had already been taken up with the chief minister, he said. If required, the courts would be approached for shifting the burial ground which, according to him, was illegally allotted to the Baha’is.

Referring to the October 30 incident, the sarpanch said that the chowkidar had annoyed a few youth returning from a cremation by refusing to offer them drinking water.

India has been associated with the Baha’i faith right from its inception in 1844, since one of the first 18 people who recognised and accepted the Bab, the forerunner of Baha’u’llah, was from India. Today, over 2 million Baha’is representing the great diversity of the Indian nation live in every state of the country in over 10,000 localities, according to the official website of the Baha’is of India.

The Baha’is have been persecuted in some Islamic countries, notably Iran, on the grounds that theirs is not an independent religion but apostasy from Islam.