HRANA News Agency – A number of 20-year old trees in the Bahai cemetery of Urumiyyeh (Urmia) have been cut down with a chainsaw.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the destruction apparently happened on July 25, 2015. Continue reading “Trees Cut Down in the Bahai Cemetery of Urumiyyeh”
HRANA News Agency – Officials at the public cemetery in Tabriz, the Wadi-ye Rahmat cemetery, have refused to allow the burial of Mr. Maruwati, a Bahai from Tabriz who died on March 20, 2015.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), on the morning when Mr. Maruwati died, his family took his body to the cemetery for burial. Continue reading “Cemetery Officials in Tabriz Continue to Turn Away Bahais”
HRANA News Agency – The recent burial of a Bahai in Semnan, in the section of the cemetery reserved for Bahais, has revealed that new rules have been drawn up.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the family of the deceased was required to sign a commitment to follow six rules.
These stipulate that the Bahai gravestones may only show a name and the dates of birth and death, that the Bahais may not beautify the area around the graves with plants or build a wall around the Bahai cemetery, or erect new buildings around the facility where bodies are washed, that they may not have any words or images on the graves or in the cemetery, and that the Bahai gravestones must be level with the ground, without any raised portions.
Although the discriminatory conditions are regrettable, they do allow burials in accordance with Bahai rites. The situation in Tabriz is much worse. The bodies of Bahais have buried by the authorities, without being washed and without coffins, in the town of Miandoab, about 160 km south of Tabriz.
HRANA News Agency – For the past two months, the Bahai cemetery in Ahvaz has been closed and the small road leading to it has been blocked by a barricade of pre-cast concrete panels.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), thus far no official has been found who will admit responsibility. A month ago, the Bahais sought to bury a member of their community in the cemetery and were unable to do so. Continue reading “Bahai cemetery in Ahvaz sealed off”
