225. Destruction of the Old Bahá’í Cemetery in Shiraz

225

Destruction of the Old Bahá’í Cemetery in Shiraz

1 May 2014

To selected National Spiritual Assemblies

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

225.1 The Universal House of Justice has directed us to convey to you the following information related to recent disturbing developments in the Cradle of the Faith and to request your assistance on an urgent basis as outlined below.

225.2 It has been brought to the attention of the House of Justice that in the past few days excavation work has begun in the old Bahá’í cemetery in Shiraz, where approximately 950 Bahá’ís are buried. Among those buried in this cemetery are the ten women who were martyred in 1983. Between forty and fifty trucks have been brought on the site to accelerate the removal of the earth. It is understood that the intention is to change the usage of the land, under a law permitting this where a cemetery is more than thirty years old, and to construct a building with garden space.

225.3 The 10,000 square-metre piece of land on which this Bahá’í cemetery is situated had been in the ownership of the Bahá’í community of that city since the 1920s. In 1983, the cemetery was confiscated by the authorities, and its ownership changed on several occasions until three years ago, when the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the Province of Fárs announced itself to be the official owner. No development took place on the land until the beginning of April 2014. Since the excavation work began a few days ago, the local Bahá’ís have been requesting that, if it is absolutely necessary to change the use of the land, any construction be in the areas of the cemetery where there are no graves, and those parts where the graves are situated be turned into parkland. Numerous appeals have been made, either through the submission of letters or repeated visits, to the commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, the municipality of Shiraz, the Friday-prayer Imám, the governor of the city, Iran’s prosecutor general, and the head of the judiciary. All appeals, however, have gone unheeded, and to date all agencies approached have denied any responsibility for the destruction of the cemetery. In the submissions and representations made, the attention of those in authority has been drawn to the teachings in Islám pertaining to the prohibition against the destruction of graves and dishonouring the dead and to the country’s Islamic Penal Code which forbids the exhumation of the body of the deceased….

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

\