Iranian Baha'is and Israel - Cry for Justice

BAHA'IS REJECT ALLEGATIONS OF SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY IN IRAN NEW YORK, 3 August 2008 (BWNS) -- The Baha'i International Communitycategorically rejects statements by an Iranian prosecutor that seven Baha'isdetained in Tehran have "confessed" to operating an"illegal" organization with ties to Israel and other countries. "We deny in the strongest possible terms the suggestion that Baha'is in Iran have engaged in any subversive activity," said Bani Dugal,principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the UnitedNations.

"The Baha'i community is not involved in political affairs.Their only 'crime' is the practice of their religion."

Ms. Dugal said..."Suggestions of collusion with the state of Israel are categorically falseand misleading. The Iranian authorities are playing on the fact that theBaha'i world administrative center is located in northern Israel," she said."The Iranian government completely ignores the well-known historical factthat the Baha'i Faith was centered in Iran until 1853 when the authoritiesthere banished the Baha'i prophet-founder, who was forced into exile andeventually imprisoned in Acre on the Mediterranean coast under the OttomanTurkish regime. That area happens to be in what is now Israel."

Ms. Dugal said "The Baha'is, have nothing tohide and try to answer truthfully whenever they are interrogated.