PRESSURES ON BELEAGUERED FRIENDS OMINOUSLY INCREASING. IN ISSUE LE MONDE NO. 11009 TUESDAY 24 JUNE IN ARTICLE ABOUT IRAN BEGINNING FRONT PAGE ENDING SIXTH PAGE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS MADE "... LE VENERABLE AYATOLLAH (SADOUGHI) A INVITE FOULE DES FIDELES A 'CHASSER LES BAHAIS QUE VOUS CONNAISSEZ DE TOUTES LES ADMINISTRATIONS ET DE LES LIVRER AU PARQUET REVOLUTIONNAIRE.' LA PEUR S'EST EMPAREE DE LA COMMUNAUTE BAHAI (ENVIRON CINQUANTE MILLE PERSONNES) ET POUR CAUSE, LES PROPOS DE L'AYATOLLAH SADOUGHI ONT ETE REPRODUITS DANS LE QUOTIDIEN INGUILAB ISLAMI (ORGANE DU PRESIDENT BANI-SADR) LEUR DONNANT AINSI UNE DANGEREUSE PUBLICITE. UNE VAGUE D'ARRESTATIONS DE BAHAIS A COMMENCE A DEFERLER DANS DEUX VILLES: A YAZD ET A CHIRAZ.
"DIMANCHE 22 JUIN, ETELAAT PUBLIE UN COMMUNIQUE DE L'ASSOCLATION ISLAMIQUE DES FONCTIONNAIRES DE L'ETAT EXIGEANT ENTRE AUTRES LE RENVOI DE TOUS LES EMPLOYES DES CONFESSIONS BAHAIES EN LEUR INTERDISANT DESORMAIS D'EXERCER TOUTES ACTIVITES REMUNEREES."[1]
SUCH PRONOUNCEMENTS AND COMMUNIQUES CAN BUT PROVOKE EASILY EXCITABLE PASSIONS LEAD TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES FATE INDIVIDUAL BAHA'IS INFLICT UPON MEMBERS OPPRESSED COMMUNITY UNTOLD SUFFERINGS PARTICULARLY ON OCCASION HOLY DAY CURRENT MONTH SHA'BAN AND MONTH RAMADAN ENDING MID- AUGUST. …[2]
Universal House of Justice
[1] The English translation of the quotation from Le Monde is as follows: "... the venerable Ayatollah [Sadoughi] invited the mass of the faithful to 'hunt out the Baha'is throughout the public services and deliver them to the revolutionary prosecution department.' Fear has gripped the Baha'i community (about fifty thousand persons), and with good cause. The remarks of the Ayatollah Sadoughi have been reproduced in the daily paper Inguilab Islami (organ of President Bani-Sadr), thus giving them dangerous publicity. A wave of arrests of Baha'is has broken out in two cities: Yazd and Shiraz.
"Sunday, 22 June, Etelaat publishes a communique of the Islamic Association of Civil Servants requiring, among other things, the dismissal of all employees who are of the Baha'i religion, prohibiting them henceforth from practising any remunerated activity."
[2] The fifteenth day of the month of Sha'ban is believed to be the birthday of the Twelfth and Hidden Imam, who, according to, the teachings of Shi'ah Islam, was the last in the series of successors to the Prophet Muhammad. There are two holy days during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting-the nineteenth, which commemorates the day the Imam Husayn was wounded on the battlefield of Karbila, and the twenty-first, which commemorates his death.
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’)
