A Human Rights Day forum at Northwestern University on Dec. 9 will focus on the treatment of members of the Baha’i faith living in Iran.
Co-hosted by Amnesty International and local Baha’i assemblies from Evanston, Wilmette and Chicago, it will feature talks by journalist and human rights activist Omid Memarian and University of Chicago professor Frank Lewis, as well as music and poetry. Organizers expect more than 500 people to attend the event, which will be held in the Alice Millar Chapel.
Speakers will address human rights conditions in Iran, with particular attention on the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who were sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2008 on charges that include espionage and propaganda.
With an estimated 5 million members, the Baha’i faith originated about 150 years ago in Persia, now Iran, according to the Baha’i Web site. About 170,000 Baha’is are located in the United States, with about 2,000 living in the Chicagoland area, according to Glen Fullmer, director of communications at the Baha’i National Center in Evanston. The Baha’i temple in Wilmette is one of only seven Baha’i temples in the world, and the only one in the United States.
Those who practice the faith have been the subjects of “intense persecution” in Iran, Fullmer said. While Baha’i is the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran with about 300,000 members living in Iran, it is not recognized by the Iranian government as a legitimate religion, he said.
“It’s a unique situation because it’s so systematic and government sponsored,” Fullmer said. “These seven prisoners are the tip of the iceberg. Baha’is (in Iran) are unprotected infidels. They’re not really people under the law.”
Fullmer estimated that close to 200 Baha’is in Iran have been executed for their religious beliefs. And although public outcry and international pressure has curbed those executions, Fullmer said the Iranian government still finds ways to oppress Baha’is.
“It’s clear they are carefully watched,” he said of Baha’is in Iran. “Intelligence agencies know who they are and where they are. They’re not permitted to do anything in public. At any moment, they can be rounded up and thrown in prison.”
About 20,000 Iranian Baha’is live in the United States, with maybe 100 or so living in the Chicagoland area, Fullmer said.
“They risked their lives to cross the mountains into Pakistan or Turkey to escape,” he said.
Those attending the forum will receive information on how to assist Amnesty International through petitions and letter-writing campaigns aimed at raising awareness of human rights violations in Iran.
“People may not realize how powerful ordinary citizens are,” said Elise Auerbach, a University of Chicago faculty member and an Iran specialist for Amnesty International USA.
“The more people speak out, the more the Iranian government will start taking us seriously and do something about it,” she said. “The Iranian government is sensitive to international criticism. They don’t like being the bad guy.”
The Evanston forum is free and open to the public. It will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at the chapel, located at the corner of Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue.
