Forty Years of Iranian Intolerance

by Denis MacEoin • August 7, 2019 at 5:00 am

What, one has to ask, does Iran's Islamic regime have to fear from the country's Christians, Baha'is, Zoroastrians, Sufis, Sunni Muslims, or Jews? Yet its treatment of these minorities is so repressive that it seems not unreasonable to ask if the clerics might be afraid of what they consider challenges to their fantasy of pure Islamic identity.
So why this persecution? Because they represent a challenge to the radical shari'a law doctrines of the clergy, who impose Ayatollah Khomeini's religio-politico system of Velayat-e Faqih (rule by the theocratic Islamic government).
"If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the punishment for apostasy, Islam would not exist today." – Islamic leader Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
The Iranian people who have been fighting for their freedom all these years deserve our immediate help.

What does Iran's Islamic regime have to fear from the country's Christians, Baha'is, Zoroastrians, Sufis, Sunni Muslims, or Jews? Yet its treatment of these minorities is so repressive that it seems not unreasonable to ask if the clerics might be afraid of what they consider challenges to their fantasy of pure Islamic identity. Pictured: The destruction of a historic Baha'i cemetery in Shiraz, Iran, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp. (Image source: Baha'i World News Service)

The regime that currently rules Iran was set up after a revolution in early 1979, and after forty years remains in power. It will have escaped no one's attention that relations between Iran and the West, notably the United States, have never been healthy and in recent months have deteriorated further.

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Pakistan: Abduction, Forced Conversion of Non-Muslim Girls

by Uzay Bulut • August 7, 2019 at 4:00 am

"The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reports that the police often turn a blind eye to reports of abduction and forced conversions thereby creating impunity for perpetrators. The police will often either refuse to record a First Information Report or falsify the information, thereby denying families the chance to take their case any further." — Report conducted in 2018 by the University of Birmingham's Commonwealth Initiative for Freedom of Religion or Belief, United Kingdom, 2018.
"Local police and political leaders... are often accused of being complicit in forced marriage and conversion cases by failing to properly investigate them. If such cases are investigated or adjudicated, the young woman is reportedly questioned in front of the man she was forced to marry, which creates pressure on her to deny any coercion." — Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2019.
"The most important reason for this [abduction and conversion] is the desire to increase Pakistan's Muslim population, which stems from the Islamic teaching that that a person who converts one non-Muslim to Islam will be granted a place in paradise." — Sardar Mushtaq Gill, Pakistani human rights lawyer and head of the Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD-Pakistan).
"The judiciary are often subject to fear of reprisal from extremist elements, in other cases the judicial officers' personal beliefs influence them into accepting the claims made that the woman/girl converted on her own free will." — Report conducted in 2018 by the University of Birmingham's Commonwealth Initiative for Freedom of Religion or Belief, United Kingdom, 2018.
"Higher authorities also have done little to nothing to pass legislation specifically criminalizing this issue....International pressure on Pakistan is an important element of seeking to end this abuse. Without motivation coming from outside the country, it is very unlikely the Pakistani government will listen to minority leaders and civil society to pass laws combating this issue." — William Stark, South Asia regional manager at the International Christian Concern.

On July 12, Hindus and Sikhs gathered in Pakistan's Sindh province to protest the kidnapping of young girls, their forced conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage to their abductors. Pictured: Karachi, capital of Sindh province, Pakistan. (Image source: Srsly/Wikimedia Commons)

On July 12, Hindus and Sikhs gathered in the Sindh province of Pakistan to protest the kidnapping of young girls, their forced conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage to their abductors. Demonstrators at the rally also railed against the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan for not safeguarding minority rights in the Muslim-majority country.

According a report conducted in 2018 by the University of Birmingham's Commonwealth Initiative for Freedom of Religion or Belief:

"Evidence provided by numerous NGOs, journalists and academics have shown that abductions and forced conversions are one of the most serious problems facing Hindu and Christian women and girls.

"Minorities often do not receive the protection required from state institutions and lack access to justice.

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