Hate Speech Against Baha’is in Iran
On July 8, 2022, the Baha’i International Community called “for the Iranian government to be held accountable for its campaign of hate speech against the Baha’is in Iran. In recent months, the four-decades-long state-sponsored campaign of hate speech and propaganda has reached new levels, increasing in sophistication and scale. This has provoked fresh concerns for the rights of the Baha’is in Iran, as history shows that flagrant violations of human rights often take place in a climate of hate and disinformation.”
In my search for news in Persian, I came upon a site called “Followers of the Wilayeh (We call it FOW, hereon), Call of Truth, or in Persian “اندیشهً برتر.” The simple meaning of the FOW is the followers of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, or to say it simpler, the followers of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The administration of the site introduces itself as “Vice-Chancellor of Promotion and Cultural Affairs of Seminaries,” introduces the site as; “This group is a spontaneous formation based on the need of the audience to publish religious knowledge and introduce the real face of Islam and Shiism in the Internet environment.” However, there is no information about Shiism. It is the continuance of high-budget websites created by the Shia seminaries in the past 43 years to spread lies and demonize the Babi and Baha’i Faith, Baha’is in Iran. And to mock the doctrines of the Baha’i Faith, like Great Peace and Unity of Humankind and harmony and compatibility of religion with science and reason.
This website was established on November 29, 2012. It contains a database of 7123 articles (2 per day for ten years) about how devious and deviated the doctrines, philosophy, and overall Baha’i Faith and Baha’is are. So far, I have found at least 20–30 such websites.
It is fascinating to understand the mentality of these seminaries and the Muslim Clerics that follow the leadership of Iran’s Supreme Leader. For example, if anyone wants to research the Baha’i Faith, would they ask a Shia cleric? This approach is like asking a Christian Prist about the validity of Islam or a Jewish Rabbi about Christianity. Shia Clerics have been spreading lies and demonizing Baha’is for over 180 years, and it has majorly intensified in the past 43 years.
