Destruction and Theft at the Bahá'í Cemetery in Mashhad Intensifies

Radio Farda has learned that over the past three years, the Bahá'í cemetery in Mashhad has faced "widespread theft and destruction," and responsible authorities have taken no action despite the arrest of suspected individuals in this regard. Informed sources told Radio Farda that part of the Bahá'í cemetery in Mashhad, known as Golestan-e Javid, which was forcibly relocated by the Islamic Republic authorities to a very remote area on the old Nishapur road since 2010, has become "ruined" due to numerous cases of destruction and theft. Previously, this cemetery faced many restrictions, including a ban on naming graves and using gravestones, lack of access to water and electricity, but destructive actions in this cemetery have increased over the past three years. In this context, items such as gardening tools, generators, water pumps, drilling tools, and even iron doors inside the cemetery have been stolen, and many parts of the mortuary building and other structures have been destroyed by unknown individuals. In the Bahá'í cemetery in Mashhad, which has repeatedly been damaged by equipment and tools, flowers planted, fences inside the cemetery, and some documents related to the information of the buried individuals have also been destroyed by unknown persons. Informed sources told Radio Farda that numerous reports and complaints filed with law enforcement have gone unanswered. Law enforcement and local officials have cited the cemetery's remoteness and "the location being far away" as reasons for their lack of follow-up; however, officials in Mashhad designated this site as a cemetery near the village of "Qashlaq," 30 kilometers from Mashhad in 2010, forcing Bahá'í citizens to bury their deceased in this remote location. In this regard, several suspects who were committing similar crimes in the area were arrested by Bahá'í citizens and handed over to the relevant police station, but these individuals were released without any judicial follow-up within a few hours. One local official told some citizens not to pursue individuals who continuously engage in destruction and theft in this cemetery and not to "drag out the matter." Evidence suggests that those who have been destroying this cemetery are using heavy equipment, including "milling and welding machines." Since the rise of the Islamic Republic in Iran, Bahá'í citizens have faced numerous restrictions regarding the burial of their deceased, and their cemeteries have repeatedly been destroyed by official government entities. In many cases, these actions have been carried out by "unknown individuals" or "fire-at-will" with the support of security and law enforcement forces. In recent years, the Bahá'í cemetery in Tehran has also faced restrictions from the Ministry of Intelligence, and in many cases, the burial of Bahá'í citizens' bodies in this cemetery has been prevented. Evidence, statistics, and reports received by Radio Farda also indicate that systematic pressure from security agencies, especially on Bahá'í citizens in Iran, has increased alongside the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests, at least in terms of security confrontations, discrimination, deprivation of basic citizenship rights, and direct pressure on detained Bahá'í protesters and activists. These repressions have seen an upward trend a year after the start of nationwide protests, and according to statements from Bahá'í activists inside the country, they continue. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, which works on victims of violence by the Islamic Republic, also reported in a research report this January that the actions of the Islamic Republic against followers of this religious minority could be considered "crimes against humanity."