Protest by a Number of Religious Intellectuals Against the Exhumation of Shamsi Aghdasi, a Baha'i Citizen

A number of religious intellectuals condemned the exhumation of Shamsi Aghdasi, a Baha'i citizen, as "strongly reprehensible" and described it as an act "against religion and ethics" and "anti-national" that "violates or undermines the solidarity of Iranians." According to the Zeyton website, the authors of this statement criticized the silence of officials, emphasizing that "the perpetrators and instigators of such a disgraceful act must be identified, arrested, publicly tried, and punished." The statement was signed by Abdolali Bazargan, Reza Alijani, Sedigheh Vosoughi, Hassan Youssefi Eshkouri, Soroush Dabbagh, Ahmad Sadri, Mahmoud Sadri, Hassan Farishtian, Mohammad Barghai, Mehdi Mokhber, Reza Behishti Moaz, Hossein Kamali, Yaser Mirdamadi, and Mohammad Javad Akbarin. The body of Shamsi Aghdasi, a Baha'i citizen, was buried on the second of Aban in the Gilavand region near Damavand, but four days later, her family was informed that her body had been found in the deserts around Jabaan in the Damavand district. Reports indicate that security forces had previously warned the Baha'is of Gilavand that they no longer had the right to bury their dead in this city. Previously, there have been reports of preventing the burial of several Baha'i citizens in various cities in Iran, including Tabriz, Kerman, and Ahvaz. In 2014, the global Baha'i community reported that local authorities had closed the Baha'i cemetery in Ahvaz and built a wall in front of it. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Documentation Center reported last year that the burial of at least 44 Baha'i citizens in the "Vadi Rahmat" cemetery in Tabriz had been prevented. According to this report, officials of this cemetery have prevented the washing and execution of other Baha'i religious rites and have buried the bodies of Baha'i citizens after several days and without prior notice to the family in the city of Miandoab, 170 kilometers from Tabriz. Since the 1979 Revolution, many Baha'i cemeteries have been destroyed, including the famous Golestan Javid cemetery in Shiraz, which was destroyed in 2014. Over the past 40 years, hundreds of Baha'is have been arrested, and some of them have been executed. In recent years, Baha'i citizens in Iran have faced not only arrests and prison sentences but also job restrictions, shop closures, and deprivation of education.