Abadan
| آبادان Ábádán | ||
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| City in Iran | ||
 The Bahá’í Cemetery of Ábádán after being vandalized.
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| Location of Ábádán
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Abadan is a city in the Khuzestan Province of Iran. It is notable in the petroleum industry of Iran and is the site of the Abadan Refinery, one of the largest oil refineries in the world.
The city had a large and active Bahá’í community as of the 1950's which has faced persecution since the 1979 Revolution in Iran.
History[edit]
There was a well established Bahá’í community in Abadan as of 1927 and delegates representing the city attended the first National Convention of Iran in Tehran that year.[1] As of the late 1930's teaching work was reported to be progressing well in the city and receiving a positive response,[2] with travel teachers visiting the city at the direction of the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran.[3]
As of the early 1950's Abadan had a sizeable Bahá’í community with the Nineteen Day Feast being attended by hundreds. The city also had a Bahá’í Centre with a resident scholar, Saeed Razavi, who lived at the Centre in order to educate Bahá’ís on the religion. The city also had a Local Spiritual Assembly which was respected in the community.[4] Around the opening of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 many Bahá’ís in villages surrounding Abadan moved to the city to improve their economic situation and in order to prepare to pioneer internationally to serve the Faith.[5]
The Bahá’í community faced some opposition in Abadan with a newspaper publishing an article criticizing and denigrating the appointment of Bahá’ís to positions in the Abadan Education Department and oil industry in 1957,[6] and the Army directing the community to cease holding Bahá’í children's classes in 1966.[7]
The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran brought about intensified persecution of the Faith across the country and in 1979 members of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Abadan were attacked and Bahá’ís in the city faced harassment.[8] From 1982 to 1984 Bahá’ís working for the Ministry of Petroleum in Abadan were dismissed from their positions,[9][10][11][12][13] and Bahá’ís working for the Department of Education in Abadan were informed that they would be dismissed unless they recanted their Faith.[14]
In 2009 the head of a joint trade union in Abadan inquired with local law enforcement regarding producing Bahá’í jewellrey featuring the name of Bahá’u’lláh and was advised that it was illegal to buy or sell Bahá’í jewellrey.[15] The same year the Bahá’í cemetery of Abadan was destroyed by unknown individuals. The Bahá’í community appealed to the authorities regarding the vandalization, with the attack reportedly being conducted without legal authorization.[16] In 2010 Bahá’í Afsaneh Siadat-Hematabadi was arrested and charged with promoting the Bahá’í Faith in Abadan. The court noted that promoting the Faith was not technically illegal, but ruled that as the religion was in contrast to Shia Islam she was found guilty and sentenced to one years imprisonment or a fine of 10,000,000 rials and all Bahá’í literature and materials she owned were destroyed.[17]
In 2018 two Bahá’í owned shops in Abadan were shut down by the authorities because they closed on Bahá’í Holy Days.[18] On May 6 the same year three Bahá’ís of Abadan were arrested with their Bahá’í materials being seized. They were released on May 13 but arrested again the same day and imprisoned until being released on bail on May 30.[19] They were sentenced to one year in prison on charges of spreading propaganda against the regime in 2021 but appealed the charge and were acquitted.[20]
References[edit]
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 3 (1928-1930), Pg(s) 225. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 7 (1936-1938), Pg(s) 136. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 7 (1936-1938), Pg(s) 143. View as PDF.
- ↑ Hussein Ahdieh & Hillary Chapman, Foreigner, George Ronald: Oxford, 2019, p 60
- ↑ Hussein Ahdieh & Hillary Chapman, Foreigner, George Ronald: Oxford, 2019, p 62
- ↑ Jahan newspaper: Baha’i activities in Abadan, Nov 28 1957, published at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Letter from army to stop Baha’i children classes at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Letter from Baha’i community of Iran to the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor, Ayatollah Ghoddousi at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Dismissed from government employment in Abadan by Ministry of Petroleum at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Rezvan Shabbak dismissed from work at Ministry of Oil at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Ghorban-Ali Astar dismissed from work at Ministry of Oil at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Maryam Dehghan dismissed from work at Ministry of Oil at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Confirmation of Karamatollah Sabeti's dismissal order from Ministry of Oil at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Department of Education's standard letter to its Baha'i employees in Abadan that they will be dismissed if they don't recant their faith at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Making Baha’i jewelry is forbidden at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Cemetery of the Baha’is of Abadan destroyed at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Afsaneh Siadat found guilty at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ HRANA: Shops of two Baha’i citizens were closed in Abadan for the second time this year at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Appeal court set for Forough Farzaneh, Neda Sabeti, and Noushin Afshar at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
- ↑ Forough Farzaneh, Neda Sabeti, and Noushin Afshar acquitted by appeal court at iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
