Mullahs continue persecution of Baha’is and women

Robier al-Fares

The mullah regime continues to persecute women and the Baha’i minority in Iran, as a report published by the Independent confirmed that there is discrimination in the admission of women and Baha’is to Iranian universities.

Journalist Amir Soltanzadeh said in his report, “Acceptance based on discrimination continues to exist in the university admission process in Iran,” adding, “Despite the low capacity of universities for girls, the head of Iran’s National Organization of Educational Testing, Ebrahim Khodaei, stated that girls make up 53% of the admissions. However, due to the large number of girls’ enrollment in the university recently, various government agencies have emphasized the issue of gender segregation.”

Soltanzadeh cited a statement by Expediency Council member Ahmad Tavakkoli in this regard, in which he said, “I support a system for determining a gender quota, and if the composition is to be the demographic profile of universities in this way, when we have educated women who have uneducated suitors, there will be problems that threaten the family.”

The report stated, “It is necessary to clarify that according to Principle 20 of the Iranian Constitution, all members of the nation, men and women, shall enjoy equal protection of the law and shall enjoy all human, political, economic, social and cultural rights in accordance with Islamic principles.” However, this is not applied on the ground in actuality.

On the other hand, Soltanzadeh stated that “Baha’i citizens were not allowed to enter the university this year,” adding, “Statistics indicate that at least 15 of these people received a letter stating that there was a ‘shortage in the file’, and this message was issued due to lack of filling in the religion field on the entrance examination application form. The entrance examination form includes names of different religions other than the Baha’i Faith, and Baha’i citizens avoid filling out other options because there is no name for their religion.”

According to the report, the issue of depriving Baha’is of education has been ongoing since the beginning of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. “Over the past four decades, the government has made every effort to deny Baha’is this basic right, while Article 30 of the Iranian constitution affirms that the government is obligated to provide free education and training tools for the entire nation until the end of secondary school, and the expansion of higher education facilities free of charge to the extent that the state is self-sufficient,” the report noted. Thus, in the twenty-first century, the mullahs are continuing to deny education to women and the Baha’i minority.