Iran Orders Bahais to Repay Life Wages
LONDON — Iran has ordered members of the Bahai faith formerly employed by the government to pay back their lifetime earnings, the National Assembly of the Bahais in Britain said Friday.
The judicial order led to a sharp rise in the number of arrests among followers of the 300,000-strong religion in Iran, a statement issued by the Bahai assembly said.
It added that 101 believers have been jailed since September, most of them for failing to comply with the repayment order because of financial problems. The statement said 707 Bahais are now in Iranian prisons and that two Bahais were recently executed, bringing the total number put to death in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution to 178.
The Islamic revolutionary government of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini--which was six years old Friday--has banned all public religious activities by Iranian Bahais. Their liberal religion, founded in the 19th Century, angers Iran’s Islamic fundamentalists because it postdates the mission of the prophet Mohammed.
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