Mahmoud Intolerant-ijad pt. 1

Maybe now isn’t a good time to be whipping up anti-Iranian sentiment. Given the fact that our president seems to be chomping at the bit to team up with Israel and bomb Iran back to the dark ages, maybe I should write an essay about some topic with conciliatory possibility.

Not today. Today I write about life inside a Muslim theocracy. Turns out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad likes Islam quite a bit. So much in fact that the largest religious minority, with around 17% of the population, is being systematically targeted for persecution.


Mark Kirk of the Chicago Sun Times reports:

“The Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha'i.”

“The Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force ordered 25 industries to deny business licenses to Baha'is. […] Banks are closing Baha'i accounts and refusing loans to Baha'i applicants. Just last week, the Iranian government bulldozed a Baha'i cemetery, erasing the memory of thousands of Iranian citizens.”

Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations said,

“Put in a historical context, these kinds of attacks too often have been a prelude to campaigns of oppression and violence that are far worse.”

(Next installment: The Bloodthirsty Baha'i's Barbarous Beliefs)