IRANIAN BAHA'IS FACE CONTINUING DISCRIMINATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

NEW YORK, 28 February 2007 (BWNS) -- A growing number of Baha'is admitted toIranian universities this year have been expelled, powerful evidence thatBaha'i students in Iran still face severe discrimination and limited accessto higher education.After more than 25 years during which Iranian Baha'is were outright bannedfrom attending public and private universities in Iran, some 178 Baha'istudents were admitted last fall to various schools around the country afterthe government changed its policies and removed religious identificationfrom entrance examination papers.As of mid-February, however, at least 70 students had been expelled aftertheir universities became aware that they were Baha'is.

The high percentage of expulsions - which are all explicitly connected tothe students' identities as Baha'is - suggests at best that the governmentis turning a blind eye to discrimination in higher education, and, at worst,is merely playing a game with Baha'i students," said Diane Ala'i, the Baha'iInternational Community's representative to the United Nations in Geneva."While we are happy that for the first time since the early 1980s asignificant number of Iranian Baha'i youth have been able to enter andattend the university of their choice, the government's long history ofsystematic persecution against Baha'is certainly calls into question thesincerity of the new policies," said Ms. Ala'i.She noted, for example, that another 191 Baha'i students, havingsuccessfully passed national college entrance examinations last summer, wereunable to enter university this year, either because of the limited number
of places for the course of their choice or for other reasons unknown to them.

"International law provides that access to education is a basic human right,and Iranian universities have no excuse for denying students who havesuccessfully passed their examinations the right to attend simply becausethey are Baha'is," added Ms. Ala'i."As long as any Baha'i is unjustly denied access to higher education, we cansay that the years of systematic persecution and discrimination againstBaha'i students has not yet ended, and we must call for this injustice to berectified," she said

The largest religious minority in Iran, Baha'is of all ages have facedsystematic religious persecution since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Morethan 200 Baha'is have been killed, hundreds have been imprisoned, andthousands have had property or businesses confiscated, been fired from jobs,and/or had pensions terminated.According to a secret 1991 government memorandum, Baha'is "must be expelledfrom universities, either in the admission process or during the course oftheir studies, once it becomes known that they are Baha'is."One of the chief means the government has used to enforce this policy was torequire that everyone sitting for the national college entrance examinationstate their religion on the test registration forms. Test forms that listed"Baha'i," or that had no listing, were rejected.

In 2004, apparently in response to continued pressure from the internationalcommunity, the Iranian government removed the data field for religiousaffiliation. About 1,000 Baha'i students successfully sat for theexamination that year and hundreds passed, many with very high scores. Later that same year, however, in an action that Baha'i InternationalCommunity representatives characterize as a "ploy," exam results were sentback to Baha'is with the word "Muslim" written in, something that officialsknew would be unacceptable to Baha'is, who as a matter of religiousprinciple refuse to deny their beliefs. Government officials argued that since the Baha'is had opted to take the setof questions on Islam in the religious studies section of the test, theyshould be listed as Muslims. Baha'is contested the action and were rebuffed;no Baha'i students entered university that year

The same thing happened in 2005. Hundreds of Baha'i students took and passedthe national examination, only to find that the government had listed themas Muslims. Baha'is again contested the action, but without successfulredress, and no Baha'is matriculated in 2005.Last summer, again acting on good faith, hundreds of Baha'is took thenational examination. This time, as indicated in the figures above, hundredshave passed, and some 178 were accepted into universities.Throughout the fall, reports came out of Iran indicating that many of thosewho had been accepted were being refused entry or expelled once theuniversities learned that they were Baha'is. As of February, the confirmedfigure totaled 70 Baha'is expelled.

Accounts we have received from those who have been expelled or deniedregistration at the university of their choice clearly indicate the issue istheir Baha'i identity," said Ms. Ala'i."One student, for example, received a phone call from Payame Noor Universityon 18 October, asking whether he was a Baha'i. When he replied in theaffirmative, he was told that he could not be enrolled.

Later, after visiting the university, the student was told that theuniversity had received a circular from the National Educational Measurementand Evaluation Organization, which oversees the university entrance examination process, stating that while it would not prevent the Baha'is

from going through the enrolment process, once enrolled, they were to beexpelled.

"Another Baha'i student at that same university was told that students whodo not specify their religion on registration forms would be disqualifiedfrom continuing their education there," she said.Ms. Ala'i also said that the Baha'i International Community has learned thatall universities in Iran except one still include a space for religion ontheir own registration forms.

"This raises the grave concern that the 191 additional Baha'is who passedtheir examinations this year but were refused places may in fact be thesubjects of discrimination," she said. "We call on the international community to continue to monitor thissituation closely," said Ms. Ala'i. "We would also ask for the continuedefforts of educators and university administrators around the world who haveparticipated in a campaign to protest the treatment of Baha'i students inIran."

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