The Baha’i International Community has described as “desperately cruel” the fact that one of Iran’s seven Baha’i leaders has been unable to attend the funeral of his own wife. Ashraf Khanjani – who was married to Jamaloddin Khanjani for more than 50 years – died last Thursday at the family home in Tehran at the age of 81. She had been unwell for many months.
The husband, 77, is serving a 10-year jail term at Gohardasht prison, along with six other Baha’is—the entire membership of a national-level ad hoc group that had attended to the needs of Iran’s Baha’i community.
“This is a desperately cruel turn of events,” said Diane Ala’i, representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva. “For an innocent man to be denied the opportunity to be with his devoted wife as she passed away, and then to be unable to attend her funeral – this shows the depth of inhumanity to which the Iranian authorities have sunk.”
Meanwhile, Bam Prosecutor Mohammad-Reza Sanjari told the Iranian Students News Agency that an unstated number of Baha’is were arrested last week in Bam, Kerman and Tehran.
Sanjari said they were accused of the “promotion and proliferation of their programs under the guise of cultural-educational activities in a number of kindergartens in Bam, Kerman and Tehran.”
He said, “Our investigations have revealed the existence of a widespread network engaged in complex operations. These individuals get their orders from the center.”
The Bam prosecutor alleged that these people also “infiltrated” a local newspaper in Kerman province and had been “inculcating” Baha’i views through children’s stories in the newspaper.
The Baha’i World News Service said Mrs. Khanjani’s funeral drew 8,000 to 10,000 mourners. It said Ministry of Intelligence officers were also reportedly present, filming the proceedings.
The Baha’i report said Mrs. Khanjani had spent her life caring for children whose parents were unable to feed and clothe them. “She was looking after up to 40 or 50 children at any one time, without any regard for their religious background,” said Alai.
Prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution, Mr. Khanjani owned a brick-making factory. As a Baha’i, the factory was confiscated by the revolutionary government.
The Baha’i movement said Khanjani was arrested and imprisoned at least three times before his latest incarceration in May 2008