Bahai Library Online

Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1991-02-25, sorted by date, descending

date event tags firsts
1991 25 Feb
199-		 In Iran, a secret government memorandum (known as the Golpaygani Memorandum) was drawn up by Iran's Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council and signed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, which provided a blueprint of the policies and actions to which the Bahá'í community of Iran was to be subjugated. The memorandum demanded a shift in Iran's stance towards Bahá'ís from overt persecution to a more covert policy aimed at depleting the Iranian Bahá'í community's economic and cultural resources. This was a change in the policy for the Islamic regime which had openly persecuted and killed Bahá'ís during its first decade in power and had accused them of being spies for various foreign powers. The document also called for "countering and destroying their [Bahá'ís] cultural roots abroad." [Iran Press Watch 1407]
Signed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the memorandum established a subtle government policy aimed at essentially grinding the community into nonexistence by:
  • forcing Bahá'í children to have a strong Islamic education,
  • pushing Bahá'í adults into the economic periphery and forcing them from all positions of power or influence, and
  • requiring that Bahá'í youth "be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Bahá'ís." [One Country; Iran Press Watch 1578]
  • The memorandum can be found here, here and here.
  • This document might have remained secret had it not been divulged to Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, the Salvadoran diplomat who served as the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran between 1986 and 1995. Professor Pohl disclosed the document in 1993 during a session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (now replaced by the Human Rights Council). [BWNS575]
    		• * Persecution, Iran; - Ayatollahs; - Persecution; - Persecution, Education; - Persecution, Other; Ayatollah Khamenei; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Bahá'í International Community; Golpaygani Memorandum; Human rights; Iran; United Nations; United States (USA)
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