Mona Mahmudnizhad
Mona Mahmudnizhad, aged just 17, was one of ten Bahá'í
women [right] publicly executed by
an Iranian Government firing squad in
Shiraz on 18 June 1983. Mona's only crime was her
steadfast belief in Bahá'u'lláh.
Throughout the past century, the Bahá'ís of Iran
have been persecuted. With the triumph of the Islamic revolution in 1979,
this
persecution has been systematized. More than 200 Bahá'ís
have been executed or killed, hundreds more have been
imprisoned, and tens of thousands have been deprived of jobs, pensions,
businesses, and educational opportunities. All national
Bahá'í administrative structures have been banned
by the Government, and holy places, shrines and cemeteries have been
confiscated, vandalized, or destroyed.
The 350,000-member Bahá'í community comprises the
largest religious minority in that country, and Bahá'ís have
been
oppressed solely because of religious hatred. Islamic fundamentalists
in Iran and elsewhere have long viewed the Bahá'í Faith
as a threat to Islam and have branded the Bahá'ís
as heretics. The progressive stands of the Faith on women's rights,
independent investigation of truth, and education have particularly
rankled Muslim clerics.
In June 1983, for example, the Iranian authorities arrested ten
Bahá'í women and girls. The charge against them: teaching
children's classes on the Bahá'í Faith--the equivalent
of Sunday school in the West.
The women were subjected to intense physical and mental abuse in
an effort to coerce them to recant their Faith--an option
that is always pressed on Bahá'í prisoners. Yet,
like most Bahá'ís who were arrested in Iran, they refused
to deny their beliefs.
As a result, they were executed.
The following is a collage of women and girls similarly executed:
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