BIHE - Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education

گزارش‌ها حاکی است که جایزه‌ سال ۲۰۲۲ انجمن «لیبرپرس» اسپانیا به مؤسسه آموزش عالی بهائیان ایران رسید.

انجمن لیبرپرس گفته است، مؤسسه آموزش عالی بهایی به خاطر «تلاش ستودنیِ این نهاد در فراهم آوردنِ آموزش عالی برای هزاران جوانِ بهاییِ محروم از تحصیل در سرزمین مادری خود» شایسته‌ دریافت جایزه‌ سال ۲۰۲۲ این نهاد است.

جایزه سال ۲۰۲۲ لیبرپرس به طور مشترک به مؤسسه آموزش عالی بهایی و کیانوش رمضانی، کاریکاتوریستِ مدافع حقوق بشر٬ اهدا شده است.

این جایزه از سال ۱۹۹۹ هر سال به مؤسسات، نهادها و افرادی که در راه تعمیقِ فرهنگِ همبستگی، مسئولیت مشترک و ارزش‌های انسانی تلاش کرده‌اند اهدا می‌شود.

مؤسسه آموزش عالی بهایی٬ یک مؤسسه آموزشی غیررسمی در ایران است که سال ۶۶ توسط بهائیان و به منظور فراهم کردن امکانات برای تحصیل فرزندانشان تأسیس شد.

در سال‌های اخیر بهائیان زیادی به جرم تدریس و تحصیل در این دانشگاه بازداشت و روانه زندان شده‌اند و به همین دلیل، در این دانشگاه، کلاس رسمی برگزار نمی‌شود.

دانشجویان این دانشگاه به شکل خودآموز درس می‌خوانند و فقط کلاس‌های رفع اشکال در خانه‌ داوطلبان برگزار می‌شود.

جمهوری اسلامی بهائیت را به عنوان یک «دین الهی» به رسمیت نمی‌شناسد و پیروان آن علاوه بر محرومیت از حقوقی چون تحصیل در دانشگاه و داشتن شغل‌‌های دولتی، همواره در معرض بازداشت و تعقیب قضایی به اتهامات گوناگون قرار دارند.

محرومیت تحصیلی بهاییان در سال‌های اخیر به برخی مقاطع دیگر هم گسترش یافته است.

شهریور امسال پس از اینکه اعلام شد یک دبیرستان در سمنان، از ثبت‌نام دانش‌آموزی به دلیل «بهایی بودن» او خودداری کرده، وزیر آموزش و پرورش ایران گفت: «اگر دانش‌آموزان اظهار کنند که پیرو ادیان دیگری به‌جز ادیان رسمی کشور هستند و این اقدام آنها به‌ نوعی تبلیغ محسوب شود، تحصیل آنها در مدارس ممنوع است.»

اینگونه اظهارنظرها در حالی مطرح می‌شود که بر اساس ماده ۳۰ قانون اساسی جمهوری اسلامی ایران، «دولت موظف است وسایل آموزش و پروش رایگان را برای همه ملت تا پایان دوره متوسطه فراهم آورد».

جایزه سال ۲۰۲۲ یک انجمن اسپانیایی به مؤسسه آموزش عالی بهائیان ایران رسید گزارش‌ها حاکی است که جایزه‌ سال ۲۰۲۲ انجمن «لیبرپرس» اسپانیا به مؤسسه آموزش عالی بهائیان ایران رسید.

📢 BIHE - Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education is a clandestine university created by the Baha'is, a minority religious community in suffering genocide for not being Muslim.

They will be awarded the Prize this year.

🏅 The prize ceremony will take place on October 27 at Auditori de Girona at 20h.

🎟Free admission.

📢El BIHE - Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education, és una universitat clandestina creada pels bahai, una comunitat religiosa minoritària a l'#Iran que pateix genocidi pel fet de no ser musulmana. Seran guardonats amb el Premi #LiberPress d'enguany. 🏅L'entrega de premis tindrà lloc el 27 d'octubre a l'Auditori de Girona a les 20h. 🎟Entrada gratuïta.

Lessons on Distance Learning From an Underground University People who practice the Bahai faith in Iran are denied many civil liberties, like access to higher education. They get around the ban with secret distance learning and the help of people like an East Bay woman. Garvin Thomas reports.

MOJDEH ROHANI

When I became the first graduate of BIHE whose degree was accepted by 5 major universities in the US, I felt a special sense of pride! Of course I was happy that years of my hard work had paid off, but more importantly, I was elated that a BIHE degree was recognized by those prestigious universities. It was important for me to give hope to my fellow students in Iran that our efforts and those of our selfless professors and administrators were not in vain.
With a BA in Psychology from BIHE, I continued my graduate studies in social work. Today, I am the executive director at Community Legal Services and Counseling Center and adjunct faculty at Boston University School of Social work.

The Baha'i Institute Of Higher Education: A Creative And Peaceful Response To Religious Persecution In Iran

Baha'i International Community written statement to the 55th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights under Agenda item 10 of the provisional agenda: The Right to Education. Circulated as UN Document # E/CN.4/1999/NGO/13.

GENEVA—1 April 1999
Since 1980, as part of a government-directed attempt to destroy the intellectual and cultural life of the 300,000-member Baha'i­ community, young people who declare their Baha'i­ identity have been systematically excluded from colleges and universities in Iran.

Deeply concerned at seeing an entire generation of its best and brightest languish without the opportunity for higher learning, the Baha'i­ community of Iran launched a creative and wholly non-violent response: the establishment of its own independent, full-fledged, yet completely decentralized, university system. The New York Times, in an article about the university published on 29 October 1998, called this effort "an elaborate act of communal self-preservation."

Founded in 1987, the Baha'i­ Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) had, until September 1998, an enrollment of more than 900 students, a faculty of more than 150 first-rate academics and instructors, and an "infrastructure" composed of various classrooms, laboratories and libraries scattered throughout Iran in private homes and buildings.

As has been widely reported in the international news media, agents of the Iranian Government staged a series of sweeping raids in late September and early October, arresting at least 36 members of the BIHE's faculty and staff and confiscating equipment and records located in over 500 homes.

As the New York Times noted, "[t]he materials confiscated were neither political nor religious, and the people arrested were not fighters or organizers. They were lecturers in subjects like accounting and dentistry; the materials seized were textbooks and laboratory equipment."

Those who were arrested, many of whom have now been released, were asked to sign a document declaring that BIHE had ceased to exist as of 29 September and that they would no longer cooperate with it. The detainees refused to sign any such declaration.

To informed observers, the recent arrests and confiscations are clearly part of a long-standing and centrally orchestrated campaign by Iranian authorities to deal with Iran's Baha'i­ community "in such a way that their progress and development are blocked." This is the stated intent of the policy set forth in a secret 1991 Government memorandum that instructed authorities in how to deal with "the Baha'i­ question." The actions against the BIHE, likewise, reflect a new and dangerous period for Iran's Baha'i­ community. This period was ushered in by the summary ex*****on of Mr. Ruhu'llah Rawhani, a 52-year-old medical supplies salesman who was hanged in Mashhad on 21 July 1998 solely for religious reasons, and the subsequent confirmation of death sentences against two other Baha'i­s in Mashhad in September.

The secret Government memorandum, drawn up by the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council in February 1991, was obtained and made public in 1993 by Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, the United Nations' Special Representative investigating the human rights situation in Iran. Signed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the memorandum established a subtle government policy aimed at essentially grinding the community into non-existence by forcing Baha'i­ children to have a strong Islamic education, pushing Baha'i­ adults to the economic periphery and forcing them from all positions of power or influence, and requiring Baha'i­ youth "be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Baha'i­s."

Not an "Underground" University
It would be incorrect to call the Baha'i­ Institute for Higher Education an "underground university," since its existence was well known to the authorities from its earliest years. In fact, in 1996 Iranian authorities conducted far-reaching raids against BIHE sites, confiscating records and equipment but not moving to shut down the operation. In keeping with Baha'i­ religious teachings on obedience to government, the Baha'i­s in Iran always answered forthrightly questions about the Institute and any other activities when asked. Nevertheless, inasmuch as the Baha'i­s of Iran have been blocked from operating their institutions freely and normally, they resorted to the concept of running an "open university" that was both highly decentralized and carefully circumspect in its operation.

Until the Government raids at the end of September 1998, the Institute offered Bachelor's degrees in ten subject areas: applied chemistry, biology, dental science, pharmacological science, civil engineering, computer science, psychology, law, literature and accounting. And within these subject areas, which were administered by five university "departments," the Institute was able to offer more than 200 distinct courses each term. In the beginning, courses were based on correspondence lessons developed by Indiana University, which was one of the first institutions in the West to recognize the Baha'i­ Institute for Higher Education. Later on, course offerings were developed internally.

The teaching was done principally via correspondence, or, for specialized scientific and technical courses and in other special cases, in small-group classes that were usually held in private homes.

"At the beginning, the students did not even know the names of their professors," said one BIHE professor, who, like most others interviewed, wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety and that of his relatives in Iran. Even after three or four years, the students did not know the names of their professors. They had never seen them because it was very dangerous. If somebody knew a professor's name, he or she might tell a friend. So all courses were conducted by correspondence at the beginning of this plan.

Over time, however, the Institute was able to establish a few laboratories, operated in privately owned commercial buildings in and around Teheran. These laboratories included a computer science laboratory, a physics laboratory, a dental science laboratory, a pharmacological laboratory, an applied chemistry laboratory and a language study laboratory. The operations of these laboratories were kept prudently quiet, with students cautioned not to come and go in large groups that might give the authorities a reason to object.

An All-Volunteer, Unpaid Faculty
At its peak, the Institute had more than 150 faculty members. Approximately 25 or 30 were professors who were fired from Government-run universities after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Other faculty members included doctors, dentists, lawyers and engineers who gave of their time to teach students. The majority were educated in Iran, but a good number have degrees from universities in the West, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley and the Sorbonne. None of the Baha'i­ faculty members were paid for their time; all gave it freely as a form of community service.

"These youth are very precious people," said a faculty member, explaining why they were willing to take such risks, without monetary remuneration, to establish the Institute. "We all care about them. They have been through tests and trials and they had no hope. They have been deprived of many things, so if there is any chance for us to get something better for them, we did it."

Each of the five departments drew not only on these volunteer professors for their academic expertise but also on a small and anonymous group of Baha'i­ academics in North America, Europe and Australia. These outside academicians sent in the latest textbooks and research papers, occasionally made visits to Iran as guest lecturers, and otherwise providedinstructional and technical support.

"The Baha'i­ youth are all raised to want to study and become professionals," said one of the academics involved in supporting the Institute. "So to sit around and do nothing is a very serious psychological pressure. And before the Open University really got going, the youth were in a hopeless position." The academic, who is Iranian born and still has family in Iran, also asked that his name not be used.

High Academic Standards
Entrance examinations for the BIHE were required, and the Institute established high standards. Of the roughly 1500 students who applied for admission in its first year of operation, 250 were accepted for the first semester of study. By 1996, a total of 600 students had enrolled in the Baha'i­ Institute of Higher Education and were pursuing their studies, and, by 1998, approximately 900 students were enrolled.

One former student, who is now living outside of Iran, likened the attitude of many of the students to Gandhi's attitude of non-violent resistance. Denied the right to an education by the authorities, students were determined to study to show the government that they could study.

Among the indications of the Institute's surprisingly high academic standards and instructional level was the success that a few Institute graduates had in gaining admission to graduate schools outside Iran, including major universities in the United States and Canada. It should be noted, however, that some Institute graduates and students outside Iran have had a difficult time getting their credits recognized. -Such challenges, which are a fact of life for Institute graduates, stem directly from the Iranian Government's policy of blocking their access to education and its refusal to recognize the Institute officially.

"In Iran, you have to apply for an examination to go to college," said one former BIHE student, who also asked to remain anonymous. "If you are successful at your exam, you can go to university." The student described the examination form as having a place which asks, `What is your religion?' The possible answers listed are "Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism." When the Baha'i­ students either didn't write anything or wrote "Baha'i­" off to the side, they were not given an entrance card to go to the examination hall. So they couldn't even take the exam."

Complex Administration
In its day-to-day operation, the Institute functioned basically like a correspondence school, but with its own delivery service. In its early years, students and faculty sent homework assignments and lessons back and forth via the state-run postal system. But the packages often did not arrive and were assumed to have been intercepted as part of the Government's attempt to interfere with Baha'i­ education.

Since professors could not deliver lectures openly, they prepared their own written notes and compiled textbooks for distribution to the students. Again, as noted above, some of these texts were based on the latest Western research. One student in civil engineering, for example, was studying the construction of earthquake-proof earthen silos - and the Institute's overseas contacts were able to get for him some of the latest research on this topic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Our aim was to offer the best courses available in Iran," said a faculty member.

The entire operation relied heavily on the use of extensive photocopying, and one of the biggest blows in the recent raids was the confiscation of several large photocopying units.

The Institute system also featured a network of special depository libraries around the country. Numbering more than 45, these libraries existed in the private homes of Baha'i­s and enabled students in each district to obtain access to the necessary textbooks for the courses. Some of these libraries were seized in the recent raids.

Shut Down
Over time, as Institute officials began to feel increasing confidence about their operation, they started to organize many group classes along with independent study in private homes. The Institute also began to publish sophisticated course catalogues, listing not only course offerings but the qualifications of the faculty members. Through the international network of Baha'i­ communities worldwide, the Institute also began to establish the means by which its graduates might become fully recognized by other institutions of higher education outside Iran.

It is not clear to the Baha'i­ community of Iran why the raids and confiscations were launched in late September. And Iranian Government officials have not been forthcoming with explanations when asked about the actions. According to The New York Times, Iranian officials made no comment when asked about the raids and arrests.

Among other significant human rights conventions, Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966. Parties to this Covenant "recognize the right of everyone to education" and more specifically that "higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means."

The exclusion of Baha'i­s from access to higher education in Iran certainly constitutes a gross violation of the Covenant. These latest steps taken to shut down the Iranian Baha'i­ community's creative and peaceful response only increases public outrage regarding the Iranian government's attempt to strangulate the Baha'i­ community.

UN Document /CN.4/1999/NGO/13

BIC Document #: 99-0401

https://www.bic.org/statements/bahai-institute-higher-education-creative-and-peaceful-response-religious-persecution-iran

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Time for Anti-Baha’i Discrimination to End in Iran

What is a day in the life of an Iranian Baha'i like? Baha'is are a religious minority of about 300,000 people in Iran. They face harsh forms of legal and social discrimination and routine persecution. Hateful anti-Baha'i policies are fueled by a steady stream hateful rhetoric emanating from Iranian state-run media and government affiliated clerics.
This video is produced by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Impact Iran

Time for Anti-Baha’i Discrimination to End in Iran What is a day in the life of an Iranian Baha'i like? Baha'is are a religious minority of about 300,000 people in Iran. They face harsh forms of legal and soc...

Persecution of Iran’s Baha’is ramped up: threats to “uproot”, prison sentences and psychological pressures
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In the face of an escalating health pandemic, the Iranian authorities have ramped up their persecution of the Baha’is, targeting at least 71 individuals across the country in recent weeks. Reports of new threats to “uproot” the community in Shiraz, along with an unprecedented number of new prison sentences, reincarcerations and a media campaign of hatred, are raising concerns for the long-persecuted religious minority in the country.

In a court hearing held for a group of Baha’is in Shiraz, a court official threatened to “uproot” the Baha’is in the city. The court sentenced the Baha’is to one to 13 years in prison. In recent weeks, 40 Baha’is in Shiraz whose cases were pending for months have been summoned to court, representing an unprecedented number of court summons against Baha’is in a single city in recent years.

“Such an outrageous statement by an official is an obvious demonstration of the religious bigotry and prejudice that the Baha’is in Iran face. It is also clear evidence of the injustice against the Baha’is within the judicial system and the authorities’ true motivation,” said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in New York. “Not only does it show the absence of the rule of law and the severe discrimination with which the Baha’is are treated in Iran’s justice system, its purpose is to intimidate the Baha’is, placing heavy psychological pressures on those directly targeted, as well as their families and all Baha’is in Iran.”

In addition to Shiraz, Baha’is in Birjand, Ghaemshahr, Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah and Yazd, have been arrested, summoned to court, tried, sentenced to jail or imprisoned solely for their beliefs in recent weeks. The number totals at least 71 Baha’is.

After being arrested and released on high bails, these individuals have faced months, and sometimes years, of waiting between their arrest, trial, appeal court, and the beginning of a jail term, adding an additional psychological burden. Such cruel tactics have been employed repeatedly by the authorities in recent years, systematically exerting pressure on the entire Baha’i community.

Among the Baha’is arrested in Birjand is an elderly man whose age puts his health at great risk if he is imprisoned. Some individuals, who were taking care of family members when summoned to court, were forced to travel on public transportation during the widespread lockdowns. Another couple who have been sentenced to prison have a daughter who has cancer, leading to deep concern for her care should they be imprisoned.

“The recent incidents have placed great pressures on hundreds of families,” said Ms. Dugal. “Subjecting them to the constant threat of imprisonment under these circumstances and emotional anguish associated with it is yet another attempt to place greater strain on the community. And to do all this during a health crisis, at an alarmingly escalated rate without any justification whatsoever, is extremely cruel and outrageous.”

The Baha’is, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, have been persecuted in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A secret memorandum approved by Iran’s Supreme Leader in 1991 calls for the “progress and development” of the Baha’i community to be blocked by barring them from university and disrupting their ability to earn livelihoods.

The recent pressures come as Iran’s state-affiliated media have also stepped up the public defamation of the Baha’is through an increasingly coordinated spread of disinformation. Television channels, newspapers, radio stations and social media have been saturated with articles and videos denigrating Baha’i beliefs, all while Baha’is are denied the right of reply. More than 3,000 articles of anti-Baha’i propaganda were recorded by the Baha’i International Community so far this year, the figures doubling from January to April.

“Threatening to ‘uproot a community’, trying its members en masse, reincarcerating them during a pandemic, and spreading hateful propaganda against them is a shocking and profoundly troubling development,” said Ms. Dugal. “How can Iran’s government honour its sacred duty to the wellbeing of its people if it aims to uproot a community of law-abiding citizens? The Baha’is targeted in these incidents, and indeed all Baha’is facing discrimination, are innocent and must be free of religious persecution.”

Background information:

Fifty-five Baha’is have been summoned to court in Shiraz, Birjand, Karaj and Kermanshah. Of this number, 26 have been tried and sentenced.
Eleven Baha’is have been summoned to prison in Shiraz, Ghaemshahr and Birjand.
Three Baha’is have been arrested in Yazd.
Two Baha’is arrested in Isfahan were released shortly after.
For more information, contact Diane Ala’i in Geneva at (office) +41 22 798 5400 or
(mobile) +41 78 60 40 100, or Bani Dugal in New York at (office) +1 (212) 803-2500 or
(mobile) +1 (914) 329-3020