TAMPA, Fla. — Baha’is in Iran are being systematically discriminated against and persecuted, and Baha’is in Florida are trying to spread awareness about what’s happening there.
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Fariba Rezvani Cavitt was born in Tehran, the capital of Iran, and she still remembers the discrimination she and her family faced when she was younger.
“It was, of course, very scary. You know, heart racing. We walked everywhere. So, walking home, I was crying,” Rezvani Cavitt said.
Rezvani Cavitt immigrated to the United States with her family 39 years ago as religious refugees.
“All I could feel was the fear and the tension and panic that was coming,” said Sherry Eshraghi, who’s also from Iran and had to leave the country with her family when she was just 7 years old. They moved to Germany before settling in South Florida.
“Suddenly, we were in a new country that I didn’t know the culture of. I didn’t know the language,” Eshraghi said.
The 300,000 Baha’is in Iran don’t enjoy the same rights as Shia Muslims. Their religion is not recognized by the government, their marriages aren’t legal, they’re discriminated against in education and employment, and Baha’i burial sites are commonly desecrated and destroyed by the government.
“They have no privileges, no freedom,” Rezvani Cavitt said.
USF Professor Emeritus John S. Hatcher teaches about the Baha’i religion. He said Baha’is have faced discrimination in Iran since the religion’s founding back in 1844.
Baha’is believe in the prophets of Judeo-Christians and Muslims. But they also believe the founder of their religion, Baha'u'llah, is also a prophet, a belief that’s not tolerated by the theocratic government of Iran.
“Therefore, any claim to prophesy or to the advent of a messenger from God after Mohammad is deemed apostasy,” Prof. Hatcher said.
Leslie Farrell is from the United States and is Baha’i. She said Baha’is in Florida are reaching out to their congressional representatives and making people aware of what’s happening in Iran.
“We just want to see everyone have the opportunity to live freely and to be able to live a normal life and be able to be educated, own stores, you know, be able to work,” Farrell said.
