Regime in Iran creates law against mystic groups

Mehriran.de - A new law has been enacted by the Parliament in Teheran, which needs to be discussed on terms of the degree of penalty.

The general points of the project to confront" the deviated groups" was deliberated and confirmed in the assembly of the Cultural Commission belonging to the Majles in Iran. in May 2014. According to the press agencyKhabaronline reporting from ISNA Seyed Ali Taheri spokesman of the commission of the cultural section of the parliament in Iran said: "the project to confront 'the deviated groups' (gorouhak enherafi) including: the deviated sects (Fergheh Enherafi), the recently-formed mystical sects[1](Erfan no Zohour), Satanism (Shaytan Parasti), and ... was passed to exam during the day of Monday 5. of May 2014 and was confirmed and accepted. The juridical and cultural commissions of the parliament will take the necessary decisions about the details of this law."

Finally two weeks ago the Parliament passed the law without having fixed the degree of penalty.

The new legislated law against "mystical groups" including "recently formed erfan-groups, satanist, and ..." (Erfan hâyé Now Zohour, Shaytan pàràsti, va ...). This non precised mention about "and..." in this "new legislated law" regarding the "mystical groups" is very dangerous, and it targets precisely the Nematollah-Gonabadi Dervish Order". The authorities would not like to mention clearly its name in this law.

According to this new legislated law in the eyes of the Justice power, the police and the clergy each member of the Nematollah-Gonabadi Order is in danger to be considered as an "outlaw individual"- without committing any crime but by simply being a dervish, and by being related to this order.

In consequence of the new legislated law regarding the legal intervention of those (bassiji-agents) who impose the so called principle of Amr é béh Mà'rouf Và Nàhi é àz Monkar( to forbid and to encourage people), each Bassiji-Mullah of the "Center of the Denominations and Religions" (Markaz é Féràgh và Adyân) in Qom, can make life very hard for the Dervishes, in each corner of the streets all over the country.

One representative of the International Organisation to preserve Human Rights in Iran remarks: "If the international human rights defenders don't react to these dictatorial - so called laws - recently legislated by the Mullahs parliament in Iran, the coming days, weeks, months and years will show a lot of plans and campaigns against the Dervishes under the protection of these two new laws."

The killer regime in Iran fears critical remarks and protests

Although the regime fears protests and critical remarks on an international level it sticks to severe punishments and unfair trials again and again. Yet sometimes the authorities in Iran back down to massive protests from time to time. The case of Nasrin Sotoudeh is an example where all of a sudden after many and long protests in the West she was released. Probably as a sign of good will towards the West intending to achieve good results from the negotiations on the nuclear case. The same happened after Amnesty Internationals Urgent Action for nine Dervishes on a hunger strike and a press release of the German Foreign Affairs Office highlighting the case and criticizing the regime in Iran. But none of the international protests[2]helped Reyhane Jabberi who became one of many victims that was condemned to death in an unfair trial and executed mercilessly.

After publishing a series of books agitating against Dervishry around 2005, slander campaigns of clerics followed to stifle the hate of Bassidji groups against Sufi-Mystics, which finally erupted in violent attacks against Nematollah Gonabadi groups in some regions like Qom, Isfahan, Bouroujerd, Kavar and others. Hundreds of Dervish women and men were seriously wounded and one Dervish was shot dead in an attack carried out in Kavar in 2011. Following these events, Dervishes published the incidents on an international level, which made the regime very angry. Iran's establishment heavily fears negative publicity inside and outside the country. The publishers were immidiately arrested and accused of acting against national security and propaganda against the regime.
Hunger strikes of the prisoners, protests of relatives and friends in front of the prisons, solidarity actions by other members of the Nematollah Gonabadi Order and international protests and solidarity actions by the International Organisation to preserve Human Rights in Iran in the streets of European capitals kept the flame of resistance against injust and discriminatory actions of the regime in Iran alive.

Germany's responsibles for human rights attached to the Foreign Affairs Office, Markus Löning[3] and his successor Christoph Strässer[4], both released official protest notes against the treatment of the imprisoned Dervishes and called on the regime to stick to the international conventions on human rights.

New law in Iran causes international protests

One of the most experienced characters inside the European Parliament is Tunne Kelam, an Estonian Member of the Parliament who is part of the EPP[5]. Shortly after the Majles enacted the new law Mr Kelam[6] released a statement criticizing the new law:

“ I am deeply concerned about the condition of nine imprisoned Dervishes who are members of the Nematollahi-Gonbadi-Order in Iran. A month ago, the Dervishes went into a hunger strike in response to the ongoing suppression of members of the Iranian-Muslim- Sufi- citizens (the Dervishes) in Iran. The dervishes only interrupted their hunger strike when some representatives of the regime made promises to look into the members legal cases. 
The ratification of the international pact, concerning civil and legal rights, obliges Iran to respect and protect the human rights of religious and political freedom. The suppression of religious groups is a blatant contradiction to this. I am asking Iran, to uphold its responsibilities and to respect the human rights of all, regardless of their religious or ethnic background and to immediately release all prisoners who are being held based on the grounds of their religious and political viewpoints.
Iran has continously denied any responsibilty for the suppression of the Dervishes. Why does the minister of information blame Dervishes to be Satanists publicly then and why was there an exhibition opened by representatives of the state in Khorramabad depicting and describing the Gonabadi Dervishes as devils? Why has the parliament issued a law that bans "mystical groups" and "Satanists"?
We protest against the blatant discrimination and this frame for future continuations of persecutions against groups that don't share the official believes.
Furthermore I call for the Iranian authorities to release the nine Gonabadi Dervishes, immediately and unconditionally, and all other Gonabadi Dervishes to be allowed peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of believe and thought. "

Background information:

The situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran is alarming, while Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, according to the Iranian constitution are recognised as religious minorities, and at least officially enjoy religious freedom, members of mystic Islamic orders as the Shia Nematolahi Gonabadi Order- they are named Sufis or Dervishes as well -are being discriminated against quite often or pushed forcefully not to practice their religion.

In September 2011 the security forces throughout the country heavily violated the rights of the Sufis, especially in Kavar. In the wake of these attacks against the Sufis several members of the Nematollahi Gonabadi Order and their website Majzoobane Noor and their lawyers have been imprisoned.

Recently nine Dervishes held a hunger strike for more than four weeks (31.08.-04.10.2014). By the hunger strike they protested against the wide spread prosecutions of members of the Nematollah Gonabadi Order and against the dire prison conditions.

They are: Omid Behrouzi, Mostafa Daneshjou, Afshin Karampour, Farshid Yadollahi, Mostafa Abdi, Reza Entesari, Amir Eslami, Hamidreza Moradi Sarvestani and Kasra Nouri. One of the reasons that they started their hunger strike was a discriminatory remark of Mr Alavi, minister of security and information against the Dervishes in a public meeting with teachers.

They all were charged with propaganda against the regime and acting against national security after they had published the news about the heavy attacks by the security forces in Kavar and the death of one member of the local Dervishes (Vahid Banani).

These charges are quite common against the prisoners of conscience in Iran who don’t fit into the ideological world of the system.

Just a few days ago the parliament in Iran issued a law that will confront "deviant sects and groups, mystical sects and satanists". The degree of the punishments is still being discussed."

Helmut N. Gabel for mehriran.de/en