Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Farhad Asdaqi

About

Age: 31
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Baha'i
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: November 19, 1984
Location of Killing: Evin Prison, Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: Religious offense

About this Case

Information about the execution of Dr. Farhad Asdaqi (also spelled "Asdaghi") Mamaghani, son of Hassan, was obtained from three electronic forms (E-forms) submitted to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC) by individuals close to him. Additional information was collected from letters and articles published in the Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran, including a letter from him to the Birjand Prosecutor dated October 14, 1981, an article written by his wife 25 years after his death and translated by Iran Press Watch dated May 20, 2009. Moreover, information about Mr. Asdaqi was acquired from a feature article on IranWire published April 2, 2020, and Prison Memoirs of Ramezanali Amoui published on Baha’i Library Online (February 1984 - March 1989).

Dr. Farhad Asdaqi is also one of the 206 Iranian Baha’is listed in a 1999 report published by the Baha’i International Community. The report, Iran’s Secret Blueprint for the Destruction of a Religious Community, documents the persecutions of the members of the Baha’i faith in the Islamic Republic of Iran and lists the members killed since 1978. Additional information has been drawn from various issues of The Baha’i World. See for example: Vol. XIX, 1982-1986, Haifa 1994. Mr. Asdaqi is also among the 282 individuals listed in a United Nations' Report on The Situation of Human Right in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Note by the Secretary General), published on 13 November 1985.

Dr. Asdaqi Mamaghani was born into a Baha’i family on September 22nd, 1953 in Tehran (ABPI, Bio). He studied medicine at the Melli University in Tehran, graduating in 1978 (IranWire). After his graduation, he moved to Birjand to serve as a doctor in the military and became a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Birjand and an Auxiliary Board member(1) (ABPI Bio and IranWire). He also had a private practice where he provided free medical care to the underprivileged. 

Dr. Asdaqi was first arrested in Birjand on August 29th, 1981. While in detention, he wrote a letter to the Birjand Prosecutor to formally complain about his treatment during detention. He reported having been interrogated three times, “threatened, beaten, sworn at…subject to insults about [his] sacred religious beliefs, and threatened to be killed …” He pointed to an individual called a “Nour Mousavi”, who he stated “[seemed] to have certain missions from [the] Kashmar Mostazafan Foundation”. Dr. Asdaqi and . Dr. Asdaqi was tried in Kashmar and acquitted (details unknown) after three months in detention. 

A few days after his release, the members of the Second National Spiritual Assembly of Iran were arrested and Dr. Asdaqi was called on to join the Third National Spiritual Assembly (ABPI, Bio). He moved to Tehran where he worked in an overnight medical clinic. In June 1982 he was married and a year later their son was born. 

The Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Background

The authorities of the Islamic Republic have subjected the members of the Baha'i religious community of Iran - the largest religious minority, with approximately 300 thousand members in 1979(2)- to systematic harassment and persecution, depriving them of their most fundamental human rights. The Baha'i religion is not recognized under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, and Iranian authorities refer to it as a heresy. As a result, the Baha'is have been denied the rights associated with the status of a religious minority; they cannot profess and practice their faith, and are banned from public functions. Discrimination under the law and in practice has subjected them to abuse and violence.(3) 

Persecution of Baha’is in Iran is not specific to the time of the Islamic Republic but it was in this era that it was amplified and institutionalized. During the Revolution itself, supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini attacked Baha’i homes and businesses and in certain instances, even committed murder.

On the eve of his return from France to Iran, in response to a question regarding political and religious freedom of Baha’is under the rule of an Islamic government, Ayatollah Khomeini stated: “They are a political party; they are harmful and detrimental. They will not be acceptable.” The interviewer asked another question: “Will they be free to perform their religious rites?” The Ayatollah responded: “No.” Khomeini had previously “spoken of the Baha’i threat to the Shah’s regime, Islam, national unity, and national security” in various speeches. (Asoo website, October 6, 2015).

Spiritual Assemblies 

The affairs of the Baha’i’ community are administered through a system of institutions, each with its defined sphere of action. At the local level, the affairs of the Baha’i’ community are administered by the “Local Spiritual Assembly” and nationally by a “National Spiritual Assembly”. In 1980 and 1981, the First, Second, and Third National Spiritual Assemblies, as well as local Baha’i Spiritual Assemblies in various cities, including Tehran, Yazd, Hamedan, and Tabriz, were severely persecuted and the majority of members were executed. Spiritual Assemblies have been banned by the Iranian government, denying Baha’is the right to meet, elect, and operate their religious institutions. 

Judicial officials of the Islamic Republic have come up with [unreasonable and unacceptable] justifications for the persecution and the execution of the members of the National and Local Spiritual Assemblies. In a press conference held to discuss the secret executions of the National Spiritual Assembly members that took place on December 27th 1981, Ayatollah Mohammadi Gilani (Chief justice of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts), stated that they were “members of a perverse sect..that [had] been the largest group to loot the assets of [Iran]” and were clearly “spying for colonizing organizations” (ABPI, Press Conference

on January 20th, 1982). The Baha’is deny these allegations, stating that a key religious principle of Baha’is is the ‘requirement of staying out of politics’. They state that “religious relations know no bounds, and that the Iranian Baha’i Spiritual Assembly has done nothing, and taken no action, against the Islamic Republic”. (Asoo website, August 9th, 2015). 

Arrest and Detention 

Based on available information, agents of the Branch 8 of Evin Prison arrested Dr. Asdaqi in the afternoon of June 16, 1984 around Hafez street in Tehran. He was detained in Evin Prison’s Amuzeshgah Hall 3, room 75. (E-form to ABC, November 24th, 2013)

On July 13th, 1984, the hospital room where his wife had just given birth was raided by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps  and his home was searched three days later. In the afternoon of June 16th 1984 (ABPI, Bio). 

According to a person close to him, Dr. Asdaqi, who was denied the right to have a lawyer,  was interrogated in Evin’s Branch 8 until September. (E-form, November 24th, 2013)  No information is available on the circumstances of these interrogations, but a fellow inmate of Dr. Asdaqi’s wrote in his prison memoirs that “Farhad had no fear and would answer all the questions [asked] with courage and honesty and hence he was not tortured much” (Baha’i Library, Feb 1984 - 1989). 

Except for a brief visit immediately after his arrest, Dr. Asdaqi was unable to see his family in person until three months after his arrest. The authorities allowed him a visit with him through a glass wall on October 7th, 1984 (ABPI, Letters to Family and ABC E-form, November 24th, 2013). Two weeks later, a second visitation took place, but permission for a third visit was not issued. During his imprisonment, Dr. Asdaqi was able to write three letters to his wife (August, September and October 1984) and receive photos of his son, born after his arrest. In a note written in 2009, Mr. Asdaqi’s spouse notes that although her husband had been arrested in the summer and that Tehran’s weather was very cold that winter, authorities had refused to accept warm clothing from the family. During their visitation, Dr. Asdaqi appeared to have lost a lot of weight and was wearing a large sweater borrowed from a cellmate. 

Trial 

In an article written by Dr. Asdaqi’s wife, she states that his trial had been “conducted behind closed doors and without access by him to a lawyer”. There is no other information available about Dr. Asdaqi’s trial (IranPressWatch, 2009).  

Charges 

There is no information about the charges against Dr. Asdaqi. 

Evidence 

There is no information about the evidence used by the prosecution. 

Defense 

There is no information about the defense used by Dr. Asdaqi. In a letter to the Birjand Prosecutor regarding his arrest in 1981, Dr. Asdaqi had written a complaint to the Prosecutor related to his arrest and detention on 29 August 1981, which he believed was solely due to his religious beliefs:

 “ I have been interrogated three times by an individual named Nour Mousavi, who seems to have certain missions from Kashmar Mostazafan Foundation. I have been beaten, sworn at, subjected to insults to my sacred religious beliefs and threatened that I would be killed at the office of the detention centre. ... The reason for my detention is that I am Baha'i, because other Baha'is have been arrested in Birjand and other locations, too. Several individuals have been detained and their belongings confiscated due to their being Baha'i. 

It is obvious that it is against the constitution for the crime of being Baha'i. Therefore, I would like to officially make a complaint against the aforementioned individual... keeping in mind the actions of the said individual such as confiscation of properties, accusations of espionage, closures of medical offices and imprisonment of doctors, ... as well as threatening Baha'is to create fear and lack of security for their families...According to the laws of the Islamic Republic, and in order to pay my dues to my country, I performed my military service in Birjand and based on my religious standards, have never verbally or in practice done anything against the rules and regulations of my country..."  Farhad Asdaqi Mamaghani, letter to the Prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Birjand, October 14th, 1981 (ABPI) 

 The representatives of the Baha'i community also stressed that their members are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. They note that Baha'is' requests to access their files are usually denied, and access to attorneys is often denied. They refute the validity of charges such as participating in counter-revolutionary political activities or spying leveled against them in Iranian courts. They point out that the fundamental principles of their religion require them to show loyalty and obedience to their government and refrain from any political involvement. They believe that the accusation of espionage for Israel is unfounded and based solely on the fact that the Baha'i World Center is in Israel. They point out that this center was established on Mount Carmel in the late 19th century, long before the establishment of the State of Israel. 

Judgment 

On November 19th, 1984, Dr. Farhad Asdaqi was executed by hanging (ABPI, Bio). The authorities did not notify the family about the execution nor about the location of their loved one’s burial and did not return his personal effects. In the morning after his execution, Dr. Asdaqi’s spouse and mother went to Evin Prison hoping to finally be able to see him in person (ABC E-form, November 24th, 2013). Instead, she was forced to leave and after her insistence was given a phone number to call, which she called from a public phone an hour later. The official then told her that her husband had already been executed. The family were given an incorrect gravesite number in “la’nat Abad Cemetery” (known as Khavaran)  They were never able to find the proper site of his burial. Years later, noted his spouse, the cemetery was bulldozed over “leaving no traces of him” and erasing all hopes his wife had of their son one day being able to visit the site. “How I wish they could have at least returned his wedding band and his watch to me; so that I could have saved them as memories for his son who was a mere infant of one year and four months at the time” (IranPressWatch, 2009)

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1.    Auxiliary Board Members are a group of individuals appointed by the ‘Continental Board of Counselors’ and serve a five year term.  Their role is to strengthen Baha’i communities in their local area and to act as consultants to Local Spiritual Assembly members.
2.    ‘Slow Death for Iran’s Baha’is’ by Richard N. Ostling, Time Magazine,20 February 1984. Also see ‘The Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran, 1844-1984, by Douglas Martin, Baha’i Studies,volume 12/13, 1984, p. 3. There is no information about the current number of Baha’is in Iran.
3.    The Islamic Republic Penal Code grants no rights to Baha'is, and the courts have denied them the right to redress or to protection against assault, murder, and other forms of persecution and abuse. In so doing, the courts have treated Baha'is as unprotected citizens or "apostates," citing eminent religious authorities whose edicts are considered to be a source of law equal to acts of Parliament. The Founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, made execution a punishment for the crime of apostasy and decreed that a Muslim would not be punished for killing an apostate.

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