From: farzin@apollo3d.apollo3.ntt.JP (Farzin Mokhtarian)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human,soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: Editorial in N.Y. Times (8/18/92)
Date: 22 Aug 92 07:36:57 GMT
	<oou.djvls@lab.ntt.jp> <TOWFIQ.92Aug21151012@nighthawk.clearpoint.com>
Organization: none

In article <TOWFIQ.92Aug21151012@nighthawk.clearpoint.com> towfiq@Microdyne.COM writes:

 #fm = farzin@apollo3d.apollo3.ntt.JP (Farzin Mokhtarian)
 #mt = towfiq@Microdyne.COM
 #
 #mt> [From the New York Times:] Despite recurrent reports that Iran has
 #mt> become "moderate," persecution of members of the Bahai faith has
 #mt> intensified.  On March 17, a businessman named Bahman Samandari
 #mt> was summoned to the notorious Evin prison in Teheran, where he was
 #mt> secretly executed the next day.
 #
 #fm> 1. what is their source? Supposedly "secretly" means that the
 #fm>    Iranian gov. has not admitted the alleged execution.
 #
 #  I don't know what source the New York Times used.  Potential sources
 #include the bereaved family of Dr. Samandari, the people who killed
 #him, or a spokesperson for the Islamic Republic.
 #
 #  "Secretly" means that it was not public, in other words, there was
 #no trial, no announcement of his arrest, and no announcement of his
 #excecution.  His widow was notified of his execution two weeks later
 #when the authorities gave her his will.  As the article went on to
 #quote, they still have not stated the location of his burial.
 #
 #fm> 2. *Assume* that the execution did take place. What was he charged
 #fm>    with?
 #
 #  Who knows?  There was no trial announced (I doubt there even was
 #one), and he certainly did not have a lawyer.
 #
 #fm>    If the execution was simply for being Baha'i, then the gov.
 #fm>    should be executing all baha'is in Iran.
 #
 #  The Islamic Republic leaders would like nothing more than to
 #completely wipe out all of the Baha'is.  The reason they have not is
 #because of the intense international pressure in support of the
 #Baha'is who, wherever they go, are beacons of peace, obedience, and
 #kindness.
 #
 #fm>    Was he perhaps a Baha'i AND a criminal?  Many Muslims have been
 #fm>    executed. That does NOT make the gov. anti-Islamic.
 #
 #  If he was a criminal, one would imagine that he would be arrested,
 #charged, and put on trial (as were those individuals who have been
 #smuggling drugs in Iran, or those who participated in the riots in
 #Mashhad).  This did not happen.  Also, please note that many Muslims
 #have been excecuted unjustly.  Insofar as killing people unjustly goes
 #against everything Muhammad stood for and taught, I would call this
 #very ansi-Islamic.  It is actions such as these which are eating away
 #at the very vitals of the holy religion of Muhammad.
 #
 #  In conjunction with all of the other barbaric torments, tortures,
 #and persecutions of the Baha'is in Iran, the only reasonable
 #conclusion is that Dr. Samandari was excecuted for his belief in
 #Baha'u'llah.
 #--
 #Mark Towfiq, towfiq@Microdyne.COM			      H:+1 617 488 2818

You said that you don't even know what the source of the NY Times is!
So you don't know how reliable that source is. So how can you jump to
all these conclusions?!
       
 - Farzin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"mA Ashegh o rend o mast o Alam soozim      bA mA maneshin agar na bad nAm shavi"
              
(NOT from Bahaullah!)