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

Yusef Abbassian Milani

About

Age: 53
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Baha'i
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: August 21, 1980
Location of Killing: Naft Street, Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Enforced disappearance

About this Case

Information regarding the killing of Mr. Yusef Abbassian Milani, son of Mohammad (known as Samadof) and Tahereh, was obtained from documents published on the Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website (Date of research: July 23, 2021). Additional information about this case was obtained from an interview conducted by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with Shahin Milani, human rights activist and son of a disappeared member of the Baha’is Second Spiritual Assembly (June 12, 2017); the book Shohada-ye Amr-e Elahi (“Martyrs of the Baha’i Faith”) by Ariana Khadem-Mahmudi, Juxta Publications (2012); the book One Hundred and Sixty Years of Fighting the Baha’i Faith, by Fereydun Vahman, Sweden, Baran Publications (2010-11); the book Sahifeye Nur, Ayatollah Khomeini, Volume 17 (May 28, 1982); Jomhuri-e Eslami newspaper (January 27, 1982); Kayhan newspaper (October 19, 1981); Ettela’at newspaper (July 2, 1979, December 22, 1981); Andalib Magazine, Second Year, Volume 7, pages 49 to 52 (Summer 1983); Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website (July 23, 2021, June 3, 1980, June 17, 2019, August 23, 1980, October 23, 1980, November 1, 1980); BBC Persian website (October 11, 2015); Asoo website (August 9, September 6, and October 6, 2015). 

Doctor Yusef Abbassian Milani was born in 1927-28, into a Baha’i family in Eshghabad (Tabas) County in South Khorasan Province. (Archives of Baha’I Persecution, September 15, 2021). He finished elementary school in Tabriz. He subsequently went to Khorasan Province when his father was transferred there due to his job, and from there to Tehran, where he enrolled in Dar-ol-Fonoon School. In the years he lived in Tehran, and as he was studying, he became a member of local and national Lajneh. He finished dental school at the Tehran University Faculty of Dentistry, with a concentration in maxillofacial surgery. Mr. Milani initially decided not to use an American scholarship to continue his education there, given a travel prohibition for Baha’is, and went to Kermanshah to perform his mandatory military service instead. After the prohibition was lifted in 1959, however, he went to the United States to obtain a specialty. Upon his return from the United States, Mr. Milani opened a medical practice in Tehran. He was elected council member of the Baha’i Faith’s Deputyship for Organizational Affairs. He actively participated in Baha’i-related affairs during that period and played a role in establishing Baha’i National Spiritual Councils in several countries, including Afghanistan. (Golestan-e Eshgh Facebook Page, September 23, 2018).

The Deputyship Council in the Baha’i Faith’s organizational structure where Mr. Abbassian Milani was a member, includes individuals who “are appointed upon a decision by the Continental Advisory Board for a five-year term, and engage in promoting and strengthening Baha’I communities in the territories where they are active, which usually include smaller regions in a specific country. The deputies have an advisory role in relation with local Spiritual Councils”. (Archives of Baha’I Persecution, September 15, 2021).

After the 1979 Revolution, Mr. Abbassain Milani did not heed the advice of his friends and acquaintances to leave Iran. He actively participated in the Baha’I communities administrative institutions inside Iran. (Golestan-e Eshgh Facebook Page, September 23, 2018).

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

Authorities of the Islamic Republic have subjected the members of the Baha'i religious community of Iran (the largest minority, with approximately three hundred thousand members) [1] 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. [2]

They have been banned from any activities in the public realm, and their political, social, and economic rights are constantly violated. Baha’is are deprived of the right to education, particularly higher education, and are banned from holding jobs in the government or in government-affiliated entities. They are not even safe and secure in owning private businesses, and in many cases, their places of business have either been attacked by individuals and groups affiliated with the government or are shut down for refusing to work on religious holy days. The Iranian regime arrests Baha’is on trumped up charges on a regular basis. 

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). 

Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly After the Islamic Revolution 

In the organizational structure of the Baha’i community, the institution of the National Spiritual Assembly is a body composed of nine individuals that are elected annually with the votes of adult Baha’is in each country. This institution tends to the affairs and issues of the Baha’i community on the national level. The National Spiritual Assembly has the responsibility of guiding, coordinating, and moving forward the activities of each country’s local spiritual assemblies, and establishing contact with Beit-al-Adl (“House of Justice”), the international council of the Baha’i faith, the highest decision-making authority in the world Baha’i community. 

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 their members were executed. In “The Final Message of the Iran National Spiritual Assembly to the Friends of the Country”, the Third Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly, abiding by the principle of obeying the government, announced the closure of the Baha’i organizations, and at the same time, sent an open letter to two thousand well-known and high-ranking government figures asking an end to the arrest, detention, torture, execution, and injustice against Baha’is. (BBC Persian website, October 11, 2015). 

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 Spiritual Assemblies. In a speech on May 28, 1982, Ayatollah Khomeini said: “The Baha’is are not a religion, they’re a [political] party; it’s a party that was supported by Britain in the past, and now it’s being supported by America. They are spies.” (Sahifeye Noor, Volume 17, May 28, 1982).

The Baha’is deny the charge of relations with countries such as Israel, citing “the religious principle of ‘the requirement of staying out of politics’. They say 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 9, 2015). 

It must be noted that the Beit-al-Adl was established in Haifa at a time where there was no such country as the state of Israel. The founders of the Baha’i faith, Baha’ollah in particular, had no choice but to leave Iran in the latter part of the 19thCentury under pressure and persecution, and to turn to Turkey and Iraq. 

Baha’ollah did not escape persecution under the Ottoman Empire either. He was imprisoned for a time in present day Turkey and was released in 1908. In 1909, Baha’ollah transferred the body of Ali Mohammad Baab – who had been executed in Iran in 1850 – to Beit-al-Adl. A short time before the start of the First World War, Baha’ollah settled as the leader of the Baha’is in Haifa, a city where Beit-al-Adl is located, and began to tend to the affairs and the issues of the Baha’i community. After World War I, when Palestine was under the British Mandate, the Baha’i community remained safe from persecution. (Boroumand Center research). 

Arrest and death of Mr. ِYusef Abbassian Milani 

On August 21, 1980, the First National Spiritual Assembly held a joint meeting with members of the Deputy Council, Mr. Yussef abbasian Milani and Heshmatollah Rohani, in order to discuss the situation of imprisoned Baha’is in the cities of Yazd and Hamedan. The Assembly members’ concerns were justified because the members of these two cities’ Spiritual Assemblies, all of whom had been arrested in the previous weeks, were executed in 1980 and 1981. Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon of August 21, “armed Revolutionary Guards'' attacked the Assembly, and took away Mr. Abbassian Milani and Mr. Rohani as well as the members of the National Spiritual Assembly, Hossein Naji, Manuher Qa'em Maqami, Hushang Mahmudi, Ebrahim Rahmani, Abdolhossein Taslimi, Ata’ollah Moqarrebi, Yussef Khorassani Qadimi, Kambiz Sadeqzadeh Milani, and Bahieh Naderil. There was no trace of them afterward, ever again. (Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website, July 3, 2018). 

Given the execution of the members of the Second Assembly and most of the members of the Third Assembly, which convened after the First, the Baha’i community has no doubt that they were all murdered. (Shohada-ye Amr-e Elahi, p. 156; BBC Persian website, October 11, 2015). 

There is no information regarding Mr. Abbassian Milani’s burial site.

Officials’ Reaction 

The Islamic Republic authorities (official or not) never officially accepted responsibility for the arrest and execution of the members of the Baha’is First National Spiritual Assembly. Nevertheless, in a meeting the spouses of the disappeared had with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on September 2, 1980, the then-Head of the Parliament claimed that “these Baha’is are in detention for their participation in the Nojeh coup d’état”. These charges were vehemently denied by the Baha’is. One week later, on September 10, 1980, Rafsanjani stated that the order to arrest the 11 Baha’is had been issued, but that their families were not allowed to visit with them until the conclusion of preliminary investigations. He gave assurances that they would be freed if they were found to be innocent. On September 18, 1980, the country’s Prosecutor General announced that 9 Baha’i individuals had been arrested on charges of participating in the recent failed coup attempt. (The book One Hundred and Sixty Years of Fighting the Baha’i Faith, p. 426). 

Addressing the execution of the members of the Baha’is Second National Spiritual Assembly, Ahmad Tavakkoli, Minister of Labor and government Spokesman, stated: “Not only do we not execute Baha’is simply because they’re Baha’i, we also do not kill communists just because they’re communists. We do not consider holding a belief to be a crime. But if an individual, with any type of belief, wants to take action against the interests of the people, that individual will be tried and punished in accordance with the law. We will not allow people who take money from Israel and engage in espionage in Iran to remain in this country; we will deal with them in the harshest possible manner and it makes no difference if they are called Moslem or non-Moslem.” (Jomhuri Eslami newspaper, January 27, 1982). 

Additionally, Ayatollah Mohammadi Gilani, the Chief Shari’a Judge of the Central (Tehran) Islamic Revolutionary Courts stated this about Baha’is: “There are two kinds of Mortad (“apostates”), Fetri apostate and Melli apostate. Fetri apostate is one who was born into Islam, that is, one or both of his/her parents were Moslem at the time of birth, and Melli apostate is one whose birth was not in that fashion. The punishment for a Fetri apostate is death and his/her repentance will not be accepted.” (Kayhan newspaper, October 19, 1981). 

The anti-Baha’i statements of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Guardian High Scholar and founder of the Islamic Republic, such as “they are apostates … they must be eliminated” (Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website, June 17, 2019), as well as general policies where anti-Baha’ism has been institutionalized, alongside charges that were brought in the Baha’is Second National Spiritual Assembly trial, clarify to a great extent the motive for the killing of the members of the Baha’is First National Spiritual Assembly. 

A video of the trial session of 7 male members of the Baha’is Second National Spiritual Assembly has been published in recent years [3]. The defendants at this trial were faced with a wide spectrum of charges such as “waging psychological war and propaganda against the [Islamic Republic] Regime” which included collecting documentation and correspondence with international institutions for the purpose of seeking justice, as well as the content of the Baha’is National Spiritual Assembly’s correspondence in the 1960’s and not condemning Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. (Asoo website, August 9, 2015). 

Follow-ups on the attacks against the life and property of Baha’is, before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, were done by members of local and national spiritual assemblies. Documenting the evidence of violations of Baha’is’ rights in various eras, members of these assemblies first corresponded with governmental authorities, and if their actions in seeking justice did not bear fruit, they would correspond with international institutions to seek remedies. The Islamic Republic authorities considered the Baha’is’ correspondence and working with officials of the previous regime, as well as their correspondence with international institutions, as propaganda against the Islamic Regime.

Familys’ Reaction

After four decades, family members of the Baha’is First National Spiritual Assembly still do not have any definitive information about the fate of their loved ones. Following up on their cases, they met with various officials of the Judiciary and Legislative Branches: While expressing a lack of knowledge as to what had happened, the latter stated that the government was not at fault in the kidnapping of these individuals, and attributed the actions to obstinate groups that did not answer to anyone. (Radio Zamaneh, December 21, 2013). The family members have stated that they had made great efforts in the first months after “the disappearance” of their loved ones to obtain information. Vajdieh Rezvani said: “ … We went everywhere you could possibly imagine: This prison, that prison, to Ayatollah Beheshti, Ayatollah Montazeri’s son, Ayatollah Behjat, Ayatollah Gilani, and they all said they did not know anything and had no information … ” (BBC Persian website, October 11, 2015). 

In a letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, the then-leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, dated November 1, 1980, the families of the 11 detained Baha’is, including Ms. Soraya Abbassian Milani (sister of Mr. Abbassian Milani), alluded to the lack of news about their loved ones and emphasized that “the only reason they were arrested was because they were Baha’i”. They asked him to issue a decree to the effect that “the necessary investigations about these 11 individuals be conducted and that the means of their release” be secured. They further asked that “arrangements be made that these individuals’ family members be apprised of their place of detention so that they can visit them prior to their release, and stop worrying." (Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website). In a letter dated October 23, 1980, to Abolhassan Bani Sadr, President; Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, Minister of the Interior; Ayatollah Qoddussi, Revolutionary Prosecutor General; Ayatollah Mussavi Ardebili, Islamic Republic Prosecutor General; and Ayatollah Heshemi Rafsanjani, Head of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (“Majless” or Parliament), the families emphasized once again that the only reason for the arrest of the 11 individuals was that they were Baha’i, and asked that these officials order that “investigations be conducted into the manner and place of the aforementioned individuals’ arrest, and arrangements be made for their release.” (Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website). 

In a letter to Ayatollah Qoddussi, Islamic Republic Revolutionary Prosecutor General, dated August 23, 1980, the detainees’ families stated the names of the 9 detained members of the Baha’is First National Spiritual Assembly, and further stated that they had no news of where their loved ones were being detained, and added: “What we know for certain is that they were arrested for being followers of the Baha’i faith. Pursuant to [their] religious tenets, Baha’is are prohibited from interfering in political affairs, and consider obedience to the government a definitive obligation. It is self-evident and certain that any aspersion or slander, and any injustice, will not be to the Almighty’s liking.” (Archives of Baha’i Persecution in Iran website). 

After four decades, family members still do not have any information about the details of the events. According to the son of an Assembly member, however, ever since 1981, the time of the execution of the members of the Baha’is Second National Spiritual Assembly by firing squad, it was clear to the families that the members of the First Assembly had met with the same faith and “had been killed”. (Boroumand Center interview with Shahin Milani, June 12, 2017).

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[1] ‘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.
[2] 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. 
[3] The time between the members of the Baha’is Second National Spiritual Assembly’s arrest (December 13, 1981) and their trial (December 27, 1981) is about two weeks. The possibility has been advanced that the defendants spent these two weeks in solitary confinement. Furthermore, many legal defects have been attributed to said trial, including the fact that the judge began the session by introducing the defendants, and not himself. “We see in the video that the judge calls the National Spiritual Assembly’s report to the World Baha’i Headquarters fabricated and political. Therefore, issuance of a decision and sentence based on falsehoods and unlawful [conjecture] is clear evidence of the illegality and illegitimacy of the trial.” (Asoo website, September 6, 2015). 

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