21st session of the Human Rights Council: GENEVE UN
Panel of human right in Islamic rep of Iran

The situation of Zoroastrians community in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Zoroastrians have one representative in the Iranian parliament. But the right to have a representative as a religious minority group does not guarantee human rights for Zoroastrians in the larger Iranian society.
Due to strict laws, censorship and filtering in Iran there has not been a thorough analysis of the status of Zoroastrians living in Iran. What follows is my personal observations and interviews with fellow Zoroastrians regarding violations of the rights of Zoroastrians in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
1. Right after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the zealot revolutionaries entered the Atashkadeh (religious place) and replaced the picture of Ayatollah Khomeini in the place of Zoroastrian prophet. This insulting act was considered violence against Zoroastrians by many in the community.
This is direct opposition to article 18 and 19 of Universal Declaration of Human rights (UN documents).
2. During the early years of the establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran, the clergies and major power-holders in the regime, the Muslim workers in the offices and governmental agencies avoided Zoroastrians which led to many Zoroastrians leaving their jobs involuntary or being expelled.
According to article 1, 22 and 23 of Universal Human Rights Declaration as well as article 2, 4 and sub-article 5, religious minorities have the inalienable right to participate in economic planning of their country and the state has the right to ensure their right to fully live their lives according to their culture.

3. There is a difference in legal rights between Zoroastrians and Muslims: In a Zoroastrian family, if one person converts to Islam, s/he inherits the wealth of the family. If a Zoroastrian kills a Muslim person, s/he might get prosecuted but the vice versa is not true. There is an added hardship to the life of Zoroastrians; namely a widely shared cultural value that non-Muslims including Zoroastrians are ‘filthy’ which leads to Muslims avoiding interaction with non-Muslims in general and Zoroastrians in particular.
The above-mentioned legal and cultural inequalities are considered violations of human rights according to article 1, 5, 7, and 22 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding the rights of minorities.
4. In the recent years, there have been reports of marriage between Zoroastrian women and Muslim women in the Islamic Republic of Iran. These marriages have been reported to involve forced conversion of Zoroastrian women into Islam which constitutes “modern slavery”.
The above-mentioned forced conversions into Islam are violations of article 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 16, and 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which condemns slavery in any way or format.
5. The strict regulations and violent enforcement of women’s dress code in the Islamic Republic of Iran demonstrates a clear case of violations of the rights of religious minorities who are subject to the same laws and regulations that exist for Muslim women.
This is in violation of article 3 and 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which clearly state that religious minorities should have the right to freely express their religious affiliation without fear of retaliations by state agents.
6. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran forces its own standards on the independent Zoroastrian agencies. An example of this suppression and restriction of freedom of religious activity is the state suppression of the independent organization of Zoroastrian women that has been established in 1945 with the aim of elevating the religious, cultural and economic level of engagement of Zoroastrian women in the society. The Iranian state mandates that this organization should abide by the strict gender roles of the Islamic Republic and only allows the organization to conduct classes on “cooking, arts and crafts and knitting” for Zoroastrian women.
The above-mentioned patterns of suppression of independent religious NGOs illustrate the violation of article 20 and 27 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It should be noted that the Iranian state engages in a cover-up of its violations of religious minorities’ rights by putting up a propaganda that gives off the appearance that the Iranian state promotes the rights of minorities. This propaganda involves the right granted to the international Zoroastrian assembly to conduct its 6th world congregation in Tehran. The sole purpose of the Iranian state in allowing this congregation to take place in Iran was to show that religious minorities’ rights are not violated as the state supports a religious minority assembly in its soil. The truth, however, is the opposite: Zoroastrians’ rights are violated on daily basis as it has been documented in this report.

The Chain Murders in Zoroastrian society
The Chain Murders of the Iranian opposition refers to the murders of well known political and social opposition in and out of Iran in early 1980s. It started after the religious order by high ranked clergies like Ghorbanali Dorri Najafabadi the Security Minister at the time and the official order of Saeed Emami, the Deputy Minister of Ali Fallahian, the Security Minister in the Presidential Cabinet of Hashemi Rafsanjani and Dorri Najafabadi the first Security Minister in Mohammad Khatami’s Cabbinet, Mostafa Mousavi Kazemi the Deputy Security Minister and Mehrdad Aalikhani.
Also with regards to the fact that the Security Minister is chosen by the direct decision of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Leader of the IRI has had the direct responsibility in all of these murders.
Some of the victims of these murders are; Dr. Kourosh Aariamanesh in France, Fereidon Felfeli in Madrid, Kasra Vafadari in France, Jamshid Roudaki in Tajikestan and Manouchehr Farhangi in Mardid. I would like to explain briefly about the murder of Dr. Kasra Vafadari.
Dr. Kasra Vafadari who had come to Paris for heart treatment, was murdered by the strokes of a knife at his home by the terrorist agent Mehdi Shadi Komeleh – hired by the IRI- on Thursday May 17th at night, one day before the return to Iran.
Mehdi Shadi Komeleh was the nickname for Shahin, the 42 year old the Revolutionary Guard from Tehran who had served in the front lines of the war in South of Iran for one year. According to Police investigations, Mehdi Shadi Komele is one of the 4000 military members who had been sent to the Bosnia by the IRI.
Dr. Kasra Vafadari was a 60 year old man, the chair of the Zoroastrian Society, the resident of France, with the Zoroastrian beliefs and deep sense of loyalty to his homeland, Iran and the Iranian Culture. While he was respectful towards all other religions and beliefs, he was outspoken regarding the prejudice and the reactionary believes of the radical Islamists in Iran.
At the end, I have to mention that along with the tendency of the Iranian society toward the more recognition of their own basic and original culture; and joining of the more young generation to Zoroastrians; the tolerance of IRI toward the Zoroastrian Society and even the education of them in the Zoroastrian schools like <<Firooz Bahram>> or <<Pendar Nik>> is declining.

Establishment of Qoran Studies in the Zoroastrian schools “ Giv” according to the resolution of the Ministry of Education in May 2011, is an example of this type of assault and pressure.

The situation of Zoroastrians community in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Zoroastrians have one representative in the Iranian parliament. But the right to have a representative as a religious minority group does not guarantee human rights for Zoroastrians in the larger Iranian society.
Due to strict laws, censorship and filtering in Iran there has not been a thorough analysis of the status of Zoroastrians living in Iran. What follows is my personal observations and interviews with fellow Zoroastrians regarding violations of the rights of Zoroastrians in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
1. Right after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the zealot revolutionaries entered the Atashkadeh (religious place) and replaced the picture of Ayatollah Khomeini in the place of Zoroastrian prophet. This insulting act was considered violence against Zoroastrians by many in the community.
This is direct opposition to article 18 and 19 of Universal Declaration of Human rights (UN documents).
2. During the early years of the establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran, the clergies and major power-holders in the regime, the Muslim workers in the offices and governmental agencies avoided Zoroastrians which led to many Zoroastrians leaving their jobs involuntary or being expelled.
According to article 1, 22 and 23 of Universal Human Rights Declaration as well as article 2, 4 and sub-article 5, religious minorities have the inalienable right to participate in economic planning of their country and the state has the right to ensure their right to fully live their lives according to their culture.

3. There is a difference in legal rights between Zoroastrians and Muslims: In a Zoroastrian family, if one person converts to Islam, s/he inherits the wealth of the family. If a Zoroastrian kills a Muslim person, s/he might get prosecuted but the vice versa is not true. There is an added hardship to the life of Zoroastrians; namely a widely shared cultural value that non-Muslims including Zoroastrians are ‘filthy’ which leads to Muslims avoiding interaction with non-Muslims in general and Zoroastrians in particular.
The above-mentioned legal and cultural inequalities are considered violations of human rights according to article 1, 5, 7, and 22 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding the rights of minorities.
4. In the recent years, there have been reports of marriage between Zoroastrian women and Muslim women in the Islamic Republic of Iran. These marriages have been reported to involve forced conversion of Zoroastrian women into Islam which constitutes “modern slavery”.
The above-mentioned forced conversions into Islam are violations of article 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 16, and 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which condemns slavery in any way or format.
5. The strict regulations and violent enforcement of women’s dress code in the Islamic Republic of Iran demonstrates a clear case of violations of the rights of religious minorities who are subject to the same laws and regulations that exist for Muslim women.
This is in violation of article 3 and 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which clearly state that religious minorities should have the right to freely express their religious affiliation without fear of retaliations by state agents.
6. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran forces its own standards on the independent Zoroastrian agencies. An example of this suppression and restriction of freedom of religious activity is the state suppression of the independent organization of Zoroastrian women that has been established in 1945 with the aim of elevating the religious, cultural and economic level of engagement of Zoroastrian women in the society. The Iranian state mandates that this organization should abide by the strict gender roles of the Islamic Republic and only allows the organization to conduct classes on “cooking, arts and crafts and knitting” for Zoroastrian women.
The above-mentioned patterns of suppression of independent religious NGOs illustrate the violation of article 20 and 27 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It should be noted that the Iranian state engages in a cover-up of its violations of religious minorities’ rights by putting up a propaganda that gives off the appearance that the Iranian state promotes the rights of minorities. This propaganda involves the right granted to the international Zoroastrian assembly to conduct its 6th world congregation in Tehran. The sole purpose of the Iranian state in allowing this congregation to take place in Iran was to show that religious minorities’ rights are not violated as the state supports a religious minority assembly in its soil. The truth, however, is the opposite: Zoroastrians’ rights are violated on daily basis as it has been documented in this report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRTjizUkHAY&feature=plcp