Monday, January 24, 2005

Baha'i Administration Denies Deportation Story

Inquirers asking their NSAs, or other Baha'i officials, about the press release concerning two foreign Baha'is arrested and deported from Iran are being told that the administration knows nothing about these people, and doubts that the story is true. So, at this point, I don't know what to think. Somebody is lying, but I'm not so skeptical of the Baha'i administration that I would think it more untrustworthy than the government of Iran, which is where the story originated. A journalist friend of mine told me that the Iranian government wouldn't hesitate to invent a story out of the whole cloth, where Baha'is are concerned. On the other hand, there were certain details that made the story plausible, and it was reported in the opposition press, who you think would be careful of something likely to be sheer propaganda. The economic assistance outreach to young Iranian Baha'is was very much an "unofficial" program, carried out on the instructions of individual UHJ members -- it may be that the administration as a whole doesn't know about this. If two deported Baha'is arrived in London, after being involved in a "secret mission", so to speak, it might never become generally known, even at the higher levels of the administration. Even the Baha'i administration only knows what is reported to it.

So, folks, take your pick. I've told you all the information I've been given at this point.

No comments: