The World - News from June 30, 1988

Iran’s persecution of the Bahai sect, an offshoot of Islam regarded as heretical by the nation’s Muslim fundamentalist leaders, has lessened in the past year, Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary for external affairs of the assembly representing 100,000 American Bahais, told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on human rights. Although Iran executed 195 Bahais and arrested thousands since the Iranian revolution began in 1979, none have been executed since September and none have been arrested since February, he said. He attributed the release of some prisoners and improved conditions for others to pressure from Congress, the United Nations and human rights groups as well as disunity in Iran’s leadership.