Sen McGlinn

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News to April 4 « Sen's daily
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Detention of Hoshang Fana’ayan extended

RAHANA, April 4

Hoshang Fana’ayan ( هوشنگ فنائیان ), a Bahai living in Amol, was arrested at his work on March 13. His detention has now been extended. The potential charges against him are not known, and his family does not know for how long the detention has been extended. At the time of his arrest, and several months previously, his home and workplace and the home of his father were searched, and books and a computer were seized.

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Abuse in Bahai school in Suriname?

Star News, March 28

In Suriname (on the North coast of South America), the media and a member of parliament have been focusing on accusations of child abuse in a Bahai-run primary school in Bofokoele. The Dutch teacher who was principal of the school, named as Sjerome S., has been suspended for three months and asked not to come near the school. Hedy Heymans, Chairwoman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of Suriname, says that although Sjerome S. has not been proven guilty, no risks can be taken with the well-being of the children and the good name of the Bahai communty. Heymans says that the public can be assured that the Bahai community takes the case very seriously. “We consider it a very, very serious matter, and not one we can accept.”

Heymans says Sjerome S. had worked for the Bahai community since October 2010, and his background had been checked internally “without finding anything remarkable. The man has a good reputation in Bofokoele and, according to his colleagues, is a very good teacher.

In December last year there was a quarrel at the school between Sjerome and a teacher from the capital city of Paramaribo. She refused to work under him on the basis of rumours about his alleged practice with young girls. “When we heard the rumors, we brought all the teachers to the city. All the teachers from the interior [Bofokoele] refuted the charges, only the teacher from Paramaribo had a different story. “For us, it was just a rumor and you are not going to fire a well functioning school principal on that basis. He received a severe reprimand from us,”, says Heymans.

Heymans said she was not aware that Sjerome S. had been dismissed for the same reasons by Roman Catholic Diocese Education from another inland school Masiakriki. “We knew nothing, only that he had a wife and child in the interior.”

Sjerome S. said he welcomed an investigation, in the interests of the children, and had done nothing wrong. When Star News confronted him with a recording of a conversation and the suspicions expressed by other teachers, and other material indicating the charges might have some substance, he said the material had been manipulated. Both the Ministry of Justice and the human rights organisation Moiwana are said to have begun investigations. One likely outcome of the affair is the accelerated passage of new child protection legislation.

On March 30, the Minister of Justice announced that a special police team would be departing that day, to investigate the matter on the spot.

Source (in Dutch)
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Three free on bail in Kerman

Bahai News Service, March 25

Nayusha Badi`i Thabet, Shamis Nourani and Soulemaz Qasemi ( نیوشا بدیعی ثابت، شمیس نورانی و سولماز قاسمی ), three Bahai women of Kerman, were released on bail on March 13. Mrs. Thabet was involved with the administration of the child care facility in Bam, which has been subject to the attentions of the security agencies.

Source (in Persian)
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Agents seize children’s books in Semnan and Sangsar

Bahai News Service (Persian), March 25

On March 12, the homes of Mr. Sahil Qorbani ( سهیل قربانی) in Sangsar and Mr. Shirdel Firuzeyan ( شیردل فیروزیان ) in Semnan were searched by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence, who seized materials relating to children’s classes and other effects. Two other Bahai homes in Semnan, whose owners are not named, were searched on the same day.

Source (in Persian)
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Isfahan cemetery vandalized again

CHRR, March 28

Source (in Persian)

In the days following Naw Ruz, unknown persons have destroyed a considerable number of young trees planted at the Bahai cemetery of Isfahan. In October 2008, some 2500 trees at the cemetery were destroyed by vandals, who also damaged gravestones and destroyed a building used for washing bodies before burial. Since 1996 many Bahai cemeteries across Iran have been vandalized or completely destroyed.