Open Letter II to Andrew Rosenthal: Iran's Baha'is Have Names and Faces

Dear Andrew,

You didn't respond to my open letter, which I posted yesterday in this blog and also e-mailed to you.

I realize of course that as editorial page editor of The New York Times, there are many competing and compelling interests demanding attention on The Times' op-ed page. However, this paucity of space makes the determination to provide the Leveretts with three op-eds in the space of eight months, all calling for "rapprochement" with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the decision to allow Roger Cohen to write a steady stream of op-eds, claiming that "Iran is not totalitarian", all the more peculiar.

I believe there are subjects which The Times cannot afford to ignore, given its checkered past. As acknowledged by Max Frankel, former executive editor of The Times, who wrote about The Times' coverage of the Holocaust:

"AND then there was failure: none greater than the staggering, staining failure of The New York Times to depict Hitler's methodical extermination of the Jews of Europe as a horror beyond all other horrors in World War II -- a Nazi war within the war crying out for illumination.

. . . .

No article about the Jews' plight ever qualified as The Times's leading story of the day, or as a major event of a week or year. The ordinary reader of its pages could hardly be blamed for failing to comprehend the enormity of the Nazis' crime.

. . . .

And to this day the failure of America's media to fasten upon Hitler's mad atrocities stirs the conscience of succeeding generations of reporters and editors. It has made them acutely alert to ethnic barbarities in far-off places like Uganda, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. It leaves them obviously resolved that in the face of genocide, journalism shall not have failed in vain."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/news/150th-anniversary-1851-2001-turning-away-from-the-holocaust.html?pagewanted=1

Query: Why has the conscience of The Times not been stirred by Iran's barbaric oppression of its Baha'i minority? How is it possible that the Leveretts can write three op-eds for The Times calling for "rapprochement" with the Islamic Republic of Iran without ever mentioning the Baha'is? How can Roger Cohen write a yearlong series of op-eds for The Times , much of it devoted to the contention that "Iran is not totalitarian", and only mention the Baha'is once in a single passing sentence? And how can The New York Times not provide space for contrary opinion, illuminating the plight of the Baha'is, on its op-ed page?

Can Iranian discrimination against its Baha'i minority be compared with Nazi Germany's discrimination against the Jews? As observed in a February 22, 2009 Voice of America editorial "reflecting the views of the United States Government":

"More than 9 months have passed since 7 leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran were arrested and sent to prison with no access to legal counsel. Now the Iranian government has announced the 7 have been charged with espionage. The move is the latest in decades of repressive measures against the Baha'is, the largest non-Islamic religious minority in Iran. Those measures include barring Baha'is from attending public universities or working in public agencies, destroying or closing Baha'i places of worship, bulldozing Baha'i cemeteries, legally confiscating Baha'i property, and killing Baha'is with impunity."

www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-02-23-voa5.cfm

Remind you of Nazi Germany and the Jews? It should.

And what about those seven Baha'i community leaders, whose picture appears above? Their names: Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm.

Do you know what is happening to the seven? Held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since the spring of 2008, they are scheduled to go on trial on Tuesday and are being charged with espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic.

We will soon witness a show trial with a predetermined outcome. The only issue to be resolved: Who will be sentenced to death and who will be sentenced to prison and lashings?

An anti-Baha'i campaign in the Iranian news media campaign has recently intensified, and the Baha'is are being accused of provoking the tumultuous street demonstrations which occurred on the Ashura holiday on December 27. The semiofficial Fars News Agency reported that "Bahaism under the leadership of Zionism is behind the latest crisis and unrest."

And so, Andrew, I repeat my request for the opportunity to respond to the Leveretts with my own op-ed piece. Again, if you prefer someone else, I am certain there are many others, more learned than myself, waiting in line to offer rebuttal.

The New York Times owes this much to its readership and to humanity.

Best,
Jeffrey