Muhammad and the Course of Islam by H.M. Balyuzi

In law school, it is common for a “mock trial” to be staged, to give law students some “trial practice.” Today, the term “mock trial” can also be a applied to a trial that has all the trappings and pretense of a trial, yet is a mockery of justice. The Yaran have languished in the notorious Evin Prison for well over a year and a half, without access to their lead attorney, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, who herself faces further harassment and possible arrest, were she to return to Iran. This act of compliance was a dramatic act of protest. In the Baha’i tradition of reform by “civil obedience” - rather than by “civil disobedience” - the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran (a democratically elected body of nine Baha’i men and women) formally dissolved itself in 1983, along with the remainder of the Iranian Baha’i administration. The Yaran served as an informal committee to oversee the needs of the 300,000-strong Baha’i community of Iran, whose collective freedom of religion was summarily removed when, in 1983, the Iranian regime ordered that the Baha’i administration and organization cease and desist, under threat of criminal charges. Tertullian’s Paradox, as recited in the epigraph above, may be a fair characterization of the high-profile, showcase trial of the five men and two women - known as the Yaran (the “Friends”), who face criminal charges of espionage and other treasonable charges, each of which may carry the death penalty. While the Yaran are on trial, Iran - and Iranian Islam - will be under close scrutiny by observers worldwide. In putting the Yaran on trial, Iran is thereby placing itself on trial in the court of public and international opinion. This closed trial, moreover, is remarkable for its open lack of transparency. The trial process has been characterized by a lack of due process for the accused until now. Iranian Islam, not the Yaran, on trial in the court of international opinionĪfter several postponed trial dates, Iran’s trial of the Yaran, at long last, commenced on January 12, 2010.

Muhammad and the Course of Islam by H.M. Balyuzi