[PROVISIONAL TRANSLATION FROM PERSIAN]

 

[Translator’s notes appear in square brackets]

[Personal information has been redacted.]

 

[Samples of the questions which were asked in the interrogation of one of the Baha’is]

1363 [1984/1985]

 

Sample Questions:

1. Personal, family and job details
2. Have you ever been a member of a Spiritual Assembly?
3. You Baha’is who marry your own mothers and sisters… how can this be called a religion? (verbal)
4. Baha’is do not practice circumcision; they do not deny this, do they?
5. Do you not accept that your Tahereh [removed her] veil?
6. According to your laws, the rights of men and women must be equal. If a man is a street cleaner, should a woman be one too?
7. Did you become a Baha’i on your own or were you born in a Baha’i family?
8. At what age, and where, were you registered as a Baha’i?
9. Is your wife a Baha’i?
10. Is your eldest son registered?
11. Why? Are they not supposed to be registered at the age of 16?
12. Write down whatever activities you had in the Baha’i administration, from the time of your registration till now.
13. In which years were you a member of the Spiritual Assembly?
14. Write down the names of the members of the Spiritual Assembly of [name of the locality]
15. Who was the chairman of the Assembly?
16. Who was the vice-chairman?
17. Who was the secretary of the Assembly?
18. Who was in charge of the registration?
19. Who was in charge of marriages?
20. Who performed the marriage ceremony?
21. Have there been, and are there now, any weddings since the closure of the Assembly?
22. Who is responsible for officiating marriages now?
23. Does anyone who wants to get married have to be registered?
24. Can you also marry those who are not Baha’is?
25. Is marriage the right of every human being?
26. If someone who is not registered and wants to get married at the age of, say, 17 or 18, should they wait?
27. Do you perform ghusl? [1]
28. How do your wives, at the time of their monthly [courses], and yourselves after (can’t bring one’s self to repeat), perform ghusl?
29. How many active committees did you have? Write down their duties.
30. How much money have you collected so far, and who did you give it to?
31. How would you have assisted someone who might have had needs?
32. Who received salaries/wages from the Assembly?
33. How much [salary] did you receive from the Assembly?
34. Have you travelled to Israel?
35. Write down the methods of election of the members of the Assembly.
36. What are the duties of the Assembly?
37. Who supervises the members of a committee and how are they chosen?
38. What are the duties of a committee?
39. If the local Assembly has a problem that it cannot solve on its own, who would it refer to?
40. Do they not have a higher authority to tell them what to do?
41. Whose authority does the National Assembly abide by?
42. Where is the Universal House of Justice?
43. Who elects the members of the National Assembly and the Universal House of Justice?
44. Should every order received from the Universal House of Justice be obeyed?
45. If, as under the present circumstances, when the Baha’i administration is shut down in Iran, the Universal House of Justice asks you to cooperate with it in any way at all, would you obey?
46. [Part of number 45]
47. We asked this same question from one of very high tiers and they answered with pleasure; but now you answer this way!
48. Are you an Assistant?
49. Who are the Assistants of [name of the locality]?
50. How can the Assembly secretary not know the Assistants?
51. What are the duties of the Assistants?
52. What is osbah[2]?
53. Has any of the members of your Assembly been arrested in the current or previous years?
54. If you people take over the government, how would you treat us?
55. What would happen if one day all, or the majority, are Baha’is?
56. What is the goal of the Baha’i religion?
57. In [name of the locality], or around it, you have Baha’is with financial means, then how do you not have money?
58. Did you become a Baha’i on your own?
59. At what age, and where, did you become registered as a Baha’i?
60. How many years have you been working at this job of -----?
61. Why were you subjected to purging?
62. Write down your activities in the Baha’i administration, from the time of your registration till now.
63. In which years were you a member of the Assembly?
64. What was your position in the Baha’i administrative system?
65. Name the members of your Assembly.
66. Who was the chairman?
67. Which countries did you travel to?
68. Name the members of the National Assembly.
69. What is the name of the secretary of the National Assembly?
70. How did the communications take place?
71. Write down the name of your message courier.
72. What is their address?
73. How did the messenger contact you?
74. Did [they] always contact you only or did they contact others as well?
75. How many letters, and about what subjects, did you write to the National Assembly?
76. How was your contact with the Israeli Universal House of Justice?
77. Why were you arrested in [name of locality]?
78. Write down the names of the Baha’is of [name of locality] whom you know.
79. After the closing of the Assembly, do marriages still take place?

 

[1] [Ghusl: A term referring to the full body washing required if the adult loses the state of bodily cleanliness; it is used in Islam by adults prior to ablution for various rituals and prayers; to wash the entire body in a rigorous manner.]

[2] [This word, in Arabic has several meanings, one of which (pronounced osbah) is used in the Baha’i Writings to mean a group or gathering or team of people. It is very much possible that having seen the word in the Baha’i Writings confiscated, yet not familiar with Arabic words and phrases, the interrogator is trying to understand the meaning of it]