Why Iran Matters To Africa

What do the human rights of minorities in Iran, in the Middle East, have to do with Africans, writes MAZIAR BAHARI in the Daily Vox

I started to answer this question when I made my film The Cost of Discrimination in 2017. The film follows the life of an Iranian economist, Dr Iraj Abedian, who has lived in South Africa for many years and who was an economic adviser to Nelson Mandela. Dr Abedian is also a Baha’i – a member of Iran’s largest religious minority.

Dr. Abedian represents what Iran loses by persecuting the Baha’is. Iran’s loss was South Africa’s gain; aside from serving Mandela, Dr Abedian runs a successful consulting business, and continues to promote South Africa’s best interests at home and abroad. He is now as much a South African as he is an Iranian.

Many people across all African countries know of the Baha’is – because although this religion began in Iran (where it is the largest religious minority) there are also many African Baha’is. Kampala, in Uganda, even has a Baha’i House of Worship, and Baha’is across the continent help their communities to make a better prosperous future for Africa. One inspiring example is a Malawian woman named Maina Mkandawire. Maina began a school in her spare time and without any funding, in the capital of Lilongwe in 1993, with only a few dozen children. Twenty-five years later the school now serves more than 800 students.

Read the full article on the DailyVox