Under Threat: Scholar Hossein Boroujerdi Faces Execution in Iran

On July 16, 2024, in his podcast, Hossein  Boroujerdi revealed that he had been threatened with execution and assassination by both the Ministry of Intelligence and religious extremist groups operating outside Iran.

According to recent reports Hossein Boroujerdi has been the victim of escalating threats. In the first instance, one of Boroujerdi’s students was summoned and interrogated for several hours by the Ministry of Intelligence. After this incident, Boroujerdi, who is under house arrest, received a truly horrifying message from the intelligence agents.  The message stated: "Your execution was ordered a year and a half ago. Prepare for your demise." Additionally, Boroujerdi has reportedly been threatened by an Islamic jihad terrorist group due to his recent outspoken criticisms of religion, which encompass its doctrines, practices, principles, and branches of religion.

The worsening condition of Mr. Boroujerdi's health and his re-hospitalization

 

We received news that Mr. Boroujerdi was hospitalized again on Wednesday, April 16th, due to severe respiratory problems. This is the second time this month that he has been hospitalized. Mr. Boroujerdi, who was previously hospitalized for three days two weeks ago, did not feel safe in the hospital due to pressures from security forces and threats to medical staff, so he discharged himself and returned home.

Hospitalization of Mr. Boroujerdi in the Intensive Care Unit

 

Mr. Boroujerdi was hospitalized for three days due to a severe respiratory problem.

Despite suffering from various complications as a result of eleven years of imprisonment and torture in the prisons of the Islamic Republic, Mr. Boroujerdi has refrained from visiting his doctor for years out of solidarity with many Iranian citizens who cannot afford high medical expenses and also in protest against ongoing security threats and restrictions (imposed home confinement), as well as threats to the medical staff and doctors by intelligence and security agents.

The Grave Dilemma of Boroujerdi's Life!

 Mr. Boroujerdi's representatives voiced their deep concern about Boroujerdi's severe health and security in Iran. The prolonged period of house arrest and the pressures caused by the house arrest concern us greatly. He has endured such pain. Therefore, we inform the public that his condition is becoming more and more critical and violent.

Boroujerdi’s physical well-being has significantly deteriorated due to lack of access to proper medical care and essential resources during the eleven years of his imprisonment, continuation of excruciating torture in prison, and oppressive conditions of his six-year house arrest have worsened his existing health issues, so that he does not have the strength to walk and is practically paralyzed. His family is profoundly disturbed by his declining state.

And the Lord said, “You are free to speak, but only what I am wishing and willing.”

 

Boroujerdi and his family are seized officially as hostages of Allah's government, and his voices for freedom have been forced into Silence.

According to the recent report from Tehran, as the result of the continuation of the process of prolonged cruelty, pressure, and threats on Boroujerdi, he and his family are being held hostage by the Iranian government, which clearly indicates that taking hostages has become a tool of statecraft. Through the previous reports, we have repeatedly informed the public that Boroujerdi has strictly been prohibited from advocating, releasing any statements, and sympathizing with the brave Iranian movement. Besides that, he has the least amount of freedom due to the maximum security and threats that are applied on him. Today, October 30th, the Special Clerical Court agent had contacted Boroujerdi and had threatened and insulted him with scornful abuse to stop his teaching and researching, otherwise he would be killed.  Overall, they have even banned him from teaching in virtual space.

After enduring tough conditions in prison for eleven years, and imposing intolerable conditions under house arrest for six years, Boroujerdi concluded that “separating religion from politics” was not working, and it cannot perform its role in human society effectively. Furthermore, he did not perform any certain political activities, and he has only researched religious documents and held virtual classes via phone calls or dispatch audio files among his students, followers, and people who are interested in his teaching.

Today at the end of his teaching in virtual classes, Boroujerdi was forced to announce that his teaching and communicating with his students would be discontinued. Indeed, he was prohibited to teach because his teachings led to the revelation of the unreal nature of the God in religion. Also, his poetry is in support and advocacy of oppressed Iranian protesters, to bring awareness to their plight.

In the most difficult conditions from inside the prison, he had bravely sent numerous strong statements and letters to condemn the oppression and tyranny caused by religious rule to the attention of international organizations and authorities of different countries, which is accessible to the public on the Bamazadi website. Boroujerdi's current conditions under house arrest are even worse than the period that he was in prison; in other words, he does not have any right to perform any activities. In fact, Boroujerdi and his family are the hostages of Allah's government these days. It is worth mentioning that during these months, they have been threatening Boroujerdi through phone calls, and they have been interrupting or disconnecting his phone calls as well. 

Please find the full text below about his recent message regarding being banned from teaching.

Boroujerdi states: 

“I have struggled with intense pain many times from the actions of this ‘god’. He destroyed my youth during the eleven years of imprisonment where I had no access to any medical treatment, lawyer, or furlough. I feel like ‘god’ is just wasting my life! He keeps hurting me even though I am under house arrest in the worst conditions now. He has harassed me with disrupting the communication of my phone calls many times, while my mobile phone is the only main mode of communication with others. Furthermore, ‘god’ held a grudge toward me and forced me to stop teaching and expressing poetry. He says that I express the poems in vindication of the oppressed, which refers to me as an oppressor. He says that the purpose of my teaching is to express the inconsistency and incompatibility in religions, and he questioned the existence of me in reality (‘god’)! I would like to draw your attention to my current condition, that my teaching and discussions will be closed until ‘god’ allows.”

Forbid Boroujerdi on Teaching and Phone Calls

 

We would like to inform you that due to the following protests in different cities and using lethal force to crack down on protests in Iran, intimidation, and threats on Boroujerdi have been increased by the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Iran's Special Clerical Court.  In addition, using double pressure on Boroujerdi's house arrest, including attendance of a number of security forces around his house, as well as strict control, his house is still under 24-hour surveillance, and numerous disguised agents have been roaming all around.  In addition, incoming calls get disconnected after around 30 seconds, and his phone keeps dropping calls, automatically during the conversation. Making and receiving phone calls is disabled and blocked, even though WhatsApp.

Besides that, the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Iran's Special Clerical Court have been threatening and warning him via phone calls by saying, "We will cease your teaching in the virtual space soon." It should be noted that Boroujerdi's representatives overseas are not able to communicate with him due to these recently imposed pressures.

Using double pressure on Boroujerdi's house arrest, stationing a huge number of security forces around his house, and monitoring him via surveillance cameras on his daily commute, are all for the purpose of banning him from accompanying and supporting this recent freedom movement in Iran.

Using pressure and “increasingly brazen” threats against Boroujerdi to prevent him from joining the Iranian freedom movement

According to the above report from Tehran, as well as the protests of the Iranian people in the past few weeks, the threats and harassment against Boroujerdi and his students had been increasing drastically by late August 2022. Furthermore, via phone calls, the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Iran's Special Clerical Court have recently been threatening and prohibiting Boroujerdi from advocating, releasing any statements, and associating or sympathizing with the brave Iranian movement. They have imposed even more strict security on this well-known critical thinker, scholar, and religious critic. His house is still under 24-hour surveillance, and numerous disguised agents have been roaming all around since January 2017. After enduring 11 years of torture and abuse in prison, he was released from prison on temporary medical leave, and has been effectively placed under house arrest. Please note that October 8^th was the 16th anniversary of the attack on his house where Boroujerdi, along with his family and thousands of his followers, were arrested and transferred to Evin prison. On this account, the government precautions have increased significantly around his house.

In addition, using double pressure on Boroujerdi's house arrest, stationing a huge number of security forces around his house, as well as maintaining strict control and surveillance during his daily commute, are for the purpose of officially banning Boroujerdi from supporting this recent movement. Moreover, the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence have continued to disconnect his phone calls, send death threat text messages against him, and perform suspicious telephone calls. In this respect, these frequent threats have caused a lot of emotional pressure on his family and make it harder to carry out activities of daily living and essential routine tasks to prepare the basic needs of the family. In addition to that, the report inside Iran indicates that Mr. Boroujerdi's students have been threatened by hostile action, and gravely controlled!

It is obvious that in an Islamic country that has a religious government, Boroujerdi has been a public defender for over four decades, keeping company with disenfranchised people in order to advocate for the rights of Iranians. He was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured many times in the 70s and early 80s due to advocating for the separation of religion from politics, fighting religious superstitions, and rejecting any violation and punishment under the Islamic rulings. In October of 2006, Boroujerdi, along with his family and thousands of his followers, were arrested and transferred to Evin prison. Boroujerdi has been staying deeply away from prejudice when commencing extensive research and study of religious documents and historical sources of Islam. He has found gross religious inconsistencies in both Shia and Sunni sources. All these discovered contradictions have been gathered in his book.

A set of thousands of documents have been discovered that express religious internal contradictions and incompatibilities that demonstrate the unreliability of revelation, scribes, the holy book Quran and the prophet's mission. Therefore, the secondary rulings such as hijab, individual freedoms, and social justice are questioned too. Therefore, the system of punishment including arrest, penalty, threat, a prison sentence, flogging or a fine, and death that are imposed for breaking a law of not wearing hijab or even just standing up for your rights, are inaccurate. It is far away from the principles of knowledge, logic, conscience, humanity, and wisdom.

Despite the fact that he had a chance to leave the country after being released from prison, Boroujerdi preferred to stay in Iran alongside the Iranian nation and to continue his tireless movement in the field of research, studies, and teachings to enlighten the society.

It is very important to remember that Boroujerdi's purpose is a fundamental and essential movement to reveal the truth of religion and the nature of religious laws in the name of Allah, which have caused countless crimes against humanity and the oppressed nation of Iran!

Today, we are witnessing a new movement that has begun from the depths of the hearts of Iranian children, along with students and sympathetic people. These people have experienced a bitter life in a religious society with a religious government that is full of suffocation and oppression, beyond the theories of religious intellectuals who try to give justification for religious crimes. In fact, in the best possible way, they have been demonstrating the invalidity of justification of the practice of religious law in the public sphere. Iranians are rising to demand their fundamental human rights, including justice, life, freedom and civic rights, as well as women's rights. Therefore, their demands should be given serious international attention.

 October 2022

 

 

Boroujerdi's Representatives call all Islamic Scholars, Especially Sunni Scholars, to Support the Iranian People

 

Dear Islamic scholars, especially Ahl As-Sunnah wa Al-Jama’ah scholars,

Greetings and blessings to you all who are defenders of humanity,

You are certainly cognizant of the current situation in The Islamic Republic of Iran, well known as an Islamic country, where a new movement has been erupted across Iran in protest the murder of an innocent young Iranian girl, Mahsa Amini, 22, who died after being detained by Iranian morality police. The consequence of this murder that occurred by the name of Allah and under the principal of Islamic law has led to the awakening of Iranians’ conscience and all the justice-seekers across the world. A movement ignited by hidden fire under the ashes which was caused by suffocated protests of oppressed nations and those who are suffering from religious laws, which led it to an explosion! An explosion that killed a great number of our compatriots overall Iran, specifically in Kurdistan and Zahedan. Now, our respected compatriots, mostly those who are living near the provinces’ border, where many of them are Sunnis and have been under religious and ethnic discrimination for many years. They have faced the tragedy of indiscriminate and brutal slaughter due to the internet disconnection and lack of access to the network for reporting information especially in Sanandaj and Zahedan.

Targeted Assassinations Against Boroujerdi Increased Dramatically

 According to the recent report from Tehran, the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC's intelligence have repeatedly sent death threats against Boroujerdi via text message and suspicious telephone calls. Boroujerdi’s family believes that their personal safety is on the line because these harassing text messages and calls from anonymous numbers have been increasing.

Furthermore, due to a deterioration of his health and a high-grade fever, Boroujerdi was taken to a hospital last week. Boroujerdi had been injected with an unknown substance, soon after physical examination, by wicked and unscrupulous agents who disguised themselves as doctors. The effects of suspicious injections were revealed in the form of frequent loss of consciousness and stroke, and it also caused him near fatal falls from the stairs at his house. The falls have resulted in serious injuries, including kidney, brain, pulmonary, and cardiovascular dysfunction.

Statement of Boroujerdi's Representative Office concerning harassment of cultural activists of this organization inside Iran

 

According to the news received from inside Iran, following the security threat of a number of scientific-cultural activists and defenders of Boroujerdi's ideas, all activities held so far on the Clubhouse platform will be stopped until further notice. This decision is according to the discretion made by Mr. Boroujerdi, the Founder of Monotheism Without Borders. 

The message (2) of Mr. Boroujerdi, the Founder of Monotheism Without Borders to the Virtual Conference of the Parliament of World’s Religions, 2021

 

What does religion mean for you? The general definition of religion is a set of organized beliefs and practices that leads us to God. What is your understanding of sharia law? The Sharia literally means the path, course, or route followed by people. What is your understanding of religious people? A religious person is a person who strives to fulfill God's commandments in all aspects of their life. A religious person is someone who is committed to ethics and beliefs of a religious ideology, school of thought, or intellectual tradition that clarifies their obligation and the role of their lives. In spite of everything, you are all educated in your religion.

The message of Mr. Boroujerdi, the Founder of Monotheism Without Borders to the Virtual Conference of the Parliament of World’s Religions, 2021

 Greetings to all the founders of the parliamentary of religion, the world’s religious leaders, panelists, and symposium organizers,

Peace be upon all the prophets,

You have gathered at this conference to advocate your religion. Each of you belongs to a particular religion, faith, or spiritual belief. Many of your beliefs are not chosen; the majority of you were born to parents who live within a particular country and so your religion is something that you were born into and brought up with, and eventually, you will die in that religion. Then, you will find the great promise and hope that religions have offered related to the afterlife.

 I wish you would consider attending under the title of “No Religion” in the 8th Parliament of the World’s Religions gathering. From where I’m standing, according to the historical documents and primary sources in religions, "No religion is a religion.” In other words, rejection of religious beliefs systems is a religion.