Mr. Jalal Azizi

Background Information Regarding Eight Executed Bahá'ís Seen on Trial in the Documentary Iranian Revolutionary Justice In December 1981, eight members of the national governing body of the Bahá'ís in Iran were executed by firing squad after 14 days in prison. A secret trial was held for them behind closed doors and the entire event was recorded on video.

The BBC has now released a documentary film called Revolutionary Justice in Iran, based on the footage of this trial which has been discovered after more than 30 years. Below you will find background information on each of the eight individuals who were arrested on 13 December 1981 and executed on 27 December of the same year.

آقای جلال عزیزی در سال 1928 در خانواده‌ای بهائی در تهران به دنیا آمد. پس از پایان دبیرستان برای تحصیلات دانشگاهی به آلمان رفت و در شهر فرایبورگ، در جنوب آن کشور، ساکن شد. پس از فارغ‌التحصیلی در اقتصاد و حقوق به ایران بازگشت، ازدواج کرد و کسب‌وکارش را آغاز کرد. او و همسرش سه فرزند داشتند. آقای عزیزی عضوی فعال در جامعه‌ی بهایی بود. طی سال‌های پرتلاطم انقلاب، سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی همواره او را تحت نظر داشت و چند بار وی را به علّت اعتقاداتِ دینی‌اش بازداشت و زندانی کرد، اما هر بار پس از یکی دو روز با وثیقه آزاد شد. اموال او و برادرانش را به جرم بهائی بودن، ضبط و مصادره کردند. افزون بر این، حساب بانکی او را مسدود کردند و وی مجبور شد معاملات مالیِ خویش را از طریق دیگران انجام دهد. او به رغم اینکه می‌دانست تحت تعقیب و نظارتِ سپاه پاسداران است به عنوان یکی از نمایندگان نهادهای بهائی برای دفاع از حقوقِ بهائیان ستمدیده با مقام‌های حکومتی دیدار می‌کرد. او و برادرش اسکندر عزیزی در یک هفته اعدام شدند. ابتدا وی به عنوان عضو محفل روحانی ملّی و سپس برادرش به عنوان عضو محفل محلی تهران اعدام شدند. برادر بزرگ‌تر .آنها، حبیب‌الله، در ماه اوت همان سال اعدام شده بود.

 Mr. Jalal Azizi was born into a Bahá’í family in Tehran in 1928. After completing his high school education, he moved to Germany to attend university there and settled in Freiburg in the south of the country. He graduated with a degree in economics and law and then returned to Iran where he married and established his own business. He and his wife had three children. Mr. Azizi was an active member of the Bahá'í community. During the turbulent years of the Revolution, he was constantly under the surveillance of the Revolutionary Guards and was arrested and imprisoned several times because of his Bahá'í beliefs, but each time he was released on bail after a day or two. His property and that of his brothers were also seized and sealed because of their beliefs. Further, he was denied access to his bank account and had to conduct his financial transactions through others. Despite the knowledge that he was followed and watched by the Revolutionary Guards, Mr. Azizi met with the authorities as one of the representative of Bahá'í institutions to plead the rights of the persecuted Bahá'ís. Mr. Azizi and his brother, Iskandar Azizi, were both executed in the same week. First, Mr. Azizi was executed as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly and then, Iskandar Azizi, as the member of the Local Assembly of Tehran. Their older brother, Habibu’llah had also been executed in August of the same year.