Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

 

Over the past several months, a series of cross-border defamatory attacks have been directed at me and at the minority Bayānī (Azalī Bābī) tradition I represent. These most recent assaults—originating in Europe then Canada and disseminated through platforms associated with Cannabis Culture—did not arise in a vacuum. They stand at the end of a long historical chain of institutional discrimination and sectarian vilification that began nearly three decades ago. For this reason, I have submitted a formal communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, documenting:

1.     Discriminatory actions by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States,

2.     The 4 November 1997 directive by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia instructing local bodies to monitor and avoid/shun me, and

3.     The December 2000 public notice in the Australian Bahá’í Bulletin labelling me as an enemy to be shunned.

These documents reveal a sustained pattern of institutional blacklisting, reputational targeting, and coercive control directed at me solely because I embraced my ancestral Bayānī identity and later aligned with Sufi traditions.

The submission further demonstrates how these early acts of discrimination have been republished, amplified, and weaponised by modern parapolitical networks—including outlets connected to CESNUR and its media arm Bitter Winter—before finally resurfacing in 2025 in the form of defamatory articles authored by the Canadian writer Chris Bennett (Chris Bennett).

This is not merely an individual matter. It concerns the rights and survival of the Bayānī (Azalī Bābī) community, a small and vulnerable religious minority with a long history of persecution and erasure.

Why I Went to the United Nations

My submission details how, from 1996 to the present, I have been targeted because of:

• my religious identity,
• my scholarly work,
• my public representation of a minority tradition,
• and my refusal to accept sectarian narratives used to delegitimise Bayānī history and doctrine.

The documentation shows a continuing violation, not a time-limited one. The same tropes, the same defamatory templates, and the same sectarian hostility have resurfaced repeatedly—most recently in 2025—causing real harm to my reputation, safety, and wellbeing.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur’s mandate exists precisely to examine such patterns, especially when:

• a religious minority is vulnerable,
• a dominant religious administration engages in blacklisting or exclusion,
• discrimination crosses borders,
• and historical narratives are recycled to silence dissenting voices.

My Intentions Moving Forward

I share this public statement in the interests of transparency and historical clarity. My goal is accountability.

I believe that no religious organisation—however well-resourced, well-connected, or polished in its public relations—should be permitted to:

• police the beliefs of former members,
• stigmatise dissenters,
• circulate defamatory materials across generations,
• or quietly erase the existence of a minority religious lineage.

The Bayānī community has survived nearly two centuries of suppression.
It deserves the same protections under international human-rights law as any other tradition.

Closing

For thirty years, I have carried this burden quietly, privately, and with great restraint. The time has come to place the full record before an impartial international mechanism.

The submission to the United Nations is now formally lodged.
From here, the process is in the hands of those entrusted with safeguarding global religious freedom.

I will update readers on this issue when I am legally permitted to do so.

 

Wahid Azal
Queensland, Australia
2 December 2025