1. A heavy and oppressive poll tax, called the Juzia, is imposed upon
the remnant of the ancient Zoroastrian race now residing in Persia. A
hundred years ago, when the Zoroastrian population was 30,000
families, and comparatively well-to-do, the tax was only 250 toomans;
now, when there are scarcely six thousand souls altogether, and
stricken with poverty, they have to pay 800 toomans. In addition to
the crushing effect of this tax, the government officials oppress
these poor people in enforcing the tax.
2. A Parsee desirous of buying landed property is obliged to pay
twenty per cent. on the value of the property as fee to the Kazee and
other authorities.
3. When a Parsee dies any member of his family, no matter however
distant, who may have previously been converted to Mohammedanism,
claims and obtains the whole property of the deceased, to the
exclusion of all the rightful heirs. In enforcing this claim the
convert is backed and supported by government functionaries.
4. When a Parsee returns to Persia from a foreign country he is
harassed with all sorts of exactions at the various places he has to
pass through in Persia.
5. When any dispute arises, whether civil or criminal, between a
Mohammedan and a Parsee, the officials invariably side with the
former, and the testimony of one Mohammedan--no matter how false on
its very face--receives more credit than that of a dozen or any number
of Parsee witnesses. If a Mohammedan kills a Parsee he is only fined
about eight toomans, or four pounds sterling; but on the contrary, if
a Parsee wounds or murders a Mohammedan he is not only cut to pieces
himself, but all his family and children are put to the sword, and
sometimes all the Parsees living in the same street are harassed in a
variety of ways. The Parsees are prevented from dressing themselves
well and from riding a horse or donkey. No matter, even if he were ill
and obliged to ride, he is compelled to dismount in the presence of a
Mohammedan rider, and is forced to walk to the place of his
destination. The Parsees are not allowed to trade in European
articles, nor are they allowed to deal in domestic produce, as
grocers, dyers, or oilmen, tailors, dairymen, &c., on the ground that
their touch would pollute the articles and supplies and make them
unfit for the use of Mohammedans.
6. The Parsees are often insulted and abused in every way by the
Mohammedans, and their children are stolen or forcibly taken away from
them by the Mohammedans. These children are concealed in Mohammedan
houses, their names are changed, and they are forced to become
Mohammedans, and when they refuse to embrace the Mohammedan faith they
are maltreated in various ways. When a man is forcibly converted, his
wife and family are also forced to join him as Mohammedans. The
Mohammedans desecrate the sacred places of worship of the Zoroastrians
and the places for the disposal of their dead.
7. In general the Parsees are heavily taxed in various ways, and are
subjected to great oppression. In consequence of such persecution the
Parsee population of Persia has, during this century, considerably
decreased and is now so small that it consists of a few thousand
families only. It is possible that these persecutions are practiced on
the Zoroastrian inhabitants of Persia without the knowledge of His
Majesty the Shah.