FIVE YEARS TOO MANY - http://www.bic.org/fiveyears/

For five years, seven Baha'i leaders have been wrongly imprisoned in Iran.

Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naeimi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr Vahid Tizfahm’s 20-year sentences are the longest given to any current prisoners of conscience in Iran. Their harshness reflects the Government’s resolve to oppress completely the Iranian Baha'i community, which faces a systematic, “cradle-to-grave” persecution that is among the most serious examples of state-sponsored religious persecution in the world today.

Baha'i communities around the world have launched a campaign calling for their immediate release – and the release of all innocent prisoners of conscience in Iranian prisons. 

I was honoured to attend a National Human Rights Forum calling for the immediate release of the seven leaders, which was hosted on Tuesday 7 May at NSW Parliament House, Sydney Australia. The Forum had representatives of the major religions in Australia who offered their prayers and blessings for the 7 Baha'i Leaders and each solemnly placed a seven red rose on a seven empty chairs representing each of the imprisoned Baha'i Leaders. Four Australian family members of the seven imprison Baha'is were also present at this forum, each of which spoke of their loved ones and shared with the audience their stories of the imprisoned, both before and after their incarceration. 

The below photos were taken at today’s forum. Please show your support and increase the international pressure on the Iranian Government to immediately release these seven wrongfully imprisoned members of the 300,000 strong Baha’i Community in Iran. My thoughts and prayers are deeply focused on these 7 imprisoned Baha'i Leaders and all victims of Religious persecution within Iran and across the world.

Alláh'u'Abhá

 

 

For more information:

http://www.bic.org/fiveyears/

http://www.bahai.org.au/NewsMedia/NewsStories/ArticleView/tabid/72/ArticleId/207/Seven-red-roses-for-seven-empty-chairs.aspx

The persecution continues.

The arrested associates of the BIHE

After a long history of systematically denying the Bahá'ís living in Iran the right to an education, amongst many other things, the Iranian Government has taken it even further. The Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) is a initiative offering higher education to the young Iranian Baha'is that have been barred from attending university. They have been the victim of the latest attacks. 16 people with association to the BIHE were arrested just short of a month ago, not to mention at least 39 homes have been targeted. 


The reaction to this inhumane and unjustifiable act has aroused international condemnation, including the Austrian government, top academics in the United Kingdom, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom just to name a few. For further information, please read the following: Worldwide outrage at Iran's attack on Bahá'í educators

Everything I have blogged so far is of no importance.

As I sit here, these are 7 Iranian Baha'is are sitting in the Evin Prison (Tehran, Iran), as they have been doing so since their arrests in March and May 2008, awaiting their fate.

Their crime: Being Baha'i and Belief in Baha'u'llah.
Only today, after almost TWO years, their trial began. I ask for your prayers that they recieve the justice deserved by every single human being.

For more information on the situation surrounding the arrests and the trial that is now underway follow this link: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/12/Iran.bahai.trial/