About 3,000 Baha’is of all ages (babies, children, junior youth, youth, adults) and many ethnicities and nationalities filled the Business Design Centre in London. The countries represented at the conference are: Denmark (including the Faroe Islands), Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom.

The conference is about raising our eyes to the horizon, inspiring us with the Universal House of Justice’s vision for the Baha’i world, and planning action to take in the next few months and, indeed, for the near future.

Source: Barnabas Quotidianus (Barney Leith)

Music by Andy Grammer; produced by Amy Lim and Ryan Lash.

The presenters, each an expert in their field shared their professional expertise as well as personal stories. The diversity of the participants was the highest it has even been with over 42 countries represented. The program was educational, inspiring and filled with many humorous and moving moments. Professional contacts were made and more importantly many new friendships were found.

All in all it was a great week with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Here is a short collage of pictures that tries to capture the spirit of the week.

Thank you to Aris Dimitriou for the outstanding work

Between now and the end of the year, I am participating in the events and giving a series of lectures and workshops at the Changing Times European Young Adult Forum. It’s held at the Townshend International School in the southern Czech village of Hluboka nad Vitavou.

I have never before known of such an astonishing conference that brings together 230 young adult professionals from 40 countries to learn and share information. The best comparison, I believe, is to say that Changing Times, now in its 7th year, is approaching the caliber of the annual Davos Economic Forum … except Changing Times is for tomorrow’s world leaders. The young professionals at this conference are among the brightest people I have ever met. They come from academics, medicine, technology and business.

A few of the speakers include Dr. Moshe Sharon from Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Italian business leader Giuseppe Robiati; Mr. Ian Semple; Mr. Burhaniddin Afshin; actor Phillip Hinton; award-winning fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn; and, the popular American actor, Rainn Wilson.

Here is a music video of photos from the first day:

At a time when youth crime is on the rise and images of young people wielding weapons in the name of yet another cause are commonplace on our television screens, any group of people attempting to promote the opposite trend is worthy of attention.

There is only one fitting way to acknowledge the efforts of such individuals: jail them. Such people cannot be trusted; especially if they belong to some dangerous, deviant religious movement that espouses equality and tolerance. Thank heavens then for the Justice Administration of Shiraz in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They can spot a deviant a mile off.

In May 2006, fifty-three young followers of the Baha’i faith were arrested on the grounds of indirectly teaching their religion under the guise of a social service project for underprivileged children in Shiraz and the surrounding localities in the south of Iran, aimed at developing the moral values, literacy levels and hygiene standards of these young people. Three of the Baha’is were incarcerated in November 2007, having been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. So far, so good.

Now, though, an investigation undertaken by the Office of the Representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the province of Fars has concluded that there had been no mention of religious or political matters by the Baha’i facilitators of the programme. Its report upheld the claim of the Baha’is that they were purely carrying out charitable and humanitarian service. 

But can this impartial investigation be trusted?  The report of the Office quotes the opinion of a retired colonel from the Islamic Republic police force resident in the area where the project had been run.  He claimed that as a result of the programme of education “the social skills, behaviour, and ethics of the youth in that area had improved so much that it had given hope to the families concerning the behaviour and the future of their children.”  But who trusts a retired colonel?  No doubt he was put out to grass and given ‘early’ retirement.  The report goes on to cite the conclusions of eight of the young participants in the project who state that “truthfully, we, the junior youth and youth, learned a lot from this group and request their return”.  But what do young people know about morality and hygiene?

Given these compelling reasons, it is clear why the three Baha’is remain in prison and have not been allowed basic prisoners’ rights.  Some Western commentators might view this situation as a gross violation of human rights – rights enshrined in the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights of which Iran is a signatory.  Such a view betrays a typically Western sense of moral superiority. The authorities in Shiraz have more taxing matters to address, such as making sure women are walking exactly the right distance behind their husbands. During the winter months, in conditions of poor visibility, such cases are especially hard to judge and require the country’s finest legal minds as well as the most accurate measuring devices. 

We can only hope that the other fifty Baha’is who were initially arrested are learning lessons about how to run a religiously sensitive programme of education from the classes they are themselves now attending, conducted by the Islamic Propaganda Organisation. Invaluable learning about morality and, above all, hygiene is clearly being demonstrated in the separation of boys and girls in to different groups. In these Islamic guidance classes, the Baha’is are having their Faith questioned, or to use the politically correct term, as the Baha’is insist on doing, ‘degraded’.  Instead of being grateful, the Baha’is have raised their concern with the court but, naturally, the court has not caved in to pressure. 

The Baha’is have brought this situation on themselves. With their belief in the oneness of humankind and the equality of all people, with their conviction that all the major religions come from the same divine Source and with their efforts to build inter-faith bridges, they are bound to be regarded by the authorities in Iran as dangerous. How can a Faith, the religious institutions ask themselves, which believes another Prophet has come after Muhammad be sincere and trustworthy?  Hopefully the Baha’is will learn from this unfortunate episode.  The next time they want to help their fellow citizens, particularly the young, to develop skills and socially constructive attributes they will need to think twice.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian security forces have raided and closed the Tehran office of the human rights center run by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Iran’s judiciary confirmed the closure, saying the center was involved in “illegal” activities, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

“The center was acting as a [political] party without having legal permit,” the report said. “It had illegal contacts with local and foreign organizations. It had organized news conferences and seminars.”

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, Narges Mohammadi, the deputy head of the Human Rights Defenders Center, said 10 to 15 uniformed and plainclothes security agents entered the watchdog’s office in northwest Tehran as members, including Ebadi herself, were preparing to belatedly commemorate the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day on December 10.

“I asked them to show their legal warrants,” Mohammadi told RFE/RL, “but they declined to show any authorization. Now, there are 10 to 15 agents in the building, and they are filming us.”

Mohammadi said 200 to 300 guests had been invited to the celebration but that they had been barred from entering.

“This is an illegal act,” she said. “They had no kind of authorization of any kind. They are sealing the office, and our resistance is useless.”

Ebadi criticized the raid, saying it will not stop human rights activists in Iran.

“The closure of the office without providing a legal warrant is illegal. We will protest against it,” Ebadi told Reuters. “It will not deprive us from our rights activities.”

Ebadi used a UN forum in Geneva on Human Rights Day to condemn hard-liners in power in some Muslim countries and rulers of the world’s last communist states as abusers of human rights. She said Muslim dictatorships use religion to underpin their own power.

Read more and stay informed at Iran Press Watch.