Changing Times Blog

Be Free – Tara Ellis/Raha Lewis for Human Rights

Be Free is a non-profit organization which aims to promote the active involvement of youth for human rights through grassroots new media based campaigns. “Azad Bash” (Be Free) is the first child of the project and a fantastic contribution by Tara Ellis and Raha Lewis (and Benny Cassette as producer). Listen to the track here and go to the Be Free website to hear a new version of Doug Cameron’s classic “Mona and the Children”.

Comic: Prison Break in Iran

In recent months, Iran has escalated its campaign of arrests against Baha’is. Dozens of Baha’is currently languish in prisons, with no hope of being accorded a fair trial. Those reportedly arrested weren’t criminals, thieves or murderers but were in fact community leaders, social activists and educators who strove to serve their communities. The Iranian regime has adopted the mission of preventing the progress of Baha’is, both within and outside Iran, and there is no telling how far it is willing to go to fulfill its mission.

The CENSEO team at the Muslim Network for Bahai Rights has created yet another comic about the absurdity of this situation:

Police Raid, Close Offices of Shirin Ebadi

Agence France Press (AFP) has just released the news that the Iranian authorities have closed down the offices of Nobel Laureate human rights defender Shirin Ebadi. Mrs. Ebadi is defending the seven Baha’is arrested for their administrative activities in May. Her office has been a crucial voice in defending the Baha’is of Iran

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.

Coexistence in Iran

(af) With the recent 6oth anniversary of the Universal Human Rights Declaration, many have taken time to reflect on the the issue of human rights globally and some people specifically offer to raise awareness of the Baha’i community in Iran who are denied access to higher education on religious grounds as well as a host of other areas of discrimination.

The United Kingdom is one of the many examples of such action, where the Baha’i community produced two pamphlets for distribution in schools and universities that connect the persecution of Baha’i university students in Iran with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specifies the right to an education.

It seems that most online viral content has been used for largely entertainment purposes though with this independent video effort titled Coexistence in Iran, an encouraging example of thought provoking media has been produced. With the short piece highlighting the different religious communities within Iranian society; Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian and Baha’i. While providing a sense of the integral day to day coexistence they all share even through exercise, despite religious persecution and certain attitudes which try to convey that the different religions of the world are in conflict.

In fact Bahá’u'lláh told Bahá’ís to “Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.”

Coexistence in Iran: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fPkqd83RvgI