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Video marking the Anniversary of the Incarceration of the Yaran

May 14th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Iran, Media, Video

Today marks the anniversary of the incarceration of the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran. Iran Press Watch has posted this video:

http://www.vimeo.com/4646378

This video is also available on Vimeo and on Youtube. Make it go viral!

Congressman Mark Kirk on Bipartisan Resolution for Baha’is

February 18th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Posted in Iran

BIPARTISAN RESOLUTION CONDEMNING IRAN’S PERSECUTION OF BAHA’IS

HON. MARK STEVEN KIRK of Illinois in the House of Representatives – Friday, February 13, 2009

”In Germany, they first came for the gypsies, and I didn’t  speak up because I wasn’t a gypsy. Then they came for the  Bolsheviks, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a  Bolshevik. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up  because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.  Then they came for the Catholics. I didn’t speak up  then because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and  there was no one left to speak up.”
–Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor arrested by the Gestapo in 1937.

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, then they came for the Baha’is.

Read the rest of Hon. Mark Kirk’s remarks

Amnesty launches urgent action campaign

February 15th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted in Iran

Amnesty International has launched an urgent action update exclusively devoted to the latest news about the Baha’i leaders in Iran.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language:

  • calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Fariba Kamalabadi Taefi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm and Mahvash Sabet, whom Amnesty International considers to be prisoners of conscience held because of their beliefs or peaceful activities on behalf of the Baha’i community;
  • expressing concern that the charges brought against the seven are politically motivated and calling on the authorities to drop them;
  • expressing concern at the possibility that the seven could face the death penalty;
  • calling on the authorities to ensure that the seven are protected from torture and other ill-treatment and that their conditions of detention meet international standards for the treatment of prisoners;
  • urging the authorities to ensure that they are given regular access to their relatives and lawyers of their choice and any medical treatment that they may require.

APPEALS TO:Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: shahroudi@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency

Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info_leader@leader.ir
via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 6 649 5880
Email: via website: http://www.president.ir/email/

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 24 March 2009.

Download: Complete PDF Document

Iran to try seven Baha’is for espionage

February 11th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Iran

This morning AFP released the following report. The situation is deteriorating daily. It’s outrageous now:

Iran to try Bahais for spying for Israel

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran will soon try seven members of the banned Bahai religion on charges including “espionage for Israel,” the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

“The charges against seven defendants in the case of the illegal Bahai group were examined … and the case will be sent to the revolutionary court next week,” deputy Tehran prosecutor Hassan Haddad was quoted as saying.

Haddad said the charges included “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.”

Iran and Israel are arch-enemies, and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.

In late January, judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Iran had arrested six adherents of the Bahai faith on the same charges.

Earlier last month, the Fars news agency said the ex-secretary of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi’s office was detained for links with an organisation of the Bahai faith, adding that the ex-staffer was a Bahai herself.

Haddad did not say if the seven being charged were the same as those arrested in January.

Followers of the Bahai faith, founded in Iran in 1863, are regarded as infidels and have suffered persecution both before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Bahai teachings emphasise the underlying unity of major religions, with history having produced a succession of divine messengers, each of which founded a religion suitable for the times.

Bahais consider Bahaullah, born in 1817, to be the last prophet sent by God. This is in direct conflict with Islam, the religion of the vast majority of Iranians, which considers Mohammed to be the last prophet.

In late 2008, Iran reported the hanging of a Bahai man for rape and adultery.

The European Union has expressed “serious concern about the continuing systematic discrimination and harassment of the Iranian Bahais on the grounds of their religion.”