Press Release by "We Are Ashamed" organizers

14 February 2009

A Press Release by the organizers of the open letter to the Baha’i community
titled “A century and a half of oppression and silence is enough!”

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
(Sa‘di)

Two hundred more have joined the open letter “We are Ashamed”!

On 3 February 2009, the open letter “We are Ashamed! A century and a half of oppression and silence is enough!” was published.  This proclamation was signed and endorsed by 42 Iranian academicians, writers, artists, journalists and human rights activists throughout the world.  These signatories condemned the long silence of  Iranian society and intellectuals in the face of crimes and atrocities inflicted upon the Baha’is of Iran over the course of a century and a half.

With the initial publication of this letter, a period of ten days was set aside so that others wishing to join this growing group of concerned citizens would be able to append their signatures to this letter.  We are now pleased to publish a more complete list of signatories along with this Press Release.

In sharing this list, a few points must be noted:

1. A great many emails in support of this open letter have been received.  However, only those emails that were deemed to be from sufficiently reliable sources have been included in the present tally.
2. A number of political activists, professionals, specialists and other noble and well-meaning individuals have expressed alignment with the open letter and joined the rank of its signatories.  Therefore, in addition to “Iranian academics, writers, artists, journalists and human rights activists”, these categories of Iranian professionals have also been added to the list.
3. Since it was not possible via email to confirm their participation with all those who signed this letter, a few of the names have been included without such confirmations and solely by relying on the submitted emails.

We are confident that many more individuals, responsible and humane individuals, both inside and outside Iran, will add their seal of approval to it, as they become aware of such a letter, and we hope that the independent and committed Iranian media will join us in disseminating this message.

End of Press Release

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