Baha’i Rights Day is dedicated to raise awareness about human rights abuses perpetrated against the Baha’i community. Decades have passed and the Baha’is in Iran and Egypt have not had a minute of rest from the ongoing persecution. Looting of Baha’i homes, the arrest and incarceration of Baha’is, denial of civil rights, the desecration of Baha’i cemeteries, the expulsion of Baha’i students from university and the closure of Baha’i businesses are only a few aspects of the crusade launched against the Baha’is.
The date is significant inasmuch as the the trial of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, arrested in the spring of 2008, is scheduled to be held at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court on July 11, 2009.
Here’s how you can help
- Inform your friends, family and colleagues that on July 11 they should tweet, blog, Facebook in support of human rights for Baha’is
- Contact journalists to formally recognize this day and write about the Baha’i persecution
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- Contact bloggers and request that they write about Baha’is and their rights.
- Tweet about it consistently on July 11 and use the #BahaiRights hashtag in order for people to locate. The idea is to make #BahaiRights a top trend on July 11. Follow @BahaiRightsDay
- You do not have to be a Baha’i to participate! Please make others aware of that. We’re uniting to help raise awareness for the plight of the Baha’is, no matter what our race or religion may be.
- Inform yourself on the persecution at Iran Press Watch or the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights
Make every effort to spread the word about the day! Thank you.
July 8, 2009 11:08 pm
I am wondering as to what freedom means.
July 9, 2009 3:07 am
Just to set the record straight, you’ve declared July 11th Baha’i Rights Day, no institution of the Faith has…
July 9, 2009 4:49 am
Because it’s something informal.
July 9, 2009 11:15 am
We all in Uzbekistan Baha’i comunity will pray for our friends in Iran in these tought days.
July 9, 2009 11:18 am
We all in Uzbekistan Baha’i comunity will pray for our friends in Iran in these heavy days.
July 9, 2009 11:35 am
Dear Richard,
Baha’i Rights Day is an initiative by the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, Iran Press Watch, and a group of diverse friends all dedicated to the Cause. The Baha’i administration is not officially involved.
There is no record to set straight.
Regards,
Neysan
July 9, 2009 10:11 pm
Hi Neysan
I’m wondering what ‘Cause’ you’re dedicated to. If you were dedicated to Bahai Faith you’d know that the House of Justice has asked all Bahai’s to avoid involvement in politics and to obey all duly elected authorities.
Just for interest sake, who pays your bills??
bandrig
July 10, 2009 3:55 am
I am in Canada and we have had a number of “official” letters asking us to make our politicions and gov. people aware of this crisis…
This is not getting involved in politics……
And there does not have to be some official who declares Bahai Rights Day.
Although it would be nice if they did.
When telling your friends and gov officials ypou don’t have to mention Baha’i Rightsday, the priciple thing is to make people aware.
If we spend our time correcting each other and being better than each other all those dear friends will die.
July 10, 2009 8:39 am
Dear Bandrig,
The Cause of Baha’i Rights Day is raising awareness about grave human rights abuses perpetrated against Iran’s Baha’is. This is not a matter of partisan politics. It is a matter of standing up against injustice.
We accept the Iranian government in the legitimate exercise of its duties, but the record of failure in adhering to universally recognized human rights is unacceptable.
For your interest’s sake, we are not funded by anyone. We are a group of individual Baha’is. Refer to http://www.iranpresswatch.org/about Keep your accusations to yourself.
July 10, 2009 1:35 pm
There is nothing at all wrong with asking for justice whether one is a Baha’i, a person affiliated with another group, or as an interested human being. When persons are harmed through the denial of education, employment and prejudicial imprisonment and we fail to sek for justice, how can it be said that we appreciate this virtue?
Asking for justice follows a universal principle that benefits all and harms none. Therefore it can’t be a “partisan” activity. The non-partisan nature of the peaceful defense of Iranian Baha’is is evidenced by the worldwide outcry by international bodies, national parliaments and renowned NGO’s who have called repeated for an end of this lamentable oppression.
Denial of human rights is an ethical question, not a political one. If Baha’is do not speak up, what can we expect?
July 10, 2009 2:21 pm
Q1: Do you speak up only for the Bahai’s, or do you speak up for all injustice?
Q2:Bearing in mind that the Bush Administration allocated approx. 400 million to fund destabilizing activities in Iran, through NGO’s and other psy-ops, can you be sure that you’re not falling victim, being used by one of these subversive projects?
Anyone who understands the Bahai Faith also understands the principle of political non-involvement, therefore the movers of this website, and others like it, do not understand the Bahai Faith. This leads me to question the sincerity of their concerns. There are political forces, based for the most part in the US, that would like to see the government of Iran overthrown, and a puppet regime put in it’s place. Bahai’s have nothing to do with this, nor should they appear to have anything to do with this.
“Glory not in this that you love your country, glory in this that you love Mankind”
Whether Iran or Honduras, Bahai’s will stay clear of these shenanigans.
July 10, 2009 2:48 pm
(Part 1)
Bandrig, IPW has reported on matters regarding the persecution of Sufis and Christians in Iran too if I’m not mistaken, but please note the subtitle on the header: “Documenting the Persecution of the *Baha’i Community* in Iran.” Every site has its own intent, and the intent of this site is to serve as the best English-language source on the trials and tribulations currently facing our fellow Baha’is in the Cradle of the Faith. But even despite this, note that IPW also has a sort of “blogroll” on the right-hand side which also casts a spotlight on other human rights issues transpiring in iran.
I don’t know where you got the idea of IPW allegedly having political inclinations. You might recall how, when a letter to Mir Hossein Mousavi was published here by students at an Urumiyeh university, IPW made it expressly clear to its audience that this site, being the neutral clearinghouse that it is, did not “support” Mousavi, or any other candidate for that matter.
July 10, 2009 2:54 pm
(Part 2)
Baha’is, as you correctly state, “have nothing to do with this” – that is, the political machinations devised by these governments belonging to the mindset of the old order.
The purpose of this of this “Baha’i Rights day” is not to get involved in partisan politics – indeed, I can’t even fathom how it could be labeled as interference in that – but rather to promote awareness of the myriad injustices being hurled at the friends in Iran day after day. It is a day to let the world know that there is a minority suffering right now. Where do you see Baha’is coming together and calling for an overthrow of the present regime? That is not our focus. The Baha’i Faith is bigger than that, and it’s certainly bigger than provincial, short-sighted political schemes of such an ephemeral nature.
July 10, 2009 3:31 pm
Adib
IPW will only add to the persecutions of the Bahai’s in Iran. Enemies of the Faith will likely make use of IPW as evidence of subversive activities endorsed and undertaken by some Bahai’s, in direct disregard of the guidance from the Administrative center of the Faith.
I can understand your concern, as (I assume) an Iranian Bahai. This is a great test for the Iranian Bahai’s. Is your love of country greater than …?
The Founder of the Faith stayed clear of the Tanzimat movement. His Son worked tirelessly for peace during WWI, and the Guardian stayed clear of any association during WWII and the Palestinian crisis. There’s a lesson there.
July 10, 2009 4:56 pm
(Part 1)
As a matter of fact dear bandrig, I am quite sure that IPW was an initiative that was given the okay by a Baha’i institution (which still does not mean that IPW is affiliated with those institutions, as its About page states; it simply means the project was confirmed). Ahang jan, if you could please confirm this I would be most grateful.
At any rate, would you rather we all remain completely oblivious to the calamities which the friends are forced to endure? As you know, only the most extreme things are reported in the Baha’i World News Service.
Ignore the enemies of the Faith and their insipid, asinine machinations, dear bandrig. They don’t have to catch onto just IPW; they can catch onto *anything* and *everything* and they already do. One newspaper is still saying that the Yaran were responsible for the Shiraz mosque bombing, when that blatantly contradicts another state-run news agency’s verdict on the matter.
July 10, 2009 4:59 pm
(Part 2)
Our enemies can catch onto the Baha’i World News Service and call it political. They can, and will, catch onto every positive effort that we try to create for the amelioration of suffering faced by the friends and somehow turn it into something inconceivably treasonous.
In your examples, Baha’is were not being persecuted in those instances; not only that, but times have opened up. The media has completely transformed with the advent of the television and the World Wide Web. We have the power to suppress and expose things within just seconds, and I strongly feel that we would be letting the friends in Iran down if a select few of us were cognizant of the tests and difficulties before them and they refused to share it with the Western world. This is just my two cents.
July 10, 2009 5:42 pm
Perhaps Bandrig is partly correct. Since the government of Iran will not honor its registered committment to International Human Rights, the Baha’is of Iran stand to endure greater persecution. In thirty years of maltreatment by the IR, Iranian Baha’is have offered peace and obedience in return. It seems certain, by virtue of the upcoming July 11 trial, that the government has not had a change of heart. As the situation worsens, those who wish better treatment for Iranian Baha’is should make their wishes known. Had Iran’s Baha’is been politically motivated or self-seeking we would not now be hearing the urgent calls from around the world for their protection. Defending the wrongfully accused and shamefully abused is not a partisan act (unless one is partisan to the abusers). Speaking for justice is a HUMANITARIAN matter. If the seven prisoners had been given access to their lawyer, I doubt we would be witnessing the worldwide indignation we are
presently seeing.
July 10, 2009 11:39 pm
If it wasn’t for websites such as yours Nasir-idin Shah and his Amir Kabir would have killed your Yaran just as they had done with your previous National Spiritual Assembly members. Nothing would please your Baha’i friends in Iran more than seeing their brethren abroad speak for them and bring their plight to the attention of the peoples of world. For 160 years they endured what no one religeous class of people had endured in Iran so that all Iranians would become free someday and have freedom of speech, assembly, thought and religion. So arise in their names and spread abroad the sweet fragrance of their blood and tears so that Iran can become what your Prophet had prophesized for it to become. Don’t let anything dismay you or stop you even if the “swords of your enemies rain blows upon you”. The future of Iran as prophesized by your Prophet Baha’u’llah is what all Iranians desire in their
hearts as evidenced by Allah’u’Akbar chants changing to Allah’u’Abha.
July 11, 2009 2:01 am
Dear Bandrig,
Please contact your Local Spiritual Assembly and share your concerns.
Neysan
Managing Editor
July 11, 2009 2:55 pm
“Let them refrain from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed, with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions. In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best interests of that world-side Fellowship which it is their aim to guard and foste”[1]
[1] Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 64
There’s a lot more where this comes from. Let me know if there’s any part of “assign no blame” you don’t understand.
July 11, 2009 3:15 pm
For any Bahai’s reading this, I’d like to share with you the wisdom of the prayer of Quddus when he was being tormented by the clergy of Iran.
“Deal with them in Thy mercy, for they know not what we already have discovered and cherish…Show them, O God, the way of Truth, and turn their ignorance into faith”.
Nabil’s Narrative pg 411.
July 11, 2009 5:39 pm
Bandrig jaan, Quddus through his death at the hands of mollahs exposed the human rights violations of Qajars. Today people use Internet to bring awareness so that those Qajar era human rights violations can come to an end in Iran. Here is my thinking on how you can help in that regard. Create a website dedicated to raising awareness about Quddus’ sacrifice and how it has shaped your life and what you can do to make the bravery of Quddus come to life in all of us by winning your cluster goals. If you have issues with the operators of this site, kindly report them to your LSA or NSA. Internet can’t be censored. So don’t worry about what mollahs might do as Quddus didn’t.
July 11, 2009 8:17 pm
Dear Bandrig,
It is clear that you have differing views on this subject than us. I think you should let this discussion die and, if you are really this concerned with the matter at hand, that you do as Neysan suggested earlier and take it up with your LSA.
July 13, 2009 7:22 pm
Dear Ali, Dear Ali- Jaan! Dear Friends!
How I appreciate your inspiring words! It is important that Baha’is show their love of justice. We await the day when all can embrace and celebrate with the Iranians – Baha’is, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians, together as one. In the mean time in this Baha’si month of Kalimat (Words), let’s use our most lofty words to invoke Divine Justice and Mercy for all human beings, including the citizens of Iran! The future is glimmering ahead of us , the brotherhood of man is upon us! Keep faith, keep faith!
July 14, 2009 7:58 pm
You are always in our prayers baha’i brother’s and sisters!!!!All Uzbekistan baha’is are praying for you!
July 24, 2009 5:02 am
I would refer those concerned with the involvement in human rights initiatives to the most recent letter by the USNSA quoting passage from the UHJ, that seems to give the green light on supporting NON-PARTISAN (not non-policy) oriented initiatives championing human rights–namely the “United 4 Iran” initiative – July 25.