Dorsa Sobhani’s father threatened, interrogated, beaten and reviled to force him to hand over his daughter
[Editor: On the 2nd of March, 6 security officers showed up at Dorsa’s home. They searched her home and confiscated her personal belongings but fortunately she was not home and therefore the officers were unable to detain her. Dorsa was denied her education in the city of Sari solely for her belief in the Baha’i Faith. She was active in the One Million Signature Campaign for women’s right. Now the Iranian authorities are threatening her father to deliver her precious daughter to men bereft of understanding and justice! Her father is facing harm to his wife and his other younger daughter and losing his house.
Dear Dorsa and Mr. Sobhani: You have captured the hearts and minds of so many people in Vancouver, Canada. In these special days of Fast for the Baha’is of the world, dawn prayers will be dedicated to you and we’ll pray to God to give you strength and courage for you are the source of strength and courage to all of us. May God open the eyes of your oppressors and enlighten their heart. As `Abd’ul-Baha teaches us:
“I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. Thoughts of war bring destruction to all harmony, well-being, restfulness and content.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 29)
I invite other Baha’is to dedicate dawn prayers in this period of Fast to Dorsa.
With much love and rememberance,
The Editor, Iran Press Watch. ]
March 4, 2010
Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRC): According to reports received by CHRC, today, March 4, 2010, Dorsa Sobhani’s father was physically and verbally assaulted by six security officials as he left his house. Handcuffed and blindfolded, he was interrogated and threatened for four hours.
Security officials warned that if he does not hand his daughter, Dorsa Sobhani, over to the Intelligence Ministry by Saturday, he and his wife and younger daughter will be placed under arrest and their home will be sequestered.
This incident comes on the heels of a raid by six security officials who entered their home in the middle of the night on March 2, 2010 and confiscated their personal belongings.
Dorsa Sobhani is an activist in the One Million Signatures campaign and an advocate of the right to higher education. She herself has been denied the right to enter university due to her belief in the Baha’i Faith.
Source: http://www.schrr.net/spip.php?article8731
Also see: http://www.hra-news.org/news/13529.aspx
Also see: Iran Press News: http://www.iranpressnews.com/source/073771.htm
March 6, 2010 9:11 pm
http://zamaaneh.com/humanrights/2010/03/post_537.html
March 7, 2010 10:40 am
People ask why Baha’is who have friends and relatives who can welcome them with open arms world wide, choose to face dire persecution in Iran. Such questions ignore the mission of service to humanity that Baha’is choose to endorse. In the 1950s, thousands of Persian Baha’is joined pioneers from many other countries sometimes in hostile countries, so as to help nascent Baha’i communities in their spiritual growth. They were arising to help the spiritual revival of the planet. Baha’is know well that unless and until religious strife is replaced by love and collaboration between the believers of the various religions that dispense the teachings of the one and same God, the many ills that threaten the survival of humanity will not be possible. The Bab, Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha never fled in the face of persecution, and now that Iran most needs their spiritual support, Baha’is who can do so, choose to stay and serve their beloved home-land.
March 8, 2010 3:18 am
It must also be pointed out, that Baha’is are now being denied even an official passport, since they must declare their religious affiliation and only three faiths are listed: Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Any other faith is denied a passport. The situation is very similar in Egypt at present, a country that is being dominated by Sunni Muslims. In other words, in a number of Muslim countries Baha’is are not welcome, but are also not able to leave legally.
How we all long for the day in which the Iranian people will finally realize that the promised One, upon whom they so often call, has already been among them and has blessed them with the supreme treasure of His Cause. On that day they will truly be the envy of the world!
March 17, 2010 6:29 am
dear Dorsa Sobhani
and family
you are in our prayer god with you sweet heart