(26 Aug. 2010 – HRA) As you are aware seven Baha’i leaders have been incarcerated since April 2008. They we held for months in solitary confinement and then in very difficult physical condition for about two years. A few weeks ago the judge informed the legal team that each of the seven had been sentenced to twenty years in prison. The charges were propaganda against the regime, insulting Islam, espionage, among others. The trial was held behind closed doors with no coverage by free press and independent observers.
http://news.bahai.org/story/789
Hence Human Rights Activists in Iran, a non-political, non-religious, non-governmental human rights organization asks all global citizens and all those who cherish and respect the innate dignity and rights of humanity to join in a letter writing campaign. The skeleton of a letter is provided below but it can be modified to suit your specific tone and meaning.
Please keep in mind the following guidelines:
-As in all human rights letter writing campaigns the language must be dignified and non-ideological.
-If possible use your private email, and if you can’t then create a new email account for this purpose.
-After sending the letters to all four recipients please change your picture on Facebook, twitter or any other social media you are on. Please ask you friends, associates, co-workers etc to join the campaign. The success of these campaigns depends on large numbers.
-After sending the email you are asked to follow the letter with a hardcopy letter to all four Iranian officials.
-Please keep the profile pictures active and keep recruiting for the duration of the campaign among your friends and associates.
LETTER:
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Head of Judiciary Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
High Council for Human Rights in Islamic Republic Judiciary , Mohamad Javad Larijani
Dear Mr. Ahmadinejad (Ayatollah Khamenei)( Ayatollah Larijani)(Dr. Mohamad Javad Larijani):
Since April 2008, seven Baha’i leaders, also known as Yaran, have been detained by the Islamic Republic government on baseless charges of espionage, insulting Islam, and propaganda against the regime. Their trial was for the most part a non-public proceeding, following which the judge informed a lawyer on the legal team that these innocent men and women have received prison sentences of 20 years each.
There is no evidence in support of the charges leveled against these Baha’is, and the ultimate judgment of imprisonment is unjust and insupportable. I write this letter to urge you to intercede on behalf of these innocent men and women whose only crimes appears to be a matter of conscience and their steadfastness in their beliefs. I ask that the court’s judgment be set aside and these individuals and all prisoners of conscience be released from prison so that they can return to their families.
Sincerely,
[IPW Editor, please go to the source article to send the letter]
Source: http://www.en-hrana.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=2&Itemid=17
August 27, 2010 9:01 am
Far beyond the implication of seven innocent victims in the claws of injustice, we must realise that at a time when racial prejudice, oppression of women and religious fanaticisme are threatening the very roots of life on this planet, the Iranian authorities have chosen to behead a movement that for the last 160 years promotes the unity of mankind, the equality of men and women and the unity of God and of religions. The Baha’is have succeeded in uniting the conflicting creeds in Iran and Haifa has been often refered to as a haven of religious tolerance in Israel.
This implies that at a time when the world is desperately on fire, the Iranian authorities want to prevent firemen from coming into action.
August 29, 2010 1:32 am
As a fourth generation American/ Canadian Baha’i , I just want to express my complete heartfelt anger and sadness to this recent injustice of my beloved brother’s and sister’s of Faith. I have many Muslim friends and I have shared many Ramadan dinner’s over the years and as a Baha’i have deep love and respect for prophet Mu’hammad MAY PEACE BE UPON HIM. There is no excuse for your consent injustice. What are you so afraid of?! We are a Faith of Peace Love Tolerance and Unity. A story, in the 80’s in the city of Shiraz an orange tree was burned in a garden that belonged to the Blessed BAB thinking they would wipe out the Our Faith they burned down the House and the tree bulldozed the remains and made it a parking lot, but what they didn’t know was that for many years Bahai”s would visit and take back seeds from that very special tree and just like Our Beloved Faith, no mater what you do you can not destroy those seeds are now orange tree’s growing all over this world. Salem
August 29, 2010 2:36 am
Check out this moving article, written by a woman who was imprisoned with Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, in the same cell with them for several weeks. I pray so much that these beautiful-spirited women and men will have a happy ending to their story!
In Iran, shackling the Bahai torchbearers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082704485.html
September 4, 2010 1:45 am
I keep on praying the God’s mercy and help to direct these ill-minded people to come to their senses and see what they are wrongdoing to the most peaceful and kind human beings on Earth.
September 4, 2010 11:07 pm
Yaran nominated for Time magazine person of the year on causes.com
Yaran for Person of the Year (This cause has 3291 members so far, as of September 4, 2010)
http://www.causes.com/causes/400491/about?m&raf1e07ab&refid=0