Reports Say 7 Baha’i Leaders Have Been Sentenced to 20 Years Each AUGUST 10, 2010 (New York) – The Iranian judiciary should set aside any judgments issued in closed judicial proceedings against seven Baha’i leaders…
Public Support
A life animated by conscience, not power
(CNN) The moral conscience of Iran’s reform movement passed away Sunday morning. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died at 87, was the Iranian equivalent of South Africa’s Desmond Tutu for politics. Over the past…
Appeal for tolerance at Parliament of the World's Religions
(BWNS) How can interfaith dialogue and religious freedom flourish when one religion declares that another is not a religion? Are tolerance and cooperation only possible among people who share the same doctrinal view of the…
We Are All Baha’is (Jewish Journal)
Are we our brother’s and sister’s keepers? Last week I joined a group of distinguished community leaders in a resounding affirmative response to this timeless question. We gathered together at the University of Southern California…
Rag-e Tak Available Online
Iran Press Watch is pleased to note that the two-volume survey of Iranian social history titled, Rag-e Tak [the vein of vine], is now available online at: http://ragetak.com/ Rag-e Tak is by “Delarm Mashhoori” and…
Paranoia, Utopianism, and Baha'i Persecution in Iran
By Robert Christian Earlier this week, Iran’s leaders canceled a trial set for the leadership of Iran’s Baha’i community, the Yaran. The seven Baha’i leaders, who had been scheduled for a show trial on charges…
New Zealand Youth Address the Government of Iran
Editor’s Note: Recently, the Baha’i youth, and their friends and colleagues, gathered from different parts of the Pacific to pass a unanimous resolution at the New Zealand National Baha’i Youth Conference expressing their outcry for…
Baha’is and Constructive Resilience
Editor’s Note: Following are notes from a talk by Prof. Michael Karlberg given at the Eastside Baha’i Center in Bellevue, Washington, on 27 June 2009, as part of a public program organized in support of…
Justice, not Shame!
Editor’s Note: Dr. Naficy is a well-known Iranian poet, writer, and human rights and political activist. In April of this year, he wrote a brilliant essay, which Iran Press Watch was pleased to share extracts…
Cherie Blair: Iran’s Baha’is face “uncertain, dangerous future.”
Cherie Blair QC – one of the United Kingdom’s leading human rights lawyers and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair – is calling for Iran to ensure that seven leaders of the Bahá’í faith…
Amnesty Int'l Calls for Urgent Action in Support of Imprisoned Baha'i Leaders
The seven members of Iran’s Baha’i religious minority are scheduled for trial on 11 July. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. The detainees’ families were told in May that they were now facing…
Chants of "Baha'is, We will Support You" in Tehran's Streets
An election procession in support of several Iranian presidential candidates chanted in support of various religious minorities, including the Baha’is. At this time of intensifying persecution of the Baha’i community throughout Iran, such public expressions…
Roxana Saberi advocates for Iran’s “prisoners of conscience”
Editor’s Note: In an article published in The Washington Post on June 11, 2009, journalist Roxana Saberi describes meeting Baha’is in Tehran’s Evin Prison among many other ‘prisoners of conscience’ “I also got to know…
General Debate at UN Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council this morning concluded its general debate on human rights situations that require its attention and its general debate on human rights bodies and mechanisms, under which it heard the President of…
Open Letter from Urumiyeh University to a Presidential Candidate
Editor’s Note: Below is a letter from a group of Urumiyeh University students to the Iranian Presidential candidate, Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi. This letter is being published solely because of its relevance to the Baha’i community…
Supporters of Ayatollah Boroujerdi demand investigation of Baha'i case
Editor’s Note: Ayatollah Siyyid Husayn Kazemeyni Boroujerdi is an Iranian cleric who advocates separation of religion and government. He first expressed his opposition to the Islamic government of Iran in 1994, and opposed the theocratic…