wfn.org | Baha'i news: Human Rights Day in Germany puts spotlight on Iran

[Sally Weeks <sweeks@bwc.org>]

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Human Rights Day in Germany puts spotlight on Iran

LANGENHAIN, Germany, 9 December (BWNS) - Youth from a drama troupe joined w ith local dignitaries this week to address themes of exclusion and prejudic e as they commemorated Human Rights Day with the Baha'i community of German y.

The program took place at the National Baha'i Center on the grounds of the  European Baha'i House of Worship, with more than 200 people in attendance.

The performance by the People's Theater, a youth project in the city of Off enbach, took a look at relationships between native Germans and immigrants,  while other parts of the program focused on the situation of the Baha'is i n Iran, especially a group of some 50 young people in Shiraz who are being  punished for organizing activities for underprivileged children. Three of t he Shiraz group are serving four-year prison sentences.

"I find it deeply shocking that the Baha'i youth in Shiraz engage in social  activities in the same way as we do in Offenbach, but with one difference  - whereas here in Germany our efforts are rewarded with prizes, the Baha'i  youth in Shiraz must pay for their services to Iranian society with prison  sentences and other coercive measures," said Peggy Habermann, coordinator o f the People's Theater.

Kamal Sido, head of the Near East division of the Society for Threatened Pe oples, attended the gathering and offered words of support for those persec uted in Iran.

The chairwoman of the Green Party in the German Federal State of Hesse, Kor dula Schulze-Asche, expressed indignation over the human rights violations  perpetrated in Iran, as did Gisela Stang, mayor of Hofheim, which encompass es Langenhain.

Messages were read from two members of the German Federal Parliament, Erika  Steinbach of the Christian Democratic Union and Omid Nouripour of the Gree n Party.

Ingo Hofmann, representing the Baha'i community of Germany, presented an ov erview of the current situation of the Baha'is in Iran. In Shiraz, he said,  Haleh Rouhi, Raha Sabet, and Sasan Taqva, had organized, with permission f rom authorities, an educational program for underprivileged children. They  were later accused of having propagated the Baha'i Faith, even though a rep ort commissioned by the government concluded that their activities were str ictly humanitarian. The three were sentenced to prison terms.

Before performing "Souls of Shiraz," a piece composed for the occasion, mus ician Anke Keitel spoke of the invisible ties she feels with those imprison ed in Iran.

"Haleh, Raha, and Sasan believe just like me in the universality of human r ights. They strive to foster the well-being of humanity, just as I do. And  they are just as young as I am," she said.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world and marks the anni versary of the adoption - on 10 December 1948 - by the United Nations Gener al Assembly of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

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>http://news.bahai.org/story/740