wfn.org | Baha'i news: Human rights abuses in Iran focus of global campaigns

[Sally Weeks <sweeks@bwc.org>]

>Baha'i World News Service
>http://news.bahai.org
>For more information, contact: news@bahai.org<mailto:news@bahai.org

Human rights abuses in Iran focus of global campaigns

GENEVA, 24 May (BWNS) - A global day of action demanding an end to human ri 
ghts abuses in Iran has been called for Saturday, 12 June.

The initiative - coordinated by human rights group United4Iran - is being c 
o-sponsored by numerous organizations including Amnesty International, Huma n 
Rights Watch, the Nobel Women's Initiative, the Baha'i International Comm 
unity, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, FIDH (Federation Inter 
nationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme), and Pen International.

"In our support for this nonpartisan initiative, we are standing together w ith 
ordinary citizens throughout the world to draw attention to the continu ing and 
widespread abuse of human rights in Iran," said Diane Ala'i, repres entative of 
the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Gen eva.

The prominent nongovernmental organizations are joining with a wide range o f 
local, student and Internet-based groups to host simultaneous events in c ities 
and on campuses across the globe. Online initiatives include sending  messages 
to specific recipients in support of individual prisoners of consc ience.

Earlier this month, United4Iran marked the second anniversary - on 14 May -  of 
the jailing of seven Baha'i leaders in Tehran's Evin prison, calling fo r 
individuals to show support by replicating the size of the small jail cel ls 
and taking a photograph.

"The response was overwhelming," reported the United4Iran website. "Notes,  
emails, video, old photographs of the leaders, former students, (and) commu 
nity representatives from all the world participated."

As a gesture of solidarity, supporters were asked to mark off the size of t he 
cells shared by the Baha'i prisoners then occupy the space, so as to bet ter 
appreciate their suffering.

The cells of the Baha'is in Evin prison do not have beds, forcing the priso 
ners to sleep on the concrete floor. A video was posted online to show some  of 
the photos the organization received.

United4Iran also published an old photograph of one of the jailed Baha'is,  
Fariba Kamalabadi, with one of her former students. The student sent the pi 
cture to United4Iran along with words from a letter she wrote to her teache r: 
"Now that you are in prison ... for making the world a better place, ...  it 
brings tears to my eyes. And all I can do is pray. The things you taugh t me I 
will always know."

"We are grateful for this outpouring of sympathy being offered to the peopl e 
of Iran who are subject to oppression," said Ms. Ala'i.

Several other organizations have recently launched campaigns in support of  
Iran's oppressed Baha'i community.

The latest newsletter of the French branch of the organization Christians f or 
the Abolition of Torture (ACAT-France) includes a call for action in sup port 
of the seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders, as well as 12 other Baha'is wh o have 
been recently detained.
On 14 March, Amnesty International requested messages of goodwill be sent t o 
prisoners of conscience in Iran in order to mark the traditional Persian  new 
year holiday.

The detained leaders of Iran's Baha'i community were included among seven c 
ases selected by Amnesty International.

To date, almost 600 messages have been received for the Baha'i prisoners -  
both individually and collectively - from as far afield as Japan, New Zeala nd, 
the Netherlands, and the United States.

The seven Baha'i leaders jailed in Tehran for the past two years are among  
about 36 Baha'i currently imprisoned in Iran because of their religion.

To read the story on the BWNS website and view the photographs, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/773