Baha’i Faith Leaders on Trial in Iran
''The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced it will put seven Baha’i leaders (right) on trial. The deputy prosecutor in Tehran stated on February 11 that the seven were charged with “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
The Baha’i leaders have been in Evin Prison in Tehran since Spring 2008.
Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Laureate, is their lawyer. She has not been allowed to meet with them or to review their files.
Iran also continues to deny basic human rights to millions of its other citizens … students, women, journalists, bloggers, and other religious minorities, Christians, Jews, and Sufis.
For the largest religious minority in Iran - the Baha’is - the situation in Iran has turned dangerous with these trumped-up charges against leaders of the Baha’i Faith and increased persecution of the rest of the 300,000 Baha’is throughout Iran - solely because of their religion. ''
(http://www.speakout4bahais.net/2009/02/21/bahai-faith-leaders-on-trial-in-iran/)
''But the Light of Truth is not easily extinguished. The very water that is poured on this fire to put out its flame turns into oil, and the fire burns with more intensity. Nothing can be done to stop Bahá’u’lláh’s growing influence. The farther the authorities banished Him, the greater the number of people who were attracted to His Teachings and recognized His Power and Majesty. In spite of constant persecution''
Here is a letter from February 18, 2009, from Naeim Tavakoli's (the daugter of one of the inprissoned Bahai's) :
I would like to share a few words about my
personal experience and feelings on the
current situation of Baha'is in Iran: about my
family, my friends and myself. What I am
going to share are my feelings and thoughts, and the complications which I face
everyday: as an Iranian; as a Baha'i; as a member
of the human family; and as a person
whose father is incarcerated in one of the most
infamous prisons in the world. The Evin
prison, in north of Tehran. High on a hill. With
underground cells and torture rooms.
Surrounded by thick huge walls.
I remember the time I was involved in a hi-rise
construction project which had a good
view of Evin prison. As the building was going
up, higher and higher, I was able to have
a better view of that scary place. That is why today I can clearly remember the
asymmetrical outline of Evin. It is the image I
go to sleep with at night and wake up with
in the morning, trying to picture my father in it. I know what it looks like.
Three years ago, my father, Behrouz Tavakkoli,
was in jail on a previous occasion for his
Baha'i beliefs. When we finally received
permission to visit him I couldn't believe the
man before me was my father. Pale, weak with a
long beard and long hair, in a loose
prison uniform. As they took him away I saw he
was limping. Now I can imagine what it
looks like. But this time I have to add to this
picture all I can remember from his friends,
too. I have to use my imagination like Photoshop
software to add beards to the smiling
faces of the other four men. I have to make them
look older. Make them look older by
several years older for each month which they
have spent in prison. I have to picture
their joyful eyes as tired. Tired of repeated
daylong intense interrogations under high
intensity light sources. I have to imagine how my
father and his friends look today after
nine months of devastating interrogations
accompanied by the most humiliating and
insulting words they've ever heard in their
lives. Do you know two of these seven
arrested Baha'is are women? I can't imagine these
two women in that situation. This is
what they call "white torture". Words are loosing
their meanings and implications. Upon
hearing the word "White" it is no longer the snow
that comes to my mind, nor is it a dove
or peace. Torture comes to my mind these days
with the word "white". White torture
means all the serious orthotic problems my father has developed during the
incarceration period. White torture means that
Vahid, one of my father's colleagues, who
is 35 years old, is loosing his eye sight due to
severe nerve breaking pressure. White
- 2 -
torture means to deprive a mother from being with
her teenage daughter for several
months.
I have only a few minutes to share with you a few
words about my father, and his friends
but this is more or less the everyday life of the
largest non-Muslim religious minority in
Iran. This is the life of anyone who belongs to
the Baha'i community, a community of
over 300,000. A community deprived of everything.
Deprived of basic human rights from
the time of their birth until they die. Deprived
of being given – while still a newborn - any
name which holds significance to the Baha'is.
Deprived of having even one easy day in
school without being singled out. Deprived of
being able to register in any school based
solely on their talents. Deprived of higher
education. Deprived of marriage certification.
Deprived of not only governmental jobs, but even
banned from being hired by a large
part of the private sector due to government
pressures. Deprived of having their own
businesses without their names published in the
revolutionary guard's black list.
Deprived of having a tombstone on their graves,
to rest in peace without shaking several
times a year in their caskets from the bulldozers
of the Islamic Republic. Deprived of
having Baha'i administrative elections and institutions.
My father and his friends were seven members of
this populous community which is
scattered over every corner of Iran. Their job
was only to bring these people together. To
provide them with sense of community and integrity in the absence of any Baha'i
institutions, which are banned by law in the
Islamic Republic of Iran. Now they have
been targeted by several false and fabricated accusations by the regime.
I remember nine months ago after that morning
raid to my parent's home, I was talking
to my mother and I could feel she was shaking on
the other side of the line as she was
telling me about her conversation with one of the
intelligence agents. She was packing a
warm sweater for my father as they were taking
him away, but the agent refused to allow
my father to take that package, saying "he is not
going to need clothing anymore, only a
live person does"!
Now it has been over nine months that my father
is in jail. It has been over nine months I
am working on that picture in my head, imagining
my father's situation. Once I had to
paint him in a solitary confinement, and in
interrogation rooms. I've tried to picture him in
- 3 -
a room sitting on a wooden stool for over 20
hours facing two intelligence agents filled
with blind religious prejudices. I have moved my
father in this picture from solitary
confinement to the general ward. Then I moved him
back to a small cell with no bed, not
enough blankets, sleeping on a cold cement floor
in Tehran's cold winter with his four
fellow cell-mates. Now I am working on another
corner of this big mental canvas. I am
drawing a court. I cannot see a lawyer though.
Probably they don't have access to their
lawyers.
Will I have to draw my father and his friends
back into the prison after this court case?
Will I have to move him around Evin prison in my
imaginary drawing one more time?
From soli
tary cells, to interrogation rooms, to
torture benches, to larger cells with his
friends with him.
When I look more carefully at this big unpleasant
picture there is another section in this
prison which I can see, with wooden posts or
steel posts. And steel rafters. And handoperated
cranes. And hoisting machines. And ropes!
My mind won't let me move my father and his friends to that corner.
Naeim Tavakkoli
In this image made from video provided by IRIB/IRRIN, Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, speaks to reporters after her release from the Evin prison in Tehran, Iran on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007l. The detained Iranian-American academic was suddenly released after spending months behind bars on charges of endangering Iranian national security - allegations her family vehemently denies.
source
( http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05IZgTH3wF286/610x.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.daylife.com/photo/05IZgTH3wF286&usg=__ppj5rC2L383pNSK8VAieac_Nw9s=&h=452&w=610&sz=45&hl=de&start=53&um=1&tbnid=OJXY-aa-cGo3qM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Devin%2Bteheran%2Bprison%26start%3D36%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dde%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:de:official%26hs%3DntU%26sa%3DN )
Hold on friends, your efforts will not be on Vain!
The promise from Baha''u'lla'h is with you! And all the Baha'is and friends of the Baha'is in the world appreciate your sufferings and sacrifices with reflecting outmost patience, love, dignity, and strenght, and strive day by day to spread the creative words of God.
Thank you ! for withstanding the stufferings and tormentations in this mortal world of dust. I pray so that your sufferings will be reduced and your life in the ethernal kingdom richer!
Alláh'u'Abhá
P.S. Here is a reportage of a wonderful soul.
Thank you Shirin Ebadi, for protecting the Baha'is with your own life.... spread this link !! http://iran.bahai.us/2009/02/19/channel-4-news-in-the-uk-interview-with-shrin-ebadi/
