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January, 2010

Use of Coerced Confessions

The Iranian government organizes show trials in order to blame innocent citizens

New York, 31 January (BWNS) – Bahá'ís condemn lack of due process at trial in Iran - The Bahá'í International Community has issued a statement condemning the trial of 16 individuals in Iran yesterday as a "violation of all internationally accepted standards of legal due process." The statement highlights the lack of proper legal representation for the defendants and the use of unreliable "confessions" in the trial. One of the 16 on trial is a Bahá'í

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Beads of Compassion

For each of you, from your confreres worldwide:
a necklace of tears -- blue beads of compassion,
resignation, hope -- blue beads and soft blue feathers.

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Harmonies for Heart and Soul

The House was full. It was absolutely fabulous!

Choral Festival gets better from year to year at the Bahá'í House of Worship for the North American Continent. [Watch Choral est Audio SlideShow - Interviews with participants of the 3rd Annual Choral Festival including music director Van Gilmer.]

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We Will Take The Staircase

The Silence of the Intellectuals Was Unbearable

Under the Staircase by Kimia Ferdowsi - "Conflict and strife are hardly rarities in this writhing world of ours. Within every border and beneath every roof an afflicted humanity cowers. How do we begin to categorize the burden we all directly or indirectly share? The gauge that distinguishes these crises from each other, it seems, could derive from the victims’ response to oppression. It’s easy to love thy brother. Is it possible to love thine enemy? [Short Documentary Film "Under the Staircase" is available below the story]

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The World Is Watching In Horror

INDIA - TV program on the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran aired in Indian TV news channel twice on Sunday January 24 and Monday January 25. It includes a phone interview with Shirin Ebadi. Iran trying to wipe out Baha'i Culture. [Watch TV Program - Iran: Baha'i Persecution Part 1, 2, 3, 4]

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A lesson of Courage and Selflessness

American Red Cross/Photo Talia Krenkel - Impact Your World

January 27, 2010, Haiti - Isabelle Jeanson has worked in communications with Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) since 2003. She has spent time with MSF missions in Colombia, Russia, Nigeria, and Papua New Guinea, and she served as an emergency press officer in Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami. She joined the emergency team in Haiti 48 hours after the January 12 earthquake struck, and filed this report on January 26: In any tragedy there are miraculous moments. Today I learned of one of those moments and was witness to another.

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Brother Worries

Rezvan Tavakkoli is awaiting word about his brother in Iran who faces death

January 23, 2010 - Clinton, Maryland, USA — For as long as Bahaism has existed, the forebears of Rezvan Tavakkoli have abided by it. And over the generations, since the faith’s origin 166 years ago, Mr. Tavakkoli’s people have paid the price of their devotion. They have endured beatings, insults, arrest, vandalism, dismissal from jobs, denial of education and other forms of religious bigotry inflicted by the Iranian Muslims who consider Bahaism an intolerable blasphemy for its belief in a 19th-century prophet and his new revelation emerging from Shiite Islam.

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Ten Baha'is Have Virtually Disappeared in January

Individuals among the 10 Baha’is, including two married couples, arrested

27 January 2010 - New York — Concern is growing over the lack of information about the status of 10 Baha'is who were arrested earlier this month in Iran. In addition to worry about their safety, there are fears that charges against these 10 will be used to create false evidence in court against the seven Baha'i leaders who have been held since 2008 and whose trial is set to resume on 7 February.