The US Bahai community just launched a video contest help raise awareness about the denial of access to higher education to Bahá’ís in Iran. Since 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has blocked the 300,000-member Baha’i community from higher education, refusing young Baha’is entry into universities and colleges.
The clip should be less than 2 minutes and can be submitted by anyone on the globe. Clips can be submitted in English and Persian. Categories for the clips include “under 22″, “professional filmmakers”, “amateur filmmakers” and “animation/cartoon”.
Due date to submit your clip is December 10, 2008, Human Rights Day
I hope that as many of us as possible get involved and support this initiative!!! Don’t worry about if you have the skills or not, its about participating and showing the world that you care about what is happening to the Baha’i youth in Iran.
For more information about the contest click here.
I just came across the following post which tells the story of how Russ Garcia, a prominent composer, “had been denied an Oscar due to a case of mistaken identity.”
What happened?
“The facts, … showed that Garcia had written orchestrations of Charlie Chaplin’s music for the Oscar-winning score of Limelight. Garcia also composed incidental music for the movie, and participated in the recording of the score. Yet the Oscar was given—probably due to confusion over names—to Larry Russell, who apparently had no involvement with the score.”
Russ Garcia who is a member of the Bahai Faith responds saying: ““I’m a Baha’i. It’s part of my faith never to be the source of grief to anyone. I didn’t want Larry’s widow or family or anyone to feel bad. I still don’t. I’ve won plenty of awards.”
Even though Garcia’s attitude is admirable it would be a pity and shame if the Academy Awards would neglect correcting this mistake and not award Garcia for his achievement and contribution to the world of music.
Iran stoops to a new level of desperation in the case of the recently 7 detained Bahai’s. The government is trying their very best to keep the matter out of the press and pressure anyone that speaks up on their part.
Recently Shirin Ebadi and two of her colleagues have stepped up to defend these Baha’is in court. Shortly after this announcement Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that Ebadi’s daughter had converted to the Bahai religion nearly a year ago, citing what it called “an informed source.”
This type of allegation is VERY serious in Iran as conversion away from Islam is considered apostasy and is punishable by death.
“Ebadi told the reformist Kargozaran newspaper that she believed the allegation against her daughter had to do with her decision to defend seven Bahais arrested on charges of having contact with Iran’s arch foe Israel.”
“I am proud to say that my family and I are Shiites,” she said in the comments published by the paper on Thursday. full article
I am sure will see more of this type of activity, let’s see what entertaining and absolutely groundless accusation is published next
I just came across this blog post stating that the seven Bahai’s who where arrested in May are being held in solitary confinement in Section 209 of the notorious Evin Prison in Iran.
Here is list of interesting and very shocking facts about SECTION 209:
Section 209 is known by most for its “political prisoners”. It is run by Iran’s various security services, and it houses prisoners who have somehow fallen afoul of some branch of Iran’s government or its religious authorities. To anyone but the Iranian government, they would be known as political prisoners.
The number have dramatically increased in the last year and a half, it seems to have reached its highest population level since the 1980’s
Inmates include students, journalists, bloggers, newspaper editors, human-rights activists and scholars and Bahai’s
Few are charged with any crime, but huge numbers are locked away and often tortured
Inmates face cruel conditions, including a form of solitary confinement known as the “white torture” (the lights of the windowless, empty cell are constantly left on, for months at a time). Beatings are not uncommon.
Section 209 is famous for Zahra Kazemi, the Montreal photographer who was arrested while taking pictures outside the prison in 2003. Inside, she was tortured, brutally abused and then beaten to death.
Since then attempts have been made to shut down the section due to its brutal and shadowy nature, however these attempts have failed and the section is still running in full swing
Organizations holding prisoners in Section 209 do not fall under the authority of the elected Iranian government; they answer to the clerics who stand above the government, or to rogue factions within the security services and the Revolutionary Guards. Some are loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and not to parliament; some are loyal only to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Prison authorities do not have the power to control what is happening inside Iran’s prisons. Various cell blocks are controlled by various organizations with varying agendas. The use of solitary confinement and ‘white torture’ isn’t necessarily authorized by the government; the factions doing this are pretty much close to the hard-liners and the supreme leader. The Intelligence Ministry is very involved in threatening families.
To give you a more vivid picture of the harrassment that its inmate under go, here a excerpt from Ahmad Batebi about his experiences Evin:
“The captors blind folded him and thrashed him with metal cables until he passed out, then rubbed salt into the wounds to wake him up, so they could torture him more, beat his testicles and kicked his teeth out. They held his face down in a pool of excrement until he inhaled it. They tied his arms behind his back and hung him from the ceiling. At other times, strapping him to a chair, they kept him awake night after night. He was played recordings of what he was told was his mother being tortured.”
One can only imagine what is happening at this very moment to the Bahai’s who know have been accused of having confessed to setting up an illegal organization with connections to a number of countries including Israel and they have received orders from them to undertake measures against the Islamic system.
I realize this is a little late but felt that its too important not to write about even in a delayed fashion.
In the recent days a number of very important things have occurred related the situation of the Bahai’s in Iran, here is a quick summary.
A few days ago the US House of Representatives passed House Resolution 1008, make sure to watch the clip, I promise its worth your time. This congressional resolution condemns the government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of Baha’is; calls on Iran’s Parliament to reject a proposed Islamic penal code, and calls on the Iranian regime to immediately release ten imprisoned Baha’is. This resolution is bright ray of light in a very dark period when a people are silently being suffocated and eradicated.
Shortly there after the government of Iran issued a press release stating that seven Baha’i individuals who had been detained confessed to having set up an illegal organization with connections to a number of countries including Israel and they have received orders from them to undertake measures against the Islamic system. This story which was issued by Reuters Tehran and has since then been circling the globe.
The seven detained Baha’is refers to the leadership of the Baha’i community in Iran which was arrested a few months prior and had not been charged with anything.
The International Bahai Community released a response denying these claims saying: “We deny in the strongest possible terms the suggestion that Baha’is in Iran have engaged in any subversive activity,” said Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations. “The Baha’i community is not involved in political affairs. Their only ‘crime’ is the practice of their religion.”
One can not be sure why the Iranian government decided to make public claims related to the arrest of the detained individuals at this time and publish this imaginary story but what is clear that the situation as become very serious and their lives are in grave danger.
Keep in mind that once a government, especially Iran makes a public announcement accusing individuals to confession to working against it (treason), it becomes impossible to then let them off the hook. It appears that with this announcement Iran has made very clear in which direction they are wishing to move in regard to these seven, they have escalated the situation and one has to be seriously concerned for the lives of those accused.
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