Religious freedom

Remembering a day of tragedy, a day of courage

shane — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:34:24 -0500

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the day 10 Bahá'í women were hanged in Shiraz, Iran, for teaching religious classes to Bahá'í youth -- the equivalent of being Sunday School teachers in the West.

Iran confirms six Baha'i faithful arrested

shane — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:37:03 -0500

The Agence France-Presse reported today that Iran confirmed that it has arrested members of the Bahai religious community, whose faith is banned in the Islamic republic, for acting against the national interest.

U.S. Department of State strongly condemns the arrests of Baha'i leaders in Iran

shane — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:32:17 -0500

The U.S. Department of State has issued the following statement about the recent arrests:

USCIRF Calls for Strong International Condemnation of Arrest of Baha’i Leaders

shane — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:29:36 -0500

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today called for strong international condemnation of the arrest of Baha’i leaders in Iran.

Baha'i leaders arrested in Iran

shane — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:08:38 -0500

On May 14, Iranian intelligence officials arrested six Baha’i leaders and took them to the notorious Evin prison. The imprisonments are ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Baha’i leaders were summarily rounded up and subsequently executed.

Egypt court upholds Baha'i plea in religious freedom cases

glen — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:05:17 -0600

CAIRO, 29 January 2008 (BWNS)--In a victory for religious freedom, a lower administrative court here today ruled in favor of two lawsuits that sought to resolve the government's contradictory policy on religious affiliation and identification papers.

Separated by time and space, united by spirit

shane — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:32:49 -0500

Sahba Rohani, 30, a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, recently went to Istanbul, Turkey, to be with more than 30 relatives, who, like her, belong to the Baha'i Faith.

Audio Fearture: Situation of the Baha'is in Egypt

glen — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Kit Bigelow, director of the National Spiritual Assembly's Office of External Affairs in Washington, DC, speaks about the significance of the Baha'i community in Egypt. Though not numerically large, the community is one of the oldest in the world, formed in the late 19th century during the lifetime of Baha'u'llah. In the 1920s, in a landmark ruling, a Sunni court in Egypt in a ruled that the Baha'i Faith is an independent religion and not part of Islam, but still the Baha'is in Egypt continue to face various forms of repression (11 minutes).

Reps Kirk and Lantos protest treatment of Egyptian Baha’is

shane — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:18:58 -0600

In a letter to Nabil Fahmy, Egypt's ambassador to the United States, U.S. representatives Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) express disappointment at a recent decision by the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court to deny Baha'is the right to document their religion on official documents.

Message to the Baha'is of Egypt from the Universal House of Justice

shane — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:10:32 -0600

HAIFA, Israel, 26 December 2006 (BWNS) -- The Universal House of Justice, the highest governing body of the Baha'i Faith, has addressed a message to the Baha'is of Egypt in the wake of a 16 December Supreme Administrative Court decision in Cairo that upheld a discriminatory government policy regarding the Baha'is and their identification cards.