Allah’u’Abha friends…

We are happy to inform you that our 2nd Intensive Institute Campaign will be on
May, 21 – May 30, 2010, at Baha’i National Center .
Please adjust your time, schedules accordingly. Encourage and invite your friends to participate.

As we know, we will all stay the whole Campaign at the Center.
There is no fee for the Campaign, but we can bring anything as contribution & we also have a fund box
for voluntary contribution to support our institute. We also have to pay for the books we use (any amount).

Finally, we should remember that we come here to build more capacities to serve humanity…
So, let us all come with this goal in our mind and make every moment fruitful.

Welcome every one…

Metro Manila Cluster Institute Coordinators

Calls for action as Iranian Baha’i leaders enter third year in prison

NEW YORK, 10 May (BWNS) – As seven Baha’i leaders in Iran enter their third
year of imprisonment, new details about the harsh conditions of their
incarceration have emerged, renewing calls for their immediate release.

The prisoners are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif
Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr.
Vahid Tizfahm.

“These innocent Baha’is have now been locked up for two full years in
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, under conditions which clearly violate
international standards,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of
the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations. “We call on the
Iranian authorities to release them now, and ask the international community
to join us in this plea. The dictates of justice demand no less.”

The prisoners, former members of an informal group known as the Yaran, or
“Friends,” used to attend to the spiritual and social needs of the several
hundred thousand Baha’is of Iran. They have been held in Evin prison since
they were arrested in 2008 – six of them on 14 May and one of them two
months earlier.

No court hearing was held until 12 January this year when they appeared in
Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court. Charges including espionage,
propaganda activities and “corruption on earth” were all denied. Further
appearances took place on 7 February and 12 April.

“In the three trial sessions that have so far taken place, no evidence has
been provided whatsoever of wrongdoing – making it all the more obvious that
the prisoners are being held only because of their religious belief,” said
Ms. Dugal.

“If their freedom is not immediately granted, at the very least they should
be released on bail. Steps should be taken to ensure that their trial is
expedited and conducted fairly, in accordance with international standards,”
she said.

Severe prison conditions

Friday marks the second anniversary of the group’s imprisonment, and details
continue to emerge about the severe conditions under which they are being
held. It is known, for example, that the two women and five men are confined
to two cells which are so small that they restrict adequate movement or
rest.

“They have neither beds nor bedding,” said Ms. Dugal.

The place has a rancid smell, and they are permitted to have fresh air for
only two hours each week. They have a light that if turned off during the
day makes it impossible for them to see anything.

“Contact with their loved ones is restricted to one 10-minute telephone call
a week, or visits which are mostly conducted through a glass barrier,” Ms.
Dugal said.

“Such inhumane conditions show no regard for the principles outlined in
international agreements for the treatment of prisoners, which provide that
no one may be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment,” she said.

“The prisoners’ own requests for modest improvements to their conditions
remain unaddressed, and as a consequence their health is suffering.

“These people are innocent, and there is no reason they should be made to
suffer like this,” she said.

According to the journalist Roxana Saberi – who shared a cell for three
weeks with two of the Baha’i prisoners – the women are confined in a small
space. “They roll up a blanket to use as a pillow,” she said. “The floor is
cement and covered with only a thin, brown carpet, and prisoners often get
backaches and bruises from sleeping on it. … When I was with them, we were
allowed into a walled-in cement yard four days a week for 20 to 30 minutes.”

International action

The Universal House of Justice – the head of the Baha’i Faith – has called
for the worldwide Baha’i community to host special prayer meetings across
the globe this Friday, to remember the Baha’is of Iran and all their
compatriots who are similarly subject to oppression.

“It grieves our hearts to contemplate the passing of yet another year in
which the seven former members of the Yaran remain imprisoned on baseless
charges for which the authorities have no evidence whatsoever,” the House of
Justice has written.

The second anniversary, they say, calls to mind the “multifarious forms of
oppression” being faced by Iran’s Baha’i community, including
“interrogations, summary arrests and imprisonment, deprivation of the means
to a livelihood, wanton destruction of property, and the denial of education
to Baha’i students.”

A collective gesture of solidarity with the imprisoned Baha’i leaders has
also been called for by the human rights network United4Iran. They are
asking sympathizers worldwide to replicate the dimensions of the cells in
Evin prison, and document themselves confined to the space. Photographs and
video clips will be then shared on the Internet to bring the international
community’s attention to the ongoing arbitrary imprisonment being endured by
the seven.

Details about the United4Iran campaign can be found here:
http://united4iran.com/2010/05/may-14th-2010-2-years-since-the-arbitrary-arrests-of-the-7-baha%E2%80%99i/

For a longer version of the story that includes more details about Evin
prison, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/771

For the Baha’i World News Service home page, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/