Baha'i Rights Day: 11 July 2009
The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights named 11 July 2009 as the first "Baha'i Rights Day." On that day, the ad hoc group of seven Baha'is, who were attending to the minimal needs of Iran's largest religious minority, will face trial in Iran's Revolutionary Court. They were wrongly accused of a variety of false and absurd charges that include "spreading corruption on earth," punishable by death according to Iran's penal code. They have been incarcerated for over a year in Iran's notorious Evin prison without any access to legal defense. The banner accompanying this post was designed by the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights.
On 3 July 2009, Amnesty International has demanded an "URGENT ACTION" . calling on the Iranian authorities to release the seven members of the Baha’i minority (naming them) whom Amnesty International considers to be prisoners of conscience held because of their beliefs or peaceful activities on behalf of the Baha’i community;
. calling on them to drop the charges against the seven, which Amnesty International consider as politically motivated;
. expressing concern that if convicted of the charges they are said to be facing the seven could be sentenced to death;
. calling on the authorities to ensure that the seven are protected from torture and other ill-treatment;
. urging the authorities to ensure that the seven are given regular access to their families, lawyers of their choice and any medical treatment they may require.
to the Baha'is of Iran on July 11:
ReplyDeleteFrom the Welsh poet and novelist Sheenagh Pugh:
Sometimes
Sometimes things don't go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail, sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.
-Sheenagh Pugh 1950-
Thank you for this inspiring poem.
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic, that the Muslims would form a Network for Baha'i Rights, and stand up to the cruelties of oppression! God Bless
ReplyDelete