Baha'i World News Service

Recent national-level events held in the United States, Bulgaria and Canada reflect the ongoing global outcry at the Iranian authorities' crackdown on Baha'is. A hearing in the U.S. Capitol building on 15 February brought together some 100 Congressional staff, US agency officials, and representatives of human rights and religious NGOs. The hearing sought to promote the passage of House...

Representatives of the United Kingdom Baha'i community joined members of eight other religions at a special gathering to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. At a reception held at Lambeth Palace – official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury – Baha'is, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians discussed their beliefs with the...

A feature-length film that examines the persecution of Iran's Baha'is opens here this week, ahead of a program of screenings throughout the United States and in other countries. Iranian Taboo is the work of celebrated Dutch-Iranian filmmaker Reza Allamehzadeh. "In spite of the fact that I'm banned from entering my homeland, I managed to film deep inside Iran with the help of...

In a motion supported by both government and opposition MPs in Australia's House of Representatives, parliamentarians have urged their counterparts in Iran to promote and protect the fundamental human rights of Iranian citizens. Iranian MPs are also called upon specifically to investigate the denial of access to higher education for student activists, Baha'is and others, and to seek a judicial...

While the economic crisis has led many to focus on inequalities at the national level, the extremes between rich and poor internationally have also grown to become a threat to global stability. That was among the themes raised by a panel here, held as part of this year's session of the UN Commission for Social Development, which runs until Friday. Focusing on the Commission's theme of...

An ambitious project to translate a collection of Baha'u'llah's writings into Korean reaches fruition this month with the book's publication. The volume, known in English as Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, will be the first Baha'i book in Korean to be widely available from bookshops and online retailers. "The main reason for publishing Baha'i literature in our language...

The Iranian government's systematic strategy to drive Baha'is to economic ruin shows no sign of abating. According to reports received by the Baha'i International Community, a renewed campaign is under way in Kerman, the major city in south central Iran. "We have learned that the Public Places Supervision Office is denying the renewal of licenses – and revoking some existing ones – for...

Almost 70 prominent Romanians are calling upon the government of Iran to grant Baha'is their fundamental human rights. Sixty-eight celebrated figures – from the worlds of academia, arts, banking, business, media and medicine – have signed a petition, appealing to the Iranian authorities to cease its systematic campaign of persecution of the Baha'is, "who seek only their rights under the...

Treatment of the Baha'is in Iran has "escalated to an institutionalised and blatant policy of persecution," according to a proclamation issued by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Slovakian parliament. The proclamation describes the Iranian government's incitement to hatred based on religion and belief as "abhorrent." It also states that the "regime's endeavors to persecute Baha'is is...

Eighteen years ago, Baha'is in the Iranian city of Sanandaj were allocated a one-hectare parcel of barren land at the side of a road for use as a cemetery. This rocky mountainside, devoid of vegetation, was hardly prime real estate but – after the first burial there in the autumn of 1993 – local Baha'is got together to landscape the site, dig out the rocks and replace the soil. They planted...

Members of Parliament here have sharply criticized Iran for its human rights violations, focusing especially on the "steep rise" in the persecution of religious minorities. In a debate held at Westminster Hall on Wednesday 11 January, MPs highlighted the fact that virtually every religious minority in Iran is now facing oppression. Some 19 MPs, representing the UK's three major parties,...

Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, a noted legal scholar who uncovered significant evidence of human rights violations in Iran in the late 1980s and early 1990s, passed away here last Thursday. A prominent diplomat and professor of law, Prof. Galindo Pohl was well known internationally even before his 1987 appointment as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights' Special Representative on Iran. He had...

Two pre-eminent university presidents are urging all of their fellow Canadians to join them in calling for an end to Iran's persecution of Baha'i educators and students. The appeal comes from Canada's former minister of foreign affairs and president of the University of Winnipeg, Lloyd Axworthy, and Allan Rock – who is president of the University of Ottawa and former Canadian ambassador to...

The Baha'i International Community has expressed its condolences over the passing of noted human rights lawyer and Tunisian jurist Abdelfattah Amor. Professor Amor – who has died at the age of 68 after suffering a heart attack – was best known internationally for his 11 years of service as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, from 1993 to 2004. "As the...

Reflecting the international community's increasing intolerance for human rights violations, the UN General Assembly today condemned Iran for oppressing its citizens. By a vote of 89 to 30 with 64 abstentions, the Assembly approved a resolution that expressed "deep concern at serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations" in the country. The vote came after Iran attempted a...

Almost 180 legal professionals from around the country gathered here for a conference on the Baha'i Faith and the personal and family laws that apply to its members. Held in the auditorium of the country's Supreme Court, the unprecedented event aimed to prepare advocates and judges who might be required to assist Baha'is with legal matters, such as marriage and inheritance. In Bangladesh,...

Almost 50 leaders of medical education in the United States have joined the worldwide protest against the Iranian government’s persecution of Baha’i students and educators. Forty-eight Deans and Senior Vice-Presidents – who between them head more than a third of American medical schools – have signed an open letter addressed to Iran’s representative to the United Nations. The letter...

At the Canadian Senate enquiry into the persecution of Iranian Baha'is, Canada's first Muslim senator has strongly criticized Iran for its prosecution and imprisonment of Baha'i educators. Senator Mobina Jaffer said that it was "unprecedented" that Iran has now criminalized the education of young people. "What cruelty is this, that a government would imprison its citizens for educating...

Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire, the former UN peacekeeping force commander who tried to stop the 1990s genocide in Rwanda, has said that Iran's current actions against Baha'is remind him of what he witnessed in Africa. "The similarities with what I saw in Rwanda are absolutely unquestionable, equal...and in fact applied with seemingly the same verve," said Senator Dallaire. "We are...

Mr. Ian C. Semple, former member of the Universal House of Justice, passed away today in Switzerland. He was 82 years old. The Universal House of Justice has sent the following message to all National Spiritual Assemblies:

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Our hearts are laden with sorrow at the passing to the Abha Kingdom of our dearly loved former colleague Ian C....