The situation of the Baha’i community in Iran is critical, as expressed in this urgent message from the Freedom to Believe Foundation:

Statement on Critical Situation of the Baha’i Community in Iran

The week of May 12th has been one of great importance to the international Baha’i Community. Friends from countries and territories all over the world have been distressed by the suffering of their human family in Myammar and China. The tragedies there have compelled us all to lament the condition of humanity, not just because of the havoc and human destruction from nature, but mostly because of our frailties in not being able to protect our fellow world citizens from the limitations of ideologies and practices that prevent us from helping those who are in the greatest need. This is the greatest tragedy, when we want to help one another, and we’re not allowed.

This is also the case in Iran. Our community feels powerless to help those who were arrested this past week with out just cause or having committed any crime. These men and women join thousands of Bahai’s in Iran who have been imprisoned, tortured and executed over the course of the last century strictly because of their beliefs. And what is their crime? They are world citizens who have a sane loyalty to their country and the desire to see their country thrive and prosper. They appreciate the contributions to civilization that Persia and Persians have made over the course of human history and are proud of their culture and people.

Because of their faith, they don’t participate in party politics and they hold steadfast to their convictions that all peoples should have the right to their conscience. They believe that ultimately the human race is one family, that we are guided and protected by one God, the Founder of all the great religions of humanity, who has taught all of us to respect one another, to appreciate diversity of belief and to love one another.

To hear of more arrests this week was both discouraging and profoundly sad. It reminded the Baha’i Community of the most recent pogroms in Iran in the 1980’s where the IRI arrested thousands, carried out a merciless campaign to execute the leadership of the Baha’i Community in Iran (executing over 200 Baha’i’s) and threw Bahai’s out of their jobs, their schools, defining them as non-citizens of the country they love. The Islamic Republic also destroyed Holy Places and cemeteries as if to obliterate every trace of the Baha’I Faith in the land of It’s birth. It has been described by some in the international community as cultural genocide but at it’s heart, it is a campaign to eradicate this community which represents the largest religious minority in Iran, numbering close to half a million people.

The Freedom to Believe Foundation has been organized in North America and many countries to come in order to combat this fanaticism and try to encourage understanding of every human being’s right to hold their own heartfelt convictions without fear of intimidation. The first project of the Foundation is to produce a feature length movie about ten women teenagers to grandmothers, who were executed in Shiraz, Iran by the government in 1983 for their beliefs. They were arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the authorities for nine months and finally hanged before dawn on June 18th, 1983. The youngest of them was a 17 year old girl, Mona Mahmudnizhad, who refused to recant her beliefs and the movie is based on her story and will be called “Mona’s Dream”. Shohreh Agdashloo, Oscar-nominated actress for “House of Sand and Fog” will play Mona’s mother in the film and Mona’s role will be played by Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar -nominated actress for “Whale Rider”.

The goal of the Foundation and the film will be to create awareness of these injustices and help support people of all faiths and no faith to be protected when their conscience is violated. Please join us in helping to make these ideas become successful on the world stage.

You may contact this foundation via phone at 1-813-770-0870 or e-mail at freedomtobelievefoundation@gmail.com

Please protest in any way that you can before the situation worsens. It is important for us to stick together regardless of our different faith or nationalities in order to help release these innocent individuals!