Mobile billboard carrying a call to “Free Baha’i Leaders: Prisoners of Conscience in Iran”
Sydney will be one of 12 cities featured in a global campaign on Sunday, April 1 to mark 10,000 days that seven innocent leaders of the Baha’i religion have collectively spent behind bars in Iran.
A mobile billboard carrying a call to “Free Baha’i Leaders: Prisoners of Conscience in Iran” will be seen and filmed at such iconic sites as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, Hyde Park, and Bondi beach.
Sydney coverage will be linked with that of similar awareness-raising action in other cities such as Berlin, Cape Town, Washington DC, Paris and New Delhi.
The campaign is seeking the release of the leaders who, prior to their arrests in 2008, were members of an informal national-level group that attended to the spiritual and social needs of Iran’s Baha’i community. Several have close relatives in Australia.
The seven were each sentenced to 20 years imprisonment after an internationally-condemned trial characterised by a lack of due legal process.
The Australian Government, the Federal House of Representatives and State Governments have called for the release of the seven. Australia has co- sponsored a series of resolutions in the General Assembly of the United Nations against Iran’s treatment of Baha’is.
The billboard campaign has been organised by United4Iran, an international human rights NGO.
The large image of the Baha’i prisoners featured on the billboards is made of smaller photographs of hundreds of people currently jailed in Iran, including journalists, trade unionists, student and women’s activists, religious leaders and opposition leaders.
“We hope this action will bring worldwide attention to the plight of the seven Baha’i leaders, and also remind us of all other prisoners of conscience who remain behind bars and who need our unwavering support on their behalf,” said Firuzeh Mahmoudi, United4Iran’s director and founder.
Former imprisoned US activist and hiker Sarah Shourd, now a Political Prisoner Advocate for United4Iran, is taking up the call for their immediate release.
While imprisoned in Iran, Shourd had a poignant encounter with one of the Baha’i leaders, Fariba Kamalabadi, whose son and sister live in Australia.
“Fariba Kamalabadi and I were being led to the prison clinic. We were walking in single file and the first thing she did was reach out and rub my back affectionately. She smiled at me, whispering that she was sorry that I was alone, then hastily told me who she was,” Shourd said.
“Later, when I was released and was able to learn more about the seven Baha’i leaders, who are being held without proper legal representation or a fair trial, I was even more astounded by Fariba’s kindness and bravery that day.”
Shourd is joining the call for the release of Kamalabadi and her colleagues, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm.
Australian Baha’i Community spokesperson Venus Khalessi said: “The seven were, and remain, totally innocent of any wrongdoing. The day is long overdue when these prisoners are freed to be able to make their contribution to the country they love.”