{"id":1157,"date":"2008-05-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/governing-body-elected-amid-concern-for-iran\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:49:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:49:29","slug":"governing-body-elected-amid-concern-for-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/governing-body-elected-amid-concern-for-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Governing body elected amid concern for Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/Portals\/0\/friends%20in%20iran.jpg\" alt=\"Governing body elected amid concern for Iran\" \/><figcaption>The seven arrested Baha&#8217;i leaders in Iran: Standing L to R: Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naemi, and Mahvash Sabet Seated L to R: Behrouz Tavakkoli and Saeid Rezaie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Baha\u2019is from throughout Australia have elected the national governing council of their Faith at the Baha\u2019i national convention being held in Sydney this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>More than 90 delegates from throughout Australia cast their secret ballots in an election conducted without nominations or campaigning, in accordance with Baha&#8217;i electoral procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Those elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha&#8217;is of Australia are: Ms Arini Beaumaris (Gold Coast), Mrs Fiona McDonald (East Fremantle, WA), Professor Fariborz Moshirian (Ku-ring-gai, Sydney), Dr Golshah Naghdy (Wollongong), Ms Kath Podger (Leichhardt, Sydney), Dr Vahid Saberi (Ballina, NSW), Professor Bijan Samali (Baulkham Hills, Sydney), Ms Tessa Scrine (Canberra), and Mr John Walker (Ingleside, Sydney).<\/p>\n<p>Eight of the nine members served on the previous National Spiritual Assembly.<\/p>\n<p>The new member is Ms Beaumaris, an educator from the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n<p>The convention paid tribute to the \u201coutstanding and devoted service\u201d of Dr Majorie Tidman of York, Western Australia, who had resigned due to ill health after being a member since she was first elected in 1996.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Profound concern<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The election was conducted amid an atmosphere of profound concern for the Baha\u2019is in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Six leaders of the Iranian Baha\u2019i community were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bahai.org.au\/scripts\/WebObjects.exe\/BNO.woa\/wa\/pages?page=news_and_media\/recent_news\/Fears_for_Baha'is_arrested.html\">summarily arrested<\/a> in Iran on 14 May 2008. The seventh member of the leadership group has been detained since March this year.<\/p>\n<p>The arrests have attracted <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2008\/WORLD\/meast\/05\/22\/iran.bahais\/\">condemnation worldwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One of those arrested is the brother of a delegate attending the national convention.<\/p>\n<p>Amin&#8217;ullah Tavakoli, who lives in Campbelltown SA, said he was very worried for his brother, Behrouz Tavakkoli.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My brother has spent all his life serving his faith and humanity,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Community building<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Plenary sessions at the convention are focussing on the current systematic, grassroots process of community-building \u2013 focused on training, learning and service \u2013 that is being carried out by the Baha\u2019is of Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Discussion is continuing on the four core activities of children\u2019s classes, devotional meetings, study circles, and programs for young teens.<\/p>\n<p>The convention is being held at the Sydney Baha&#8217;i Centre in Silverwater. It will conclude on Sunday at noon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baha\u2019is from throughout Australia have elected the national governing council of their Faith at the Baha\u2019i national convention being held in Sydney this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Governing body elected amid concern for Iran - Australian Baha&#039;i Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/governing-body-elected-amid-concern-for-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Governing body elected amid concern for Iran - 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