{"id":1186,"date":"2010-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/prayers-as-leaders-enter-third-year-in-prison\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:52:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:52:07","slug":"prayers-as-leaders-enter-third-year-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/prayers-as-leaders-enter-third-year-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayers as leaders enter third year in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Prayers
A service will be held in Sydney’s Baha’i Temple on Friday 14 May at 8 pm to pray for the imprisoned leaders and others suffering oppression in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baha\u2019is across Australia are marking the second anniversary of the imprisonment of seven Baha\u2019i leaders in Iran with special prayer meetings.<\/p>\n

As similar gatherings take place around the world, new details have emerged about the inhumane conditions under which the seven are being detained in Tehran\u2019s notorious Evin Prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese seven innocent people are held in two small cells in which it is hard to move or rest,\u201d said Australian Baha\u2019i Community spokesperson Tessa Scrine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sleep on a blanket on the cement floor, they are only permitted fresh air for two hours a week, and the place has a foul smell,\u201d Ms Scrine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir health is deteriorating as a result of these appalling conditions, which violate all international standards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on the Iranian authorities to immediately free these seven people, who have been incarcerated without sentence for two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the very least, they should be released on bail pending a prompt, fair and open trial that upholds international legal standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solidarity<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an act of solidarity with the imprisoned leaders, the human rights network United4Iran is asking people worldwide to replicate the dimensions of the cells in which they are being held, and document themselves confined to the space.<\/p>\n

The photographs and video clips will be placed on-line to bring the international community’s attention to the ongoing arbitrary imprisonment of the seven leaders.<\/p>\n

Until their arrest, the five men and two women were members of an informal group that saw to the spiritual and social needs of the Baha\u2019is of Iran. The Baha\u2019i Faith is Iran\u2019s biggest religious minority.<\/p>\n

Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli and Vahid Tizfahm were arrested in dawn raids on their homes in Tehran on 14 May 2008. The seventh member, Mahvash Sabet, was arrested two months earlier in the city of Mashhad.<\/p>\n

American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was held in Evin Prison for more than three months in 2009, has recently spoken about Mrs Kamalabadi and Mrs Sabet, with whom she shared a cell for about three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cFariba and Mahvash were two of the women prisoners I met in Evin who inspired me the most,\u201d Ms Saberi said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey showed me what it means to be selfless, to care more about community and beliefs than about oneself,\u201d Ms Saberi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baha\u2019is across Australia are marking the second anniversary of the imprisonment of seven Baha\u2019i leaders in Iran with special prayer meetings.<\/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-1186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nPrayers as leaders enter third year in prison - Australian Baha'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\/prayers-as-leaders-enter-third-year-in-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prayers as leaders enter third year in prison - 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