Ivel, Mazandaran, Iran

Just over a month has elapsed from the devastating demolishment of 50 homes of Baha’is in a remote and previously unknown village of Ivel in the northern provence of Mazandaran, Iran. (See in Persian, in English) Now, the women of Ivel have voiced their call to the authorities and the world at large. In form of a letter and signed by many of them, they recount the story of their village from its inception; they share with love those difficult years where their parents and grand parents built the village brick by brick, stone by stone; they remember the flourishing time of working together –everyone, side by side, with no distinction– to build their community; they express their anguish towards the turn of events in their village around the time of the Islamic Revolution (late 1970’s); they lament the recent demolishment of their homes; they report on the continued harassment their families have made to suffer; they state with conviction their belief in

letter of women of Ivel (click to enlarge)

justice and law; they express their obedience to the law of the land; and, they ask for ears to hear their voices and eyes to observe their situation — they put it on paper, they sign it with their names for the world to know and remember!

Editor
Iran Press Watch.

Read the letter here (in Persian): http://www.iranpresswatch.org/fa/post/1012

HRA news – In the continuation of oppression of Baha’is in Iran, a person in Abadan was arrested and the Baha’i cemetery of Kerman was demolished.

Read Full Story

Afshin Heyratian

Tuesday, 05 Mordad 1389 at 11:27

Hrana News – Afshin Heyratian, human rights activist for working children and Baha’i citizen, resident of Tehran, has been living under arrest since 13th of Khordad [3 June].

Read Full Story

Mona Mahmudnizhad

Mona Mahmudnizhad (September 10, 1965 – June 18, 1983) was an Iranian Bahá’í who, in 1983, together with nine other Bahá’í women, was sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran because of her membership in the Bahá’í Faith.

Mahmudnizhad was born on September 10, 1965 to Yad’u’llah and Farkhundeh Mahmudnizhad, who had left their home in Iran to teach their religion in Yemen. She was the second child in the family; the family’s first daughter, Taraneh, was seven years old at the time of Mahmudnizhad’s birth. Mona spent her first four years in Yemen; at age two, she was hit by a car and thrown to the sidewalk, but sustained no serious injury.

In 1969 the government of Yemen expelled all foreigners and the Mahmudnizhad family returned to Iran. They spent two years in Isfahan, six months in Kirmanshah and three years in Tabriz before finally settling in Shiraz in 1974. During this time her father repaired small appliances for work and served the Bahá’í community as part of various Bahá’í administrative bodies.

Read Full Story

Mashhad (Persian: مشهد, ‹Mašhad›, literally the place of martyrdom)

HRA News- On the morning of Monday Tir 28th [July 19th] , officers of “Behesht Reza” [i.e. the public cemetery] of Mashhad refused to release corps of a Baha’i woman named Marziyeh Gholamy (Pardel), who had passed away the day before, to her family.

Read Full Story

Rozita Vasseghi

Wednesday 30 Tir 1389 at 16:40

Hrana News – The physical well being of Rozita Vasseghi, an imprisoned Baha’i in Mashad’s Vakil Abad prison has been reported as very serious during the last family visit.

According to Hrana reporters she has been in solitary confinement for more than 125 days and has weakened and thinned out significantly, resulting in low blood pressure and severe pain in her palms and feet. This pain has caused the movement of hands and feet to be very difficult and with severe pain.

Read Full Story