Chronology: Date 2017-1

date	event	tags	firsts	refs
2017 17 Dec	The announcement by the Universal House of Justice of the passing of former House member Mr. Hartmut Grossmann. "...he poured out his life in uninterrupted service to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, as a teacher, pioneer, and member of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Germany (1963-1969) and Finland (1977-1980), the Continental Board of Counsellors in Europe, (1980-1988) the International Teaching Centre (1988-2003) and, ultimately, of the Universal House of Justice (2003-2008)." [BWNS1228] He was the son of Hand of the Cause of God Hermann Grossmann (1899-1968). He was predeceased by his wife Ursula. [BWNS622; Bahá'í Chronicles]	Hartmut Grossmann; In Memoriam; Births and deaths; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Germany
2017 5 Dec	The release of Behrooz Tavakkoli, 66, from prison after serving a 10-year term. He was the third member of the Yaran to be released. [Iran Press Watch18533; Iran Press Watch18536; BWNS1225] See Iran Press Watch February 1, 2009 for an interview with his son, Naeim. See Iran Press Watch February 5th, 2009 for an article that appeared in McLean's Magazine two days earlier. See Iran Press Watch 1387 for the text of a talk given by his son Naeim about his father's imprisonment on February 18, 2009 in Ottawa.	Yaran; Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution, Other; Persecution; Court cases; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Tehran, Iran; Iran
2017 3 Dec	Ali Abdullah Saleh, the ousted strongman who once governed Yemen and then conspired with Iranian-backed rebels to claw his way back to power, was killed after a bomb blew up his family's compound in the capital, Sana'a. After fighting along side the Iran-backed Houthis for two years it appeared that he had switched sides to join the Saudi-led coalition. [New York Times headline Monday, December 4, 2017 10:10 AM EST]	Yemen, Recent history; Sanaa; Yemen
2017 30 Nov	Bahá'ís celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh in a ceremony in Baghdad attended by representatives from the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, civil society as well as media activists. This was considered the most prominent ceremony where Bahá'ís officially announced themselves for the first time in 47 years, as the Baathist Revolutionary Command Council issued Decree No. 105 in 1970 to ban Bahá'í activities. As a consequence, Bahá'í administrative institutions in Iraq were dissolved and any activity where Bahá'ís declared their religious identity was punishable by imprisonment. During the proceedings they asked for support to rescind the law on prohibiting Bahá'í activity, which was still in effect despite the fact that the law contradicted the 2005 constitution, which guaranteed freedom of belief to all citizens. Millions of Bahá'ís around the world celebrated the honorary bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh on Oct. 21-22. Bahá'ís in Baghdad celebrated after one month of postponements given the security difficulties and challenges surrounding the ceremony. [Al-Monitor.com]	Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Twin Holy days; Holy days; Centenaries; Websites; Persecution, Iraq; Persecution, Bans; Persecution; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
2017 17 Nov	A committee of the United Nations General Assembly condemned Iran by a vote of 83 to 30 with 68 abstentions for its continuing violations of human rights, the 30th such resolution since 1985. The Third Committee of the General Assembly approved a five-page resolution expressing concern over illegal practices ranging from torture, poor prison conditions, arbitrary detention, and curbs on freedom of religion or belief, to state-endorsed discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities as well as women. The resolution expressed specific concern over Iran's treatment of members of the Bahá'í Faith and highlighted the economic and educational discrimination against them and called on Iran to release the more than 90 Bahá'ís who were unjustly held in Iranian prisons. The resolution followed a strongly worded document from the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Asma Jahangir. Her 23-page report, released earlier this session, she catalogued a broad range of rights violations by Iran. [BWNS1221]	United Nations; Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Other; Persecution; Human Rights; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); New York, USA; United States
2017 15 Nov	Progress report on the construction of the local Bahá'í House of Worship in Norte del Cauca. [BWNS1222] See BWNS1047 for information on the reforestation project in the vicinity of the Temple.	Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Colombia; Environment; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); North Caucasus (Ciscaucasia); Colombia
2017 6 Nov - 22 Jan	An exhibition of Bahá'u'lláh's writings opened at the John Addis Gallery in the British Museum. One of the central themes was the power of the Word, which refers to divine revelation, a concept fundamental to the origins of all the world's great faiths. The exhibition showed original handwriting of Bahá'u'lláh, as well as other archival items associated with His life such as His reed pens and examples of "revelation writing" by His scribe as he tried keep up with Bahá'u'lláh's dictation. The exhibition, timed to commemorate the period of celebration of the 200th anniversary of His birth, was open to the public until the 22nd of January. [BWNS1220] See the British Museum blog entitled Displaying the Bahá'í Faith: the pen is mightier than the sword.	British Museum and British Library; Exhibitions of Bahá'í manuscripts and relics; Relics; * Bahá'u'lláh, Writings of; Exhibitions; Reed pens; Reed (general); Calligraphy; Revelation writing; Kalimat-i-Maknunih (Hidden Words); Bahá'u'lláh, Pen portraits of; Pen portraits; Edward Granville Browne; Gifts; London, England; United Kingdom
2017 4 Nov	Three young Iranians who complained to state officials after being denied university entrance for being followers of the Bahá'í Faith have each been sentenced to five years in prison. Rouhieh Safajoo (21), Sarmad Shadabi (22), and Tara Houshmand (21) were convicted of the charges of "membership in the anti-state Bahá'í cult" and "publishing falsehoods." [IFMAT 14NOV17]	Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Education; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution; Tehran, Iran; Iran
2017 near the end of Oct	Fariba Kamalabadi, a member of the former leadership group of the Bahá'ís called the "Yaran", concluded her ten-year prison sentence. She was the second individual from among the former Yaran to be released. She, along with five others, were arrested on the 14th of May, 2008. Mrs. Kamalabadi had graduated from high school with honours but was barred from attending university because of her Faith. In her mid-30s, she embarked on an eight-year period of informal study and ultimately received an advanced degree in developmental psychology from the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education (BIHE), an alternative institution established by the Bahá'í community of Iran to provide higher education for its young people. She worked as a developmental psychologist before her arrest and imprisonment. She was married with three children. Along with the deprivations of imprisonment itself (she had spent 2 1/2 years of the 10-year sentence in solitary confinement), Mrs. Kamalabadi was also deprived of irreplaceable family moments, including the birth of her first grandchild and the weddings of her daughters. She was 55 years old upon her release. [BWNS1217] See Huffington Post for an article entitled "Iran's Bahá'í Problem" by Payam Akhavan about the visit of Ms. Faezeh Hashemi, the well-known daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who made a visit to her home while she was on leave from prison. Ms Hashemi, herself a former MP, was heavily criticized after she met with Ms Kamalabadi while the latter was on leave from prision. See the article in The Guardian for details.	Yaran; Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE); Court cases; Persecution, Other; Persecution; Human Rights; Persecution, Education; Court cases; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Tehran, Iran; Iran
2017 22 Oct	Yemeni security forces raided a Bahá'í gathering in Sana'a opening fire on the small group of people assembled to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh. The attack occurred in the family home of prominent tribal leader Walid Ayyash, who had been abducted in April and whose whereabouts were unknown. The attackers were reportedly in four cars and an armored vehicle which they used to break down the front door of the house. They arrested Mr. Ayyash's brother, Akram Ayyash. This event proved unequivocally the extent of Iran's role in the persecution of the Bahá'ís in Yemen, especially in Sana'a, which was under the control of Iranian-backed militias. Similar attacks occurred in Iran during the period of celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'úlláh. [BWNS1215]	Persecution, Yemen; Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Other; Persecution; Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Walid Ayyash; Sanaa; Yemen; Iran
2017 22 Oct	The bicentenary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh was commemorated around the world. A multi-lingual web page was implemented to track the celebrations. [BWNS1212]	Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Twin Holy days; Holy days; Bahá'u'lláh, Life of; Centenaries; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Bahá'í World Centre
2017 20 - 22 Oct	Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh From the time of the setting of the sun on October 21st in Kiribati, an island republic in the Central Pacific just west of the International Date Line, until sunset in Hawaii on the 22nd of October, 72 hours later, celebrations were held in thousands of localities throughout the world commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh. Coverage on the bicentenary website began soon after 8:00 GMT on 20 October and concluded at 4:00 GMT on 23 October documenting some of the thousands of celebrations. [BWNS1201, BWNS1203, BWNS1205, BWNS1206, BWNS1207, BWNS1208, BWNS1209, BWNS1210, BWNS1211, BWNS1221, BWNS1213, BWNS1214, BWNS1216, BWNS1218] A number of countries issue commemorative stamps to mark the occasion of the bicentenary of Bahá'u'lláh's birth.	Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Twin Holy days; Holy days; Centenaries; Websites; Internet; - Publications; Stamps; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Basic timeline, Expanded; Worldwide
2017 18 - 22 Oct	The Iranian Bahá'í community was targeted during the bicentenary period. Between 18 and 21 October, some 19 individuals were arrested in Kermanshah, Tehran, and Birjand, and the homes 25 Baha'is were raided. Twenty-six Bahá'í-owned shops around the country were sealed off by authorities because the owners observed the Holy Day on 21 October. These closures occurred in Shiraz, Marvdasht, Gorgan, and Gonbad. [BWNS1215]	Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Other; Persecution; Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Iran; Kermanshah; Tehran, Iran; Birjand; Shiraz, Iran; Marvdasht; Gorgan; Gonbad
2017 18 Oct	The release of the film Light to the World. The 51 minute film recounted the story of Bahá'u'lláh's remarkable life and the impact of His teachings on communities around the world. [BWNS1208]	Light to the World (film); Film; Documentaries; Documentaries, BWC; Bahá'u'lláh, Life of; * Institute process; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Basic timeline, Expanded; Centenaries; Bahá'í World Centre
Try also a shorter date like or 2017 or 201 try also the Chronology Canada — 2017-1 or 2017 or 201

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