World Canada | |||
date | event | tags | firsts |
2024 27 Nov 202- |
The European Parliament passed a joint motion for a resolution on the increasing and systematic repression of women in Iran in light of the recent increase in the number of arrests, prosecutions and imprisonments of Bahá'í women. [European Parliament resolution; BIC-Brussell] | * Persecution, Iran | |
2024 25 Nov 202- |
The Bahá'í World Centre advised that the work on the Shrine of the Báb that had begun some four months earlier had been completed. The project implemented several features to enhance accessibility, particularly for wheelchairs. The main paths approaching the Shrine from both east and west were paved with Jerusalem Red Limestone, while the expansion of the plaza immediately in front of the Shrine was finished with Galil Gold Limestone—the same stone used for the floor of the Shrine’s colonnade and the terraces above and below on Mt. Carmel.
The expansion of the plaza was inspired by drawings prepared by William Sutherland Maxwell—Hand of the Cause and distinguished Canadian architect—who designed the Shrine’s superstructure in the early 1940s. The building’s harmonious blend of Eastern and Western architectural styles has made it a familiar and well-loved landmark. [BWNS1764] See some "before" images. In its letter of 26 July 2024 it was stated that "the opportunity will be taken to carry out some preparatory work inside the Shrine so that, in due course, all rooms can be dedicated to prayer and worship as part of the single Shrine of the Báb." |
Báb, Shrine of (Haifa) | |
2024 11 Nov 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community in New York announced the launching of a new publication titled Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Bahá'ís in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is the latest in a series of highly significant independent reports and statements about the Bahá'íis in Iran published in recent months.
The new report was prepared by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, in partnership with Eleos Justice at Monash University, a think tank created and directed by Mai Sato, the new UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran. The report focuses on violence perpetrated against the Bahá'í community since the Baha’i Faith emerged in 1844, by documenting three forms of violence as described by sociologist Johan Galtung; direct, structural and cultural, showing them to be part of the Iranian government’s systematic effort to eliminate the Bahá'í religious minority from society. One major finding of the report, however, is that the Iranian population has increasingly “resisted” the policy of discrimination against the Bahá'í community. There appears to have been a shift in public attitudes toward Bahá'ís from contempt and avoidance around the time of the Revolution to increasing indifference, acceptance and even support of the Bahá'í community. [BIC News 11NOV24] |
* Persecution, Iran | |
2024 16 Oct 202- |
In a message the Universal House of Justice announced the intention to build a further two national Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, one in Brasilia, Brazil and the other in Lilongwe, Malawi as will as a local Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs in Batouri, Cameroon. [Message 16 October 2014] | - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Brasilia; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Brasilia, Brazil; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Lilongwe, Malawi; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Batouri, Cameroon; Malawi; Cameroon; Brazil | |
2024 22 - 23 Sep 202- |
The 75th Anniversary of the United Nations was marked in June 2020 with a declaration by Member States that included 12 overarching commitments along with a request to the Secretary-General for recommendations to address both current and future challenges. In September 2021, the Secretary-General responded with his report, Our Common Agenda, a wake-up call to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and propel the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration. In some cases, the proposals addressed gaps that had emerged since 2015, requiring new intergovernmental agreements. The report, therefore, called for a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus on readying for a future that is rife with risks but also opportunities. The General Assembly welcomed the submission of the "rich and substantive" report and agreed to hold the Summit on 22-23 September 2024, preceded by a ministerial meeting in 2023. An action-oriented Pact for the Future is expected to be agreed by Member States through intergovernmental negotiations on issues they decide to take forward. [Road to the Summit of the Future] |
United Nations; Summit of the Future (UN conference); New York, USA; New York City, NY | |
2024 20 Sep 202- |
The publication of Seals & Crofts: Chronicles of a Summer Breeze. It was written by Anthony Bentivegna and published independently.
Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts were pop-rock troubadours in the ‘70s famous for songs such as “Summer Breeze,” “Diamond Girl,” “We May Never Pass This Way (Again),” and “Get Closer.” Their deep connection to the Baha’i Faith made them the only American musicians who caused thousands to join an organized religion, and their lyrics frequently explored mystical concepts. Their exquisite vocal blend and their guitar and mandolin counterpoint generated a huge following and the respect of peer musicians, as they went from small town roots in Texas to filling stadiums in their heyday. Seals & Crofts had an extended family of musicians who contributed road stories, songwriting insight and personal reflections over decades of struggles, setbacks and ultimately the breakthrough success of “Summer Breeze.” Jimmy and Dash were polar opposites but their shared values and unlikely mesh of talents forged a unique sound, aided by their legendary Wrecking Crew producer, Louie Shelton. Seals & Crofts: Chronicles of a Summer Breeze is not a typical expose’ of sex, drugs, or even hard core rock and roll. It is a story of two musicians who shared a lifetime of another sort of adventures. The book details their incredible happenstance to join a Top 40 instrumental band as teenagers, years of paying dues, finding their calling, surviving the controversy of a politically charged hit single, trying their hand at disco, and fading into the background of an 80’s music scene, only to re-emerge as vanguards of the Baha’i Faith. This is their story. |
Seals and Crofts; Jim Seals; Dash Crofts | |
2024 20 - 23 Sep 202- |
Summit of the Future was held in New York where world leaders at the United Nations World adopted a Pact for the Future that included a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations. This Pact was the culmination of an inclusive, years-long process to adapt international cooperation to the realities of today and the challenges of tomorrow. The most wide-ranging international agreement in many years, covering entirely new areas as well as issues on which agreement has not been possible in decades, the Pact aims above all to ensure that international institutions can deliver in the face of a world that has changed dramatically since they were created. As the Secretary-General has said: “We cannot create a future fit for our grandchildren with a system built by our grandparents. [United Nations press release; SotF Website; BWNS1752]
The Bahá'í International Community release a statement titled Embracing Interdependence: Foundations for a World in Transition, which highlighte the imperative for the international community to place humanity’s interdependence at the heart of the systems of global governance. |
United Nations; - BIC statements | |
2024 8 Aug 202- |
The publication of the statement In the Vanguard: The Role of Youth in an Ever-Advancing Global Society, by the New York Office of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC). It calls for a rethinking of how youth are perceived and engaged by communities and institutions with the aim of creating conditions that allow their capacities to flourish and it explores the profound potential of young people in fostering societal transformation and contributing to an ever-advancing global society. [BWNS1744]
The BIC statement can be viewed here. |
- BIC statements; Bahá'í International News Service; New York City, NY; Youth | |
2024 20 Aug 202- |
The release of four Yemeni Bahá'ís, Abdul Elah Al Boni, Muhammad Bashir, Ibrahim Juail, and Hassan Thabet, who had been jailed by the Houthi authorities since May, 2023 in a raid on a private residence. These four were the last of the 17 that were detained. They reported that during their incarceration they were under pressure to renounce their faith through forced participation in “cultural courses” conducted by Houthi agents, which essentially amount to attempts at forced indoctrination.
The raid last year prompted repeated calls by the international community for the release of the detained Bahá'ís. In August 2023 six members of the United Nations Security Council “deplored” the detentions and more recently, in May, a powerful coalition of United Nations Special Rapporteurs, European parliamentarians, ambassadors, international human rights organizations, and a Nobel laureate addressed the matter alongside the #FreeYemeniBahá'ís campaign online. Several Yemeni tribal leaders and religious figures also played a major role in the release of the Bahá'í detainees. [BIC News 20 August 2024; BSNS1746] |
Yemen; Persecution, Yemen | |
2024 2 - 4 Aug 202- |
The 48th Annual Conference of the Association of Bahá'í Studies was held in Atlanta, Georgia. It was attended by some 1,900 participants. [BWNS1745]
The presentations were:
Videos of the presentations are available here. |
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2024 31 Jul 202- |
The Special Rapporteurs working the field of cultural rights, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; the Special Rapporteur on the right to education; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; the Special Rapporteur on minority issues; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion
or belief; the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls jointly addressed the government of Iran on the increase in the systematic targeting of Bahá'í women in Iran.
The message contained details of the treatment of 47 women. They pointed out that over the last year that two-thirds of all Bahá'í prisoners in Iran have been women and that a significant number were being held without due process and their whereabouts were unknown. Many of the victims have been mothers of young children and that they have had to endure the harsh conditions of solitary confinement, frequent interrogations, inadequate medical attention, and restricted family contact. They called on the government of Iran to provide additional information of the 47 cases mentioned, as well as legal grounds for the steps taken against them and updates on their individual health. They also called for an end to the discrimination against Bahá'í citizens in Iran. |
* Persecution, Iran | |
2024 21 Jun 202- |
The Huthi de facto authorities released Baha’i human rights activist Abdullah al-Olofi from over a year in arbitrary detention, yet are continuing to arbitrarily detain four other Bahá'ís. The four remaining prisoners are Abdul’elah Muhammad al-Boni, 30, Hassan Tariq Thabet al-Zakari, 28, Muhammad Bashir Abdel Jalil, 25, and Ibrahim Ahmad Jo’eil, 49,
On 25 May 2023, armed Huthi forces stormed a peaceful gathering of Baha’is in a private residence in Sana’a and arbitrarily detained 17 people, including five women. They forcibly disappearedthem for around four months until their families learned they were being held at Huthi-run security and intelligence detention centres in Sana’a. Between June 2023 and June 2024, 13 individuals including Abdullah al-Olofi and all five women were released following international pressure. The four remaining Bahá'ís continued to be held without charge and were denied their right to legal counsel. Since 2015, Amnesty International has documented the cases of at least 100 members of the Bahá'í faith in Yemen, who have been detained by the Huthi de facto authorities and subjected to enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention, torture and ill-treatment and denied fair trial rights. [Amnesty International 27 May 2021; Posted on X by @BahaiBIV 22 June 2024] |
Persecution, Yemen; Yemen | |
2024 26 May 202- |
The inauguration of the national Bahá'í House of Worship in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The Universal House of Justice was represented by Counsellor Kessia Ruh who read the letter. There were some 1,000 participants of the ceremony that included government officials, religious leaders, members of civil society, representatives of local and national Bahá’í institutions, and many other people from across the country. The following day approximately 3,000 people gathered to celebrate the historic opening of PNG’s national Bahá’í House of Worship on the second day of the dedication program. [BWNS1734] Other related stories: BWNS1733; BWNS1732; BWNS1713; BWNS1524; BWNS1688 See as well In Conversation: Stories from temple dedication in Papua New Guinea. |
Papua New Guinea; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Port Moresby; Kessia Ruh | |
2024 1 Apr 202- |
The publication of The Boot on My Neck: Iranian Authorities' Crime of Persecution Against Bahá'ís in Iran by Human Rights Watch. The report draws on extensive documentation by Human Rights Watch and Iranian human rights groups regarding violations against Bahá'ís in Iran. . [BIC News 2MAY24]
A summary of the report is available in English and in Farsi. |
* Persecution, Iran | |
2024 8 Mar 202- |
A report mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran on November 24, 2022, to investigate alleged human rights violations in Iran related to the protests that followed Mahsa Amini's death, said the mission "has established the existence of evidence of trauma to Ms. Amini's body, inflicted while in the custody of the morality police." | United Nations; Mahsa Amini | |
2024 Jan 202- |
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States established the Corinne True Center for Bahá'í History. Its stated purpose was to foster the study of Bahá'í history, Bahá'í sacred texts, Bahá'í philosophical and theological concepts, and world religions from a Bahá'í and comparative perspective. It will accomplish this through online noncredit courses, web presentations and interviews, online seminars, online conferences, in-person conferences, and publication of some of the resulting research. It will seek to support these subjects at three levels in order to provide comprehensive support to Bahá'í culture and Bahá'í scholarship: at an introductory level, to inform rank and file believers and their friends and encourage them to do basic scholarship; at an advanced level, for Bahá'ís and their friends wishing to go into greater depth of study and research; and at the graduate and postgraduate levels, via seminars and academic-level conferences.
A website has been established and they have a YouTube and a Facebook presence as well. |
Corinne True Center for Bahá'í History; Corinne True; United States (USA) | |
2024 (In the year) 202- |
The publication of Adasiyyih: The Story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Model Farming Community by Paul Hanley. Published by Bahá'í Publishing in Evanston, IL.
This book follows the story of the ‘Adasíyyih community, a farming village established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in what is now Jordan. Bahá'ís from Iran settled there and transformed a degraded parcel of land into the site of a thriving farm and prosperous community whose residents embodied the Bahá'í teachings. It was this farming village— along with several others in the region of the Galilee— that produced a surplus of crops, which enabled ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to keep famine at bay for so many people during World War I, a feat that would earn Him a knighthood from the British Empire. In time, ‘Adasíyyih would become a model village for Jordanians, and Jordan’s royalty would become frequent guests. Author Paul Hanley’ s extensive research, along with his deep interest in agricultural systems, provides a fascinating glimpse at this remarkable history and the lessons that can be applied to current agroecological efforts. See also interview on Bahá'í Blog. |
Adasiyyih, Palestine; Agriculture | |
2023 21 Dec 202- |
A special reception at Portcullis House in Westminster was organized by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Bahá'í Faith to commemorate the centenary of the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom. They brought together government officials, civil society leaders, journalists and representatives of various faith communities.
A video, Light in a Dark World, made for the occasion, was presented. In the video they enumerated the five principles that enabled the Assembly to govern more effectively. They were 1. using the principles of Bahá'í consultation, 2. turning to the guidance of the Universal House of Justice, 3. collaboration with the institutions of the Counsellors, and drawing on the experience of individual Counsellors, 4. the members of the Assembly's involvement in the work of the Universal House of Justice, and 5. the members of the Assembly championing the decisions of the Assembly itself. [BWNS1708] |
National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom; Light in a Dark World (film); United Kingdom | |
2023 19 Dec 202- |
The publication of the second edition of Time and the Bahá'í Era A Study of the Badí Calendar by Gerald Keil. It was published by George Ronald Publishers. | - Badi calendar; - Calendars (general); * Publications | |
2023 4 Dec 202- |
In a statement released by the Bahá'í Community titled, A Change in Tactics: The Iranian Government's Recent Persecution of Bahá'ís, it was reported that the latest change in tactics represents an escalation and intensification of its policy of systematic persecution against the community.
The statement detailed a range of new and ever harsher methods the authorities are using to persecute the Bahá'ís. The methods include home raids and searches, arrests, trials, prison terms, land and property confiscations, hate speech, the denial of education, and the denial of burial rights and of basic citizenship rights. The principal goal of these new tactics, the Bahá'í International Community believes, is to sow fear and confusion, to disenfranchise and further impoverish Baha'is, to prolong the harassment of individuals, and to instill feelings of uncertainty and thus rob all Baha'is of peace and security in their daily lives. |
* Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í International Community; Iran | |
2023 28 Nov 202- |
On 28 November 2023 the Universal House of Justice, in a Message addressed to the Bahá'ís of the World, published a review of the previous 100 years of the Formative Age.
It bears a similarity to the Lawḥ-i-Qarn (Tablet of the Centennial) that Shoghi Effendi sent to the Bahá'ís of Iran to commemorate the Centenary of the Faith in 1944. |
Universal House of Justice, Letters and messages; Reflections on the First Century of the Formative Age (letter); Historical overviews by Central Figures or BWC; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 21 Nov 202- |
The publication of A Day for Great Things: The Lives of Howard Colby and Mabel Rice-Wray Ives by Earl Redman and Erica Toussaint. It was published by George Ronald Publishers. | * Publications; Howard Colby Ives; Mabel Rice-Wray Ives | |
2023 11 Nov 202- |
The publication of Abdu'l-Bahā Abbās': Head of the Bahá'í Faith / A Life in Social & Regional Context by Joshua Lincoln. It was published by Idra Publishing in Tel Aviv. | * `Abdu'l-Bahá; Tel Aviv, Israel; Israel | |
2023 November 202- |
Mahvash Sabet, from her prison cell, sent an open letter to the people of Iran. [Letter] | Yaran; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2023 6 Oct 202- |
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. Her brave struggle came with tremendous personal costs. In 2003 she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, an organisation founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. In 2011 Ms Mohammadi was arrested for the first time and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for her efforts to assist incarcerated activists and their families. Altogether, the regime arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. She was in prison at the time of the announcement.
Ms. Mohammadi was unable to attend and her 17-year-old twin children, Kiana Rahmani and Ali Rahmani, instead accepted medal and diploma on her behalf and read out a speech she had prepared. [New York Times 10 December 2023] In September 2022 a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, was killed while in the custody of the Iranian morality police. Her killing triggered the largest political demonstrations against Iran's theocratic regime since it came to power in 1979. Under the slogan "Woman – Life – Freedom", hundreds of thousands of Iranians took part in peaceful protests against the authorities' brutality and oppression of women. The regime cracked down hard on the protests: more than 500 demonstrators were killed. Thousands were injured, including many who were blinded by rubber bullets fired by the police. At least 20,000 people were arrested and held in regime custody. [Nobel Prize] Mohammadi's husband, Taghi Rahmani, said at a press conference in Oslo that she would undertake the hunger strike as a gesture of support for the Bahá'í religious minority. [Yahoo News 10 December 2023] . |
Oslo, Norway; Norway | |
2023 3 Oct 202- |
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the OHCHR filed its report on Qatar. One Committee Expert expressed grave concerns about reports of discrimination of religious minorities, notably against persons belonging to the Baha'i religious community, which was not recognised and denied registration in Qatar. Members of the Baha'i minority had been subjected to administrative deportation and blacklisting, resulting in loss of employment and familial separation.
Hend Bint Abalrahman Al-Muftah, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations office in Geneva, and head of delegation,Hend Bint Abalrahman Al-Muftah, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations office in Geneva, and head of delegation, responded by stating that "The State did not consider religion when determining whether to provide residency or not, the delegation said. No person of Baha'i faith or other faiths were deported unless they unlawfully stayed in Qatar." [OHCHR website] |
Persecution, Qatar; Qatar | |
2023 27 Sep 202- |
The passing of Mavis Cox Changawa (b. 1922 Moruga, Trinidad and Tobago) in Nairobi at the age of about 100. [Find a grave]
Mavis Cox was a distinguished pioneer from the Caribbean city of Moruga, Trinidad and Tobago. She journeyed to Africa in 1955, immediately after becoming a Bahá'í while in Harlem, in Upper Manhattan, New York City. This video was recorded on her 94th Birthday in 2016 while she narrated her history and sojourn in Eastern Africa. In the 80's into the early 2000's, she was in charge of the Kilifi Bahá'í Institute at the Coastal region of Kenya and later moved to Nairobi where she served the Kenyan Bahá'í Community in many capacities. Her life is a legacy of absolute resilience, dedicated service and obedience to the Centre of the Covenant. [From Trinidad to Africa With Faith ----The Story of Mavis Cox Changawa] |
- In Memoriam; Mavis Cox Changawa; Nairobi, Kenya; Kenya | |
2023 19 Sep 202- |
It was announced that the Bahá'í World News Service was expanded to include the Persian language on its website. While a distinct Persian site had existed until recently, this integration represented an important step in offering visitors a more complete experience. Accompanying this release was the launch of a dedicated YouTube channel, offering Persian-language versions of BWNS video productions on developments in the global Bahá'í community. [BWNS1695] | Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 15 Sep 202- |
The publication of Rúhíyyih Khánum by Hussein Ahdieh and Hillary Chapman. The biography was published by Baha'i Publications Australia. | Ruhiyyih Khanum | |
2023 26 Aug 202- |
The publication of Baha'i Community of the British Isles 1844–1963 by Adam Thorne, Moojan Momen, Janet Rose, Earl Redman. It was published by George Ronald Publishers.
The British Bahá'í community has been in existence since 1899 and its elected national leadership council, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the British Isles (later the United Kingdom), was first elected in 1923. Although a number of monographs, articles and biographies have appeared over the years, no overall survey of the community's history has yet been published. The Bahá'í Community of the British Isles, 1844–1963 is an attempt to fill some of the gap. |
Oxford, England; United Kingdom | |
2023 8 Aug 202- |
The publication of Servant to the Servants; Roy C. Wilhelm, Hand of the Cause of God by Joel Nizin, Kathryn Jewett Hogenson and Gary L. Hogenson. It was published by Bahá'í Publishing in Evanson, IL. | * Publications; Roy C. Wilhelm | |
2023 22 Aug 202- |
The launch of the Townshend Taherzadeh Library and Archives established in honour of George Townshend (1876-1957), the founding figure of the Irish Bahá'í Community, and Adib Taherzadeh (1921-2000), a father figure during its formative years. the library's primary founding objectives are to promote, preserve and provide accessibility to the rich history and development of the Bahá'í Faith in the island of Ireland and throughout the world, and to become a centre of learning and research for future generations. | Waterford, Ireland; Ireland | |
2023 Aug 202- |
The release of the compilation To Set the World in Order: Building and Preserving Strong Marriages prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. | Marriage; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 14 - 18 Aug 202- |
The Parliament was held in Chicago at McCormick Place. The theme was A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom & Human Rights. There were more than 7,000 attendees representing more that 95 countries. [Chicago 2023] | Parliament of the World's Religions; Chicago, IL; United States (USA) | |
2023 13 Aug 202- |
The arrest of Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, a 90-year-old Bahá'í in failing health who had already served 10 years in prison (2008-2018) for his membership in the Yaran. His arrest, along with his daughter, Maria Khanjani, were part of a new wave of repression targeting the Bahá'ís that has seen over 180 incidents of persecution against the community in recent weeks. Note
Mr. Khanjani's arrest comes days after two other Bahá'í women and former Yaran members, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, received confirmation of their 10-year prison terms which were upheld this week on appeal. A fourth member of the Yaran, Afif Naimi was also arrested a year ago and has recently received a seven-year jail term. His brother, Enoyatollah, was sentenced to 18 years in prison by Judge Morteza Barati of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, 10 years for "organizing a group or association aimed at undermining national security" and to five years in prison for "propaganda against the regime". If the verdict is upheld by the appeals court,Naimi must serve the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The court also sentenced him to a fine of 50 million tomans and deprived him of his civil rights for 15 years. [Iranwire 15 may 2023]
Nine other Bahá'ís were also arrested on the same day as Mr Khanjani. They are the owners and employees of a number of pharmacy businesses, which were sealed and shut down by the authorities. They have been accused of disrupting pharmaceutical supplies. In the face of growing solidarity between the Bahá'ís and the general population the government is trying to drive a wedge by calling these legitimate Bahá'í-owned trading businesses "hoarders". These new arrests have taken the number of Bahá'ís arrested or imprisoned in recent weeks to almost 60 incidents. During the same period, over 26 Bahá'ís also received sentences for jail terms that could begin at any time. Further, 18 Bahá'ís have faced interrogations. Fifty-nine Bahá'í-owned businesses were reported to have been sealed by the authorities and the homes of nine others were raided and searched. The brutal crackdown is reminiscent of August last year, where over 300 incidents of persecution against the Bahá'ís occurred in one month alone. [BIC News 16 August 2023; HRANA] |
* Persecution, Iran; Yaran; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2023 11 Aug 202- |
The Tehran Court of Appeal maintained the original rulings against Baha'i citizens, Mahvash Sabet (Shahriari) and Fariba Kamalabadi, confirming their 20-year prison terms. Initially, both women were sentenced to ten years, along with additional penalties by the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of "forming and leading groups to act against national security." Following these apprehensions, the Ministry of Intelligence released a video portraying these individuals as spies, alleging their involvement in infiltrating kindergartens to propagate their beliefs and advocating for the removal of hijab.
A source close to Sabet's family revealed that Sabet, aged 70, is battling multiple illnesses that have been aggravated by her prolonged imprisonment. Over the past few months, she has faced several hospitalizations. [Iran Press Watch 11 August 2-23] They, along with fellow former member of the "Yaran", Mr Afif Naimi, had been arrested on the 31st of July at the outset of the summer crackdown. [BIC News 18 November 2022] |
* Persecution, Iran; Yaran; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2023 5 - 9 June 202- |
The second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly was held in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme "A sustainable urban future through inclusive and effective multilateralism: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in times of global crises." (The First Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly was held in Nairobi, from 27-31 May 2019, where the organizational components necessary for the Assembly's functioning, were approved and resolutions were adopted various subjects.) [Earth Negotiations Bulletin]
|
United Nations; Bahá'í International Community; Environment; Nairobi, Kenya | |
2023 2 Jun 202- |
The Huthi-affiliated Grand Mufti in Sana’a attacked the Bahá'ís in Yemen in his Friday sermon, accusing them of seeking to harm the country and inciting violence against them. [Amnesty International 23 May 2024] | Persecution, Yemen | |
2023 25 May 202- |
The Yemeni Houthis carried out an attack on a peaceful gathering of Bahá'ís in Sana'a detaining and disappearing 17 individuals including 5 women. The attack occurred as the Baha'is had gathered at a residence to elect the national governing body for the Yemeni Bahá'í community and was recorded on the Zoom call in progress at the time. The detainees' whereabouts and wellbeing were unknown. The Baha'i International Community reported that they had "been alerted to other incidents suggesting that the raid may be the first of more attempts by security to target Baha'is across Houthi-controlled Yemen" and that details of these incidents were being withheld for security reasons. [Iranwire 26 May 2023; BWNS1671]
Subsequently one man and three women were released in June and two men in July. [Amnesty International 8 August 2023] |
Persecution, Yemen; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen | |
2023 15 May 202- |
The Universal House of Justice announced the appointment of the members of the International Teaching Centre for the five-year term beginning 23 May 2023. Those appointed were: Antonella Demonte, Gloria Javid, Dinesh Kumar, Kanagaratnam Lakmeeharan, Rachel Ndegwa, Amir Saberin, Navid Serrano, Mehranguiz Farid Tehrani, and Holly Woodard. [message from the NSA of Canada to all assemblies, councils and groups S127916 dated 15 May 2023] | International Teaching Centre, Members of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 15 May 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community announced the launching a global campaign, called #OurStoryIsOne, to honour the 10 Iranian women executed forty years prior and the long struggle for gender equality lived by women of all faiths and backgrounds in Iran for many decades and which continued in that country. The campaign started in June and spanned a year, with its most intensive phase taking place the first three weeks of June, leading up to the 40th anniversary of their execution on 18 June.
The BIC invited people around the world, whether as artists, musicians, filmmakers, or in other creative areas, to pay tribute in their name. Contributions included: songs about the 10 women, short videos about their lives, a memory of the women themselves, graphic arts, written work, social media posts, or public events and memorials, to honour the longstanding struggle and efforts towards gender equality in Iran. Details about the 10 women and a recounting of the story of their arrest and public execution can be found here. Please see BIC News 1 August 2023 for a complete report. On the 12th of September 2023 the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution about the Bahá'ís in Iran with 28 congressional co-sponsors—an unprecedented number of co-sponsors among congressional resolutions on the persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran for at least 20 years. House Resolution 492, was introduced by Illinois Congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky. It follows Ms. Schakowsky's strong support for the ongoing #OurStoryIsOne campaign, launched in June of this year where she initially announced this bill. The campaign began in honour of the 40th anniversary of the execution of 10 Baha'i women in Shiraz for their beliefs. The Baha'i International Community dedicated the campaign and the anniversary to all women in Iran who continue to struggle for the cause of gender equality. The resolution begins with the execution of the 10 women, stating, "[w]hereas June 18, 2023, marks the 40th anniversary of the execution of 10 Bahá'í women by the Iranian Government each witnessing the hanging of those hanged before her in a final failed attempt to induce abandonment of their faith after over 6 months of imprisonment and violent abuse, with the youngest only 17 years old." It further condemns the "violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights," calling on the Iranian government to "immediately release Baha'is and others imprisoned or detained solely on account of religion, end its state-sponsored campaign of hate propaganda against the Bahá'ís, and reverse policies that discriminate against Bahá'ís and other religious minorities. [GlobeNewswire 12 September 2023; Iran Press Watch 15 September 2023] |
* Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í International Community; Geneva, Switzerland; Switzerland; Shíráz, Iran; Iran | |
2023 7 May 202- |
The passing of Jack Edwards McCants (b. Dallas, Texas 19 January 1930) in the Houston area. He was buried at Calvary Hill Cemetery in Humble, Texas. Mr McCants was an ordained Methodist minister until becoming a Bahá'í in 1959. He received a doctorate in public health administration. He served as an Auxiliary Board Member from 1965-1967 and was first elected to the National Spiritual Assembly in 1968. He left after two years to help set up the first mental Health institutions in the Pacific islands. He was elected to the National Assembly of Samoa in 1975 and then moved to the Philippines in 1978. He returned to the USA in 1980 and was again elected to the National Asmelby in 1986 and retired in 2002. [Calvary Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery. iiiii | - In Memoriam; Jack McCants; Houston, TX | |
2023 1 May 202- |
The Bahá'í World Centre released a short documentary regarding the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá for the delegates of the 13th International Bahá'í Convention. It included an account of the clean-up efforts following the fire at the construction site in April of 2022 and the resumption of work in August.
The film can be viewed on YouTube. There are plans to release subtitled versions in Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish. A version with Persian subtitles can be seen here. [BWNS1622] |
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 Ridván 202- |
The release of the Ridván Message. by the Universal House of Justice.
They called for the establishment of a local Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Kanchanpur, Nepal, and in Mwinilunga, Zambia. A national House of Worship is to be raised up in Toronto, Canada, in the vicinity of the long-established National Bahá'í Centre. [BWNS 1669] |
Ridván messages; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Toronto; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kanchanpur, Nepal; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Mwinilunga, Zambia; Toronto, ON; Canada; Kanchanpur, Nepal; Nepal; Mwinilunga, Zambia; Zambia | |
2023 30 Apr 202- |
The film, An Expansive Prospect, commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, was screened at the 13th International Bahá'í Convention.
The 72 minute film highlighted efforts in four regions of the world where people, communities, and institutions were striving together to channel the transformative power of the Bahá'í teachings toward social change. It was scripted in English with subtitled versions in other languages. A voiceover version of the film in Arabic was also made available. [BWNS1660] |
Conventions, International; - Film; - Documentaries, BWC; Social change; - Institute process; Nine Year Plan (2022-2031); An Expansive Prospect (film); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 24 Apr - 2 May 202- |
In 2022 local Bahá'í conferences were able to be held in Morocco as part of a wave of Bahá'í conferences held globally, and as of 2023 the National Spiritual Assembly of Morocco had been re-established with its delegates attending the Thirteenth International Convention. [BWNS1587 slide 33; BWNS1657 slide 82] | National Spiritual Assembly, formation; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 24 Apr - 2 May 202- |
The 13th International Bahá'í Convention was held at the Bahá'í World Centre.
To prepare for their duty in electing the Universal House of Justice, delegates immersed themselves in the spiritual atmosphere of the Bahá'í Holy Places in Akka and Haifa including the construction site of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Baha. At the start of the Convention, the Bahá'ís in Iran, who for several decades have been prevented from forming Bahá'í institutions and therefore electing representatives, were remembered by the participants, and their absence was poignantly marked by a beautiful arrangement of 95 red roses. Some 1,250 delegates came from 176 countries across the world to attend the International Convention which ran from the 29th of April to the 2nd of May. On the first day of their arrival the delegates visited the Holy Places in Haifa and in Akka [BWNS1656] On Saturday, the 29th of April, the 12th day of Ridván, 1590 votes were counted on behalf of the assembled and absent delegates. There was a tie for the 9th place and the assembled delegates voted on Sunday to decided between the two men. On the 1st of May it was announced that Chuungu Malitonga, Paul Lample, Juan Francisco Mora, Ayman Rouhani, Payman Mohajer, Shahriar Razavi, Praveen Mallik, Andrej Donoval, and Albert Nshisu Nsunga were elected. [BWNS1656; BWNS1657; BWNS1658; BWNS1659] See two photo albums posted by Hungarian delegate and photographer Edit Kalman called Precious Souls and Special days. |
Conventions, International; Universal House of Justice, Election of; Universal House of Justice, Members of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 21 - 22 Apr 202- |
More than 40 political, social and human rights activists inside and outside Iran, some from inside the Islamic Republic's prisons, joined a virtual seminar to try to answer the question: How to save Iran?
Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi were among the prisoners who sent a written note from their cells in Evan Prison to this symposium that was held on the Clubhouse app. After their message was published, both women were barred from receiving visitors or using their phones for three weeks. [IranWire 24 April, 2023; IranWire 15 May 2023] |
* Persecution, Iran | |
2023 12 Apr 202- |
Iran's former crown prince, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife Yasmine visited the Bahá'í World Centre at the end of their five-day visit to Israel. During their visit they held talks with senior officials, met Israelis of Iranian descent and participated in Israel's annual Holocaust memorial ceremony. Pahlavi, a critic of the Islamic Republic said that in "a free future Iran, Bahá'ís will have the opportunity to participate in the reconstruction and development of the country once again, with full and equal citizenship rights." [IranWire] iiiii
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Reza Shah Pahlavi; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 11 Apr 202- |
After the trial, Fariba Kamalabadi, tried with Mahvash Sabet, was transferred to the women's ward for political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. Sabet was kept at Ward 209 and transferred to the women's ward after 40 days, during which time nobody knew what had happened to her.
Independent Iranian news sources reported that Mahvash Sabet Shahriari was said to have had her knees injured while under interrogation by officials in Evin jail. Evin prison is often called the "world's worst prison". It has a reputation for its inhumane living conditions, where inmates are subjected to daily whippings, beatings and torture. Former inmates have previously spoken about the barbaric horrors they witnessed while in Evin- including electrocution, rape, torture and executions. [Daily Mail 11 April 2023] IranWire received an audio file from Faezeh Hashemi, a political activist and daughter of late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, herself jailed in Evin but briefly released on a leave of absence, spoke about her cellmates. "Mahvash recounts that during an interrogation the interrogator kicked the chair from under her and, since she was facing the wall, her knees hit the wall. Now, they have X-rayed her in prison and told her that the bones in her knees are broken. She is in such a condition, 70 years old, innocent and in prison only because she is a Baha'i," Hashemi said in the recording. People close to Fariba and Mahvash believe that the delay in transferring Mahvash to the women's ward was most likely because of her broken knees, since interrogators wanted to keep it a secret and kept her in solitary confinement until she could walk. [IranWire 31 July 2023] |
* Persecution, Iran; Mahvash Sabet; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2023 30 Mar 202- |
A deceased Bahá'í was buried on 30 March at Khavaran cemetery near Tehran by an agent of the Ministry of Intelligence without notifying the family of the deceased. The agent had demanded that the family pay an exorbitant fee for burial within plots already owned and previously managed by the Baha'í community. He threatened the family that failure to meet his demands would result in the burial taking place in a site adjacent to the Bahá'í cemetery previously used by the government to bury executed political prisoners. In a further development the same intelligence agent threatened to bury another Bahá'í under the same circumstance if the family of the deceased also refused to yield to his demands. [BIC News 3 April 2023]
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- Persecution; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2023 11 - 12 Mar 202- |
The 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was held at the UN in New York. [Values in Innovation: Women's Engagement in Re-Imagining Digital Technologies BIC Statements 22Feb2023. | United Nations; Commission on the Status of Women (CSW); New York, USA; New York City, NY | |
2023 8 Mar 202- |
The publication of One More Mountain: Fleeing Iran for America by Mansur Nurel with Jeannette Monger. It was independently published. It is an autobiographic story of a young man of 25 who, with two friends, crossed the Zagros Mountains in the height of winter to seek asylum in Turkey. His journey took him to the United State more than a year later where he started his new life.
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* Persecution, Iran | |
2023 13 Feb 202- |
The publication of Alma Sedonia Knobloch by Jennifer Redson Wiebers. It was published by George Ronald Publisher.
This book shines a light on a remarkable heroine of the Bahá'í Faith. Alma Knobloch (1864-1943) one of the three Knobloch sisters, raised up the first African-American community in North America, and was instrumental in the growth of the Bahá'í community in Germany. In His Tablets of the Divine Plan, 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote: 'Likewise Miss Knobloch travelled alone to Germany. To what a great extent she became confirmed!'
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2023 23 Jan 202- |
The Addis Ababa Office of the Bahá'í International Community (BIC) released a short video titled Women in Peace, exploring the important role that women can play in the peace-building process. Dr Solomon Belay of the BIC said that there is a relationship between the advancement of women and the creation of prosperous and peaceful societies and that full participation of women in all spheres of society is required, especially in leadership roles. [BWNS1640] | Bahá'í International Community; - Film; Solomon Belay; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Ethiopia | |
2023 18 Jan 202- |
The publication of a revised edition Journey of Courage; From Disability to Spiritual Ability compiled by Frances Mezei & Shirlee Smith. It was published by Bahá'í Publications Australia. | Frances Mezei; Shirlee Smith; Australia | |
2023 9 Jan 202- |
In an article in the Jewish News Syndicate dated the 9th of January 2023 it was announced that the Shrine was expected to be ready by the end of 2024. Quoting the public information officer at the Bahá'í World Center, Sala Sabet, and David Freeman, the Jerusalem representative of the Bahá'í International Community, the article included some statistics about the project and the Faith in general.
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Statistics; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2023 5 Aug 202- |
On July 31, 2022, the Ministry of Intelligence conducted a large-scale, systematic raid on the homes of numerous Bahá'í citizens. Saman Ostovar was arrested as part of this operation. He was released on bail after spending four and a half months in temporary detention. Subsequently, the Revolutionary Court of Karaj handed down a sentence of five years in prison, and a five-year deprivation of social rights after his prison term. He was also exiled from Alborz province for two years and prohibited from leaving Iran for 2 years. A two-year ban on engaging in any educational and cultural activities was also imposed. Since 2017 Ostavar and friends had been operating a private school, "Saman's School", their own educational initiative, outside the standard school system. The school was shut down and no consideration was given to the academic needs of its students.
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* Persecution, Iran; Karaj, Iran; Iran | |
2022 The year in review 202- |
For a review of the treatment of the Bahá'ís in Iran during the year see the US State Department's 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Iran for 2022 and search on "Baha'i". | * Persecution, Iran; Iran | |
2022 (In the year) 202- |
HRANA's (Human Rights Activists News Agency) annual report in 2022 has highlighted a concerning trend where about 65% of reported human rights violations against religious minorities are directed toward the Bahá'í community. [HRANA] | * Persecution, Iran; Iran | |
2022 20 - 21 Dec 202- |
The Appeals Examination Circuit of Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court upheld a ruling issued by the Alexandria Administrative Court allowing the Governorate of Alexandria to deny a request submitted by the Bahá'í community to create a new cemetery for the community.
Members of the Bahá'í community had requested that the Alexandria administrative authorities allocate a piece of land to be used as a burial site for its members because, at that time,, only a single cemetery space in Cairo's Basatin neighbourhood was available to the thousands of Egyptians of the Bahá'í Faith. This resulted in the depletion of the cemetery's capacity and forced families of deceased Bahá'ís to transport their loved ones' remains to Cairo from all across Egypt. The legal representative of the Bahá'í community argued before the Alexandria Administrative Court that local administrative authorities had previously approved the allocation of burial sites for individuals who are not affiliated with the three officially recognized religions in Egypt — Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. He noted that the Cairo Governorate had leased land to the Indian Embassy to cremate the bodies of deceased Hindus in 1964. The Cairo authorities had also granted Bahá'ís the right to bury members of their community in a separate piece of land in 1965. He added that the Governorates of Ismailia and Port Said had approved the allocation of burial sites to the Bahá'í community in 1944 and 1949. Therefore, on the grounds that local governments had previously allocated burial sites to individuals not affiliated with the three recognized religions, the Governorate of Alexandria had no right to reject the Baha'i community's request that a new burial site be allocated for its members. The reason given for not allowing the appeal by the court was that the Egyptian state recognizes only Islam, Judaism, and Christianity as religions. This was based on the opinionof the Islamic Research Academy affiliated with the Al-Azhar, the main Islamic institution of Egypt. The Islamic Research Academy claimed in a report submitted to the court that providing a burial site for the Bahá'í community would "lead to discrimination, further division, fragmentation, and rupture of the fabric of one society." In another decision issued on December 20, 2022, the Administrative Court of the Governorate of Port Said rejected a petition submitted by members of the Bahá'í community to allocate a piece of land to be used as a new burial site by the community. In this case they had asked that a burial site should be located on a piece of land that had been confiscated in the 1970's for which no compensation was forthcoming. This request was also disallowed. [EIN Newswire] |
Persecution, Egypt; Alexandria, Egypt; Egypt; Port Said, Egypt; Egypt | |
2022 15 Dec 202- |
The Bahá'í World Centre announced that work had begun on the 'Akká Visitors' Centre which will accommodate pilgrims and visitors to the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Ridván Garden. The complex will consist of three buildings: a pilgrim reception centre, which will be the largest of the buildings, a public visitors' centre, which will be located near the northernmost gate to the site, and a utility building located along the east fence. When the project is completed, pilgrims and visitors will enter the grounds through the east gate, where they can visit the 'Akká Visitor Centre before continuing along the path designed to facilitate stages on a meditative journey toward the Shrine. [BWNS1631] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 6 Dec 202- |
The release of the film A Library for All Who Seek Knowledge by the Bahá'í World News Service, a short documentary about the Afnan Library in Sandy, Bedfordshire. [BWNS1630] | Afnan Library; - Film; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Sandy, England | |
2022 21 Nov 202- |
The sentencing of Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi in Revolutionary Court's Branch 26 in Tehran with Judge Iman Afshar presiding as judge, prosecutor and jury. They were both sentenced to another 10 years in prison. They had to be released in 2018.
They had been arrested on the 31st of July at the start of yet another crackdown against the Iranian Bahá'ís. Thirteen Bahá'ís were arrested in the raid including Afif Naeimi. Sabet, Kamalabadi and Naeimi were members of a group of people known as the "Yaran," or "Friends" of Iran, which until 2008 served as an informal leadership of the Iranian Bahá'í community. All seven of its members were arrested in 2007 and 2008 and jailed for a decade. [BWNS1631; BIC News 1AUF22; Iran Press Watch 14DEC22; Iran Press Watch July 31, 2023] |
Mahvash Sabet; Fariba Kamalabadi; Afif Naeimi; * Persecution, Iran; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2022 8 Nov 202- |
In a message addressed to all National Spiritual Assemblies the Universal House of Justice advised that Mr. Stephen Birkland and Mr. Stephen Hall have requested permission to relinquish their membership on the Universal House of Justice in accordance with Article V.2.(c) of its Constitution. They will continue to serve on the institution until the date of the completion of the election of the Universal House of Justice at the Thirteenth International Bahá'í Convention to be held at Riḍván 2023. [letter from the NSA of Canada S123870 8 November 2022; BWNS1655] | Universal House of Justice, Members of; Stephen Birkland; Stephen Hall; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 1 Nov 202- |
The Universal House of Justice addressed the Followers of Bahá'u'lláh in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a message dated 1 November 2022, relating to the Nine Year Plan (2022-2031), ethnic and cultural diversity, the human family's crisis of identity, prejudice, Africa, and economic injustice.
The letter starts with the statement, "Your country is blessed with remarkable ethnic and cultural diversity." (para 2). Indeed, there are about 250 ethnic groups in the DRC and 240 identified languages, four of which have been chosen as official regional languages with French being the common language of Instruction, business, national administration and external relations. More than half the population live in a rural setting and just less than half of the population is under the age of 15 years. [Britannica] More information about the Faith in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be found in Bahaipedia and Bahá'í Media. |
Universal House of Justice, Letters and messages; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2022 1 Oct 202- |
The passing of Kevin Locke, (b. Los Angeles, CA 1983) renowned Native American hoop dancer, self-taught traditional flute player, story teller, recording artist, educator and cultural ambassador, at the age of 68 in Custer, SD. [Native News OnLine; Inforum]
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Kevin Locke; - In Memoriam; Custer, SD; South Dakota, USA; United States (USA) | |
2022 22 Sep 202- |
The screening of the documentary film 'Others' in Their Own Land at the Toronto Bahá'í Centre. The film was directed by Farid Haerinejad, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and film-maker living in Germany. He had made several films about minorities in Iran, prior to making this film he had heard about the Bahá'í faith but did not know much about the Bahá'ís in Iran. He wanted to make sure that such a story was told truthfully and passionately and was glad that he could receive first-hand information from his Bahá'í friends.
The film focuses on the period following the Islamic Revolution and traces the impact of the persecution of the Bahá'ís on several individuals and families. It contrasts the personal lives of Bahá'ís with the public statements of Iranian officials, highlighting the stigmatization and oppression of the Bahá'í minority in Iran. |
Farid Haerinejad; - Film; - Film; 'Others' in Their Own Land (film); Toronto, ON; Canada | |
2022 19 - 23 Sep 202- |
People from nearby neighborhoods gathered at the temple site to weave aluminum strips into a traditional pattern that will adorn the interior walls of the central edifice. The design of the temple dome and the interior weaving pattern are symbolic of unity and the coming together of people from diverse backgrounds.
The progress on the construction work can be see in the gallery of pictures on the BWNS website. [BWNS1617] |
Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Port Moresby; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Design; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Architecture; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Papua New Guinea | |
2022 16 Sep 202- |
The death fo 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman, while being held by Iran's religious police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's dress code for women. . She was from the tow of Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, in northwestern Iran. Amini had come to Tehran to visit her brother and on 13 September 2022 was arrested by the Guidance Patrol in Tehran while in the company of her family. She was then transferred to the custody of Moral Security. Her brother, who was with her when she was arrested, was told she would be taken to the detention centre to undergo a "briefing class" and released an hour later. Her brother was later informed his sister had a heart attack and a brain seizure at the police station to which she had been taken. Two hours after her arrest, she was taken to Kasra Hospital.
According to Amini's cousin, she was tortured and insulted in the van, as witnessed by her co-detainees. After she arrived at the police station, she began to lose vision and fainted. It took 30 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and an hour and a half for her to get to Kasra hospital. For two days, Amini was in a coma in Kasra Hospital in Tehran. On 16 September, a journalist broke the story of her coma, posting to Twitter a photo of Amini's father and grandmother crying and embracing in the hospital hallway. Amini died in the intensive care unit later that day. [Wikipedia] A movement, "Woman, Life, Freedom" sprang up in the wake of Amini's death seeking the end of Iran's imposition of a headscarf on all women and an end to the Muslim cleric-led government in Tehran. The protests persisted until at least January 2023 with over 500 protesters killed at the hands of state security forces, and over 19,400 protestors arrested as per reports by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). |
Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2022 15 Sep 202- |
Just weeks before the World Cup was scheduled to begin, the Bahá'í communities of nine countries delivered a letter addressed to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, expressing their concerns at the discrimination, restrictions, and human rights violations that Bahá'ís in Qatar have experienced for decades, and asking him to intervene in the situation. The letters were delivered by hand by representatives of the Bahá'í communities of Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to the Embassies of Qatar in their respective countries. [Global News Wire; BIC News 24 October 2022] | Persecution, Qatar; Qatar | |
2022 13 Sep 202- |
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, was arrested in Tehran while visiting the Iranian capital with her family. She was detained by Iran's so-called "morality police" for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, or hair-covering head scarf. Within hours of her detention, she was hospitalized in a coma and died on September 16.
Amini's death sparked mass protests, beginning in her home town of Saghez, then spreading around the country as the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests and ultimately posed one of the biggest threats to Iran's clerical establishment since the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979. At least 500 people were reported killed in the government's crackdown on demonstrators. [RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty 8 March 2024?] |
Mahsa Amini; Women, Life, Freedom; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2022 8 Sept 202- |
The passing of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (b. 21 April 1926) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the longest recorded of any female head of state in history, and the second-longest verified reign of any sovereign in history. She was succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. Charles was officially proclaimed King on the Saturday following the Queen's death, the 10th of September. This event took place at St James's Palace in London, in front of a ceremonial body known as the Accession Council. [ |
- In Memoriam; Queen Elizabeth II; King Charles III; Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire; Aberdeenshire, Scotland; Scotland | |
2022 19 Aug 202- |
The Bahá'í World News Service expanded its service in yet another language - Russian, to add to the English, French, Persian and Spanish versions.
Established in 2000 the BWNS has been made available on mobile applications for both Android and iOS, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. In addition there is a podcast and one can subscribe here and not miss any news releases. [BWNS1612] |
Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 17 Aug 202- |
The Universal House of Justice announced that a Persian Reviewing Panel, appointed by and operating under the auspices of the National Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States, would attend to the review and approval of manuscripts in Persian written by Bahá'ís in all countries, with the goal of ensuring that such publications represent the Bahá'í Faith accurately and with dignity. [Letter from the NSA of Canada S122269] | Persian Reviewing Panel; Publishing, Review; United States (USA); Publishing, Policy and practice | |
2022 16 Aug 202- |
An update on the progress of the construction on the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was published. It was announced that the cleaning of the fire damage had been completed and the construction had been resumed. [BWNS1611] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS) | |
2022 Aug 202- |
The publication of A Child in the Holy Land, a collection of stories by twenty-one such children and their encounters with the members of the Holy Family. Compiled and edited by Gisu Mohadjer Cook it was published by Bahá'í Publishing in Wilmette. | Gisu Mohadjer Cook; Child in the Holy Land (book); Wilmette, IL; Illinois, USA; * Publications | |
2022 31 Jul 202- |
The arrest of Mahvash Sabet (Shahriari) and Fariba Kamalabadi alongside five other Baha'i individuals, apprehended by security forces across different cities. Moreover, intelligence agents conducted searches at a minimum of 37 Baha'i residences. [Iran Press Watch] | * Persecution, Iran; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2022 29 - 31 Jul 202- |
The 46th Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá'í Studies. The conference was held virtually and enabled attendance of over 1000 people from 30 countries.
The concept of "reading groups" was introduced. The reading groups were born out of a question before the ABS about how the principle of consultation can be applied in various contexts to facilitate the generation of knowledge. Eric Farr, who also assisted with coordinating collaborative initiatives, said that the "groups typically identify an initial reading list of relevant literature, which can be expanded and refined over time. As participants of a group review these materials together, they try to understand the underlying assumptions, central concepts, and highest aspirations within a discourse that have shaped thought and practice in their fields, correlating them with the Bahá'í teachings." These groups, who met throughout the year, and each focused on a topic such as education, economics, climate change, dynamics of social change, the harmony of science and religion, justice and reconciliation, law, media, public health, and urban planning. Dr. Todd Smith, the secretary of the ABS executive committee, said: "Many of the presentations in this year's program were the fruit of collective learning initiatives, such as reading groups or thematic seminars, that took place in the months between the 2021 and 2022 conferences. The program was further enhanced by the contributions of presenters engaged in other academic and professional endeavours." Presentations and supplementary materials from this year's conference program, along with an archive of presentations from previous years are now available at the website of the Association for Bahá'í Studies. [ABS website; BWNS1616] |
Association for Bahá'í Studies (North America); Conferences, Bahá'í studies; Ottawa, ON; Ontario, Canada; Canada | |
2022 19 Jul 202- |
The release of a film titled A Bahá'í in Egypt: A story of 3 generations. It was a documentary produced by a news organization in Egypt and highlighted the history of the Bahá'ís of Egypt and their efforts to contribute to the progress of their society. [BWNS1604] | - Film; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Cairo, Egypt | |
2022 4 Jul 202- |
In a message from the Department of the Secretariat addressed to all National Spiritual Assemblies provided an update on the progress of the construction of the Shrine if 'Abdu'l-Bahá in light of the recent fire. The investigation concluded that the fire was the result of an accident. Expenses will be covered by insurance. Testing will be done to ascertain which parts wither require repair or replacement.
No date was set for the the conclusion of the project but it was recognized that the accident will cause a substantial delay. No increase in donations to the project will be required. [4 July 2022] |
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 Jun 202- |
A campaign by Iranian authorities to uproot the Baha'i community in Shiraz took a dark step forward, earlier in June, when Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced 26 Baha'is to a combined total of 85 years in prison. Each individual was sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to five years. Travel bans and orders to report daily to a provincial intelligence office were also issued. A number of the Baha'is also received in addition a combined total of 24 years of internal exile—with the individual banishments set for two years. Many of the 26 sentenced to prison are couples with young children. [BIC News 23 June 2022] |
* Persecution, Iran; Iran | |
2022 6 Jun 202- |
The passing of Jim (James Eugene) Seals, (b. 17 October 1941 or 1942 in Sidney, Texas) singer, musician and songwriter was announced on social media by a relative, Bradley Seals. He passed away in Nashville, TN. [The Guardian 10 June 2022]
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- In Memoriam; Jim Seals; Seals and Crofts; - Famous Bahá'ís; Sidney, TX; Nashville, TN | |
2022 2 - 3 Jun 202- |
A conference titled, Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity, was an international meeting convened by the United Nations General Assembly. It was a commemoration of 50 years since the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment. The purpose was to focus on ways to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and to tackle the planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
See the conference recommendations and actions. The Bahá'í International Community released a statement, One Planet, One Habitation: A Bahá'í Perspective on Recasting Humanity's Relationship with the Natural World. The statement underlines the gap between intention and action as one of the central challenges facing humanity and states that the essential principle of humanity's oneness as the only foundation on which sustainable societies can be raised. [BWNS1599] The statement is available on the BIC statements page and at Bahá'í Library. |
- Conferences; Environment; United Nations; Bahá'í International Community; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Stockholm, Sweden; Sweden | |
2022 22 May 202- |
A story carried by The Sunday Telegraph in London and written by the law firm representing Remi Rouhani in Qatar's highest court against an unjust conviction, alleged that the Qatari authorities discriminated against him because of his Faith. He was a Bahá'í citizen of Qatar and the former director of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is believed that Mr Rouhani's case may serve as a bellwether for Qatar's intention regarding the Bahá'í Faith and other religious minorities. [The Sunday Telegraph 22May2022] | Persecution, Qatar; Qatar | |
2022 Ridván - 2031 Ridván 202- |
In a letter dated 25 November 2020 the Universal House of Justice announced a Nine Year Plan to begin at Ridván 2022. In the letter to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors dated 30 December 2021 the details were announced.
Objectives: |
- Teaching Plans; Nine Year Plan (2022-2031); - Institute process; - Conferences; - Global Conferences; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 20 Apr 202- |
The end of the One Year Plan Achievements
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One Year Plan | |
2022 20 Apr 202- |
The International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance issued a statement noting "with grave concern the increased pattern of repression and discrimination against members of the Bahá'í community" in some countries around the world. The statement is the first time the Alliance, also known as IRFBA, has made a direct intervention on challenges facing Bahá'í communities as a result of religious prejudice. Specific countries where Bahá'ís are persecuted or discriminated against were not named in the statement but the description of the challenges made it clear that the statement was written in support of the Bahá'í communities in Iran, Qatar and Yemen. [Statement on Bahá'ís] | International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA); * Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Yemen; Persecution, Qatar; Iran; Yemen; Qatar | |
2022 8 Apr 202- |
A fire broke out and clouds of black smoke billowed from the construction site of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá when wind-blown sparks from welding on the dome ignited scaffolding and plastic forms being used to mold poured concrete. Firefighters evacuate the nearby suburbs of Giv'at Hatmarim and Afraid. The completed concrete walls and structures were undamaged but the blaze destroyed "several months of work" on the 2,900-square-meter (0.7-acre) circular platform and piazza.
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 25 Mar 202- |
In a statement was delivered by the Bahá'í International Community's representative, Simin Fahandej, by video to the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva it was announced that more than 1,000 Bahá'ís are in a "limbo" between their initial arrests, their legal hearings and their final summons to prison. A "rising trend" in the confiscation of Bahá'í-owned properties was also of "particular concern", Fahandej told the Human Rights Council. And while the appropriation of assets was not new, she added, it did seem that the Iranian authorities were "increasingly using the legal system" for such seizures. The concern is that confiscations of Bahá'í properties enrich the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, also known as Setad, which is controlled by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. [Iran Press Watch 25 March 2022] | Bahá'í International Community; * Persecution, Iran; Geneva, Switzerland | |
2022 21 Mar 202- |
The World Centre released a progress report on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. They reported that the meticulous work of assembling the formwork for the trellis spanning the Shrine's central plaza was nearing completion and showed an animated sequence of design rendering showing the process of building the trellis, including the placement of polystyrene (EPS) formwork, the placement of rebar, the pouring of concrete, and finally, the removal of formwork. They also showed photos of the work being done in the quarry in Carrara, Italy for the marble company, Margraf, was sourcing the marble for the project. The groundwork for a visitor's centre had begun. [BWNS1588] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 11 Mar 202- |
The release of the Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Rights of persons belonging to religious or belief minorities in situations of conflict or insecurity at the 49th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The annex of the report said that concerns regarding the Bahá'ís "have persisted and even escalated across several country contexts". Dr Ahmed Shaheed's report illustrated the situations faced by Bahá'ís in Iran and in Yemen where they lack legal recognition and the discrimination as well as in Qatar they have experienced administrative deportations and in Tunisia where the government has refused to recognize the Faith. [Iranwire71448] | * Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Yemen; Persecution, Qatar; Persecution, Tunisia; Geneva, Switzerland | |
2022 14 Feb 202- |
The statement The Oneness of Humanity—Implications for the Africa-European Union Partnership was jointly prepared by the Addis Ababa and Brussels Offices of the BIC on the occasion of the 6th African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) Summit held in Brussels.
Solomon Belay of the Addis Ababa Office stated: "The summit offered an opportunity to present EU leaders with key insights emerging from the many conversations of the BIC with government officials, policy makers, faith leaders, and civil society organizations about a range of themes being explored by the BIC in recent years, including global governance, migration, climate change, agriculture, and food security. We will be offering the same perspectives to AU leaders." Rachel Bayani of the Brussels Office explained that reshaping international structures and relationships according to the principle of humanity's oneness is a challenging task that will require effort over generations. "The statement offers a few practical suggestions for moving toward this goal. First is for careful consideration to be given to the impact of European policies on all segments of society in Africa, Europe, and across the world". [BWNS1594] |
Bahá'í International Community; Solomon Belay; Rachel Bayani; - BIC statements; Brussels, Belgium | |
2022 Jan 202- |
Representatives of all religious sects in Tunisia signed the National Charter for Peaceful Coexistence, the first of its kind in Tunisia, which calls for guaranteeing the right of religious minorities to differ and to show their beliefs in public. Representative to this conference came from the Jewish Synagogue in La Goulette, the Evangelical Church in Tunisia, the Union of Sufi Ways; the Ahl al-Bayt Shiite Centre in Tunis and Mohamed Ben Moussa, the Bahá'í representative in Tunisia.
Notwithstanding the fact that Tunisian citizens have the right, according to the constitution, international charters and treaties, to establish their religious rites some religious communities, notably the Jews, Christians, Shites, and Bahá'ís still experience difficulty in practicing their faith. The Bahá'í representative, Mohamed ben Moussa acknowledged that adherents of the Bahá'í faith in Tunisia are subjected to violations, as fatwas of infidelity were issued against them by the grand mufti of Tunisia in December 2020. Additionally, the presidency of the Tunisian government accused them of apostasy. This charter aroused a great uproar among Tunisian society, which responded with an extensive campaign of insults and threats of violence, reaching the point of calling for murder. Although the official authorities were silent, the Ministry of Religious Affairs sent a representative to attend the signing. The organizers said that the strong reaction was expected but did not anticipate the many messages of threats and insults from the general public, radical Muslim sheikhs, intellectuals and others. All negative comments were unanimous; that Tunisia is a Muslim country and will remain so. This strong reaction was evidence of the extent of extremist ideology and hatred in the community and their lack of acceptance of those who differ from them. [The Christian Post 6Feb2022] |
Mohamed Ben Moussa; Persecution, Tunisia | |
2022 26 Jan 202- |
The BWC released a progress report on the construction of the national Bahá'í House of Worship in Kinshasa, DRC. [BWNS1579] | Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kinshasa; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2022 7 Jan 202- |
The conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members will coincide with the lapse of one hundred years since the first public reading of the Will and Testament of the Master. [25 November 2020]
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Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá; Conferences, Counsellors; Centenaries; Auxiliary board members; - Teaching Plans; Nine Year Plan (2022-2031); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 5 Jan 202- |
The film, Glimpses of a Hundred Years of Endeavour, commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, was released on this day.
The film provided insight into a hundred years of endeavor and learning since the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, carried out by a burgeoning Bahá'í community, and outlined the journey that has led to the community's current efforts to contribute to the emergence of a world organized around the principle of the oneness of humanity. The 66-minute film was made available in Arabic, English, French, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili. The original version with English subtitles was placed on YouTube. [BWNS1574] |
Glimpses of a Hundred Years of Endeavour (film); - Film; - Documentaries; - Documentaries, BWC; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2022 1 Jan 202- |
The Universal House of Justice announced that the courses of the Ruhi Institute would continue to be a prominent feature of the educational endeavours of all training institutes during this new series of global Plans. The Ruhi Institute will, during the Nine Year Plan, complete the preparation of all the materials it has outlined for use in children's classes, junior youth groups, and study circles, and the revision of published editions as necessary in light of experience. However, beyond what it has already delineated, it is not expected to develop new materials to be used worldwide. [Message 1 January 2022] | Nine Year Plan (2022-2031); - Institute process; Childrens classes; Youth empowerment program; Ruhi Institute; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 30 Dec - 4 Jan 202- |
The conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors was held at the Bahá'í World Centre. The discussions of the Counsellors over the six days explored how the worldwide Bahá'í community could intensify its efforts to contribute to social progress predicated on the spiritual principle of oneness. In their analysis, the Counsellors concluded that achieving this aim is dependent on significantly extending the reach of Bahá'í educational programs that build capacity for service, at the heart of which is faith in the ability of a population to become the protagonists of its own development. [BWNS1573; BWNS1575; BWNS1571] | Continental Board of Counsellors; - Conferences; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 30 Dec 202- |
As per the 30 December 2021 message o the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, 22 Local Spiritual Assemblies spread over eight countries were elected using a two-stage electoral process. This follows the same instructions that 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave to the Spiritual Assembly of Ṭihrán. It involved the division of a locality into units from each of which one or more delegates were elected, after which the delegates elected the members of the Local Assembly.
They said that this process had been approved and adopted over the two previous years. [Paragraph 32] |
Local Spiritual Assembly, formation; Local Spiritual Assembly, election; Local Spiritual Assembly; Statistics; Elections | |
2021 30 Dec - 4 Jan 202- |
In a message to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors the Universal House of Justice announced a series of global Plans to carry the Faith into the third century of the Bahá'í Era and conclude at Ridván 2026. [30 December 2021] | Nine Year Plan (2022-2031); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 19 Dec 202- |
Journalists from over 55 media outlets across Italy attended the press conference in Milan and had the opportunity to learn about and the sacred nature of the project to prepare the marble for the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the complexities of its construction. The fabrication of the marble has required newly developed machinery that can cut the stone directly from 3D models with extreme precision—a requirement of the project given the curved surfaces of the domed trellis.
Attendees at the press conference included Hossein Amanat, who was selected by the Universal House of Justice as the architect for the project, Sohrab Youssefian, liaison between the project and Margraf, and two members of Italy's Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly. The Italian marble company that will cut and chiseled the marble was represented by Silvio Xompero, president of Margraf, and by Alessandro Peotta, head of the Margraf Technical Office. This firm has a long record of service to the Faith [BWNS1569] |
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Margraf; Silvio Xompero; Alessandro Peotta; Hossein Amanat (Husayn Amanat); Sohrab Youssefian; Milan, Italy | |
2021 16 Dec 202- |
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has called on the Iranian government to end its discrimination of minorities in Iran, including of the Bahá'í community. The vote confirms a Third Committee resolution passed in November. The resolution was endorsed by the General Assembly's 76th session and introduced by Canada and 47 co-sponsors from all regions, passed by 78 votes in favour, with 31 against and 69 abstentions. [BIC News; BWNS1568; Iran Press Watch/a>]
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* Persecution, Iran; United Nations; Bahá'í International Community; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); New York, USA; United States (USA); Katá, Iran; Semnan, Iran; Rowshan Kúh, Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran; Iran | |
2021 6 Dec 202- |
Thirteen irrigated farmland plots belonging to Bahá'ís in the village of Kata in Iran's southwest have been targeted by local authorities seeking to expropriate Bahá'í-owned assets in Iran. The organization "Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order" – an agency controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which held and sold assets seized from proscribed groups and individuals and has done so since the 1979 Islamic Revolution – advertised the 13 properties on an auction website in mid-October. Each property had been listed for sale at a price just 15 percent of market value. The auctions listings have been published despite Bahá'ís having held the deeds to these properties for generations. [Iran Wire 6DEC21] |
- Persecution; Katá, Iran; Iran | |
2021 5 - 7 Dec 202- |
A three-day poster design workshop was held in Shiraz for the purpose of inciting hatred against Bahá'ís. This coincided with the beginning of another wave of security and judicial pressure on Bahá'í citizens in different cities of Iran. The Visual Arts Festival (Moqaddas Nama) hosted the poster and caricature design workshop aimed at inciting hatred against the followers of the Bahá'í Faith. This workshop, organized by the Secretariat of Moghadas Nama and the Secretariat of the Revolution Poster and the Association of Designers of the Islamic Revolution (Beit,) specifically attacks the religious beliefs of the members of the Bahá'í community through poster design and graphic works. This program is part of the Iranian government's ongoing campaign against the Bahá'í Community, which has routinely and systematically violated the citizenship and human rights of the Baha's over the past four decades. Participants in the Anti-Baha'i poster workshop are offered millions in prizes. [Iran Press Watch] | * Persecution, Iran; Shíráz, Iran; Iran | |
2021 27 Nov 202- |
An example of a program to mark the Centenary of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá is that done by the Bahá'í community of Northern Virginia. [YouTube] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Ascension of; Centenaries | |
2021 25 Nov 202- |
A short documentary about the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, commissioned by the Universal House of Justice for the occasion of the centenary, was released for viewing at the centenary gathering at the Bahá'í World Centre. The film explores aspects of the design and construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and features interviews with people directly involved in the project. [BWNS1557]
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 20 - 27 Nov 202- |
In its Ridván 2018 and a year previous, in its message of 25 November 2020 (and 15 September 2021), the Universal House of Justice announced that there would be a gathering in the Holy Land by representatives of National Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Bahá'í Councils throughout the world to commemorate the Centenary of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. What transpired was a week of activities.
Several events that were intended for the public were held in Haifa and 'Akká to mark the centenary of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
-In 'Akká, a public reception at the House of 'Abdu'lláh Páshá, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá lived and received countless guests from 1896 to 1910, allowed people from around the country to learn about His life and His service to the inhabitants of 'Akká through an exhibition and a guided visit of the site. -In Bahjí, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá had rented a residence for Bahá'u'lláh and His family in 1879, a special program brought together the mayor of 'Akká, Shimon Lankri, and other government officials, various community and religious leaders—Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze—academics, and civil society representatives to hear stories from the life of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, where many of those gathered also shared their perspectives on His impact on the people of the region. [BWNS1552; BWNS1555] Some 600 presentatives of Bahá'í communities from nations and regions around the world began to arrive in Haifa for the historic gathering at the Bahá'í World Centre. In the days following they visited the Holy Places in the Akka/Haifa area. [BWNS1553; BWNS1555] On the 25th of November the friends gathered in the concourse of the Universal House of Justice building. A Message from the Universal House of Justice was addressed to the gathering. The program included remarks by a member of the International Teaching Centre, Muna Tehrani with the keynote address given by ITC member Gloria Javid entitles 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the Centre of the Covenant. [BWNS1556] On the 26th of November Mrs Antonella Demonte, member of the International Teaching Centre, delivered a Keynote Address entitled The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Unfoldment of the Administrative Order. The Centenary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing was marked in the early hours of the 27th of November with the attendees assembled in the courtyard of the Haifa Pilgrim House. A tribute written by the Universal House of Justice for the occasion was read by one of its members. [BWNS1558] On the 28th of November representatives of Bahá'í communities throughout the world came together in the concourse of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice for a spiritually charged closing of the centenary gathering. The closing session included addresses delivered by members of the International Teaching Centre, Antonella Demonte, Dr Holly Woodard, and Rachel Ndegwa. Prayers were chanted and spoken in different languages, there was a musical interlude, and Bahá'í writings were sung by a choir. The film Exemplar was shown. [BWNS1559] |
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Ascension of; Centenaries; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 18 Nov 202- |
The release of the film Exemplar commissioned by the Universal House of Justice to mark the centenary commemoration of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The film follows the life of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the profound effect He had on people both past and present. A sense of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's unique function as a shelter, a shield, and a stronghold for all humanity is captured in vignettes of some of the people whose lives were transformed through their association with Him. It explores how, by championing the oneness of humanity through His words and deeds, He offered a challenge to the stale assumptions and prejudices of the age, and gave stimulus to a process of unification which continues to this day. [BWNS1551]
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Exemplar (film); * `Abdu'l-Bahá, Basic timeline; * `Abdu'l-Bahá (chronology); `Abdu'l-Bahá, Exemplar; - Bahá'í World Centre; Hamilton, ON | |
2021 17 Nov 202- |
The premier of the film The Legacy of Saskatoon's Secret Forest [CBNS17 November 2021]
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The Legacy of Saskatoons Secret Forest (film); Richard St. Barbe Baker; Saskatoon, SK; Canada | |
2021 14 Nov 202- |
Update on the BIHE: The Institute has adapted using today's technology. As of this date 955 staff members operated the hybrid online and in-person school. The school offered more than 1,050 classes in its associate, undergraduate or graduate programs. Despite ongoing persecution of the BIHE recorded an average of 1,000 applicants and accepted 450 new first-year students annually. Although a number of Iranian Bahá'ís were still held back by Iran's refusal to recognize the institution, BIHE graduates would go on to study at a choice of 98 different international universities and colleges. [Borgen Magazine 14 November 2021] |
Education; Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE); Iran | |
2021 13 Nov 202- |
The some 3,000 people gathered for the dedication of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in the Pacific on the island of Tanna. In attendance at the ceremony were Prime Minister Bob Loughman and other government officials, representatives from the Malvatumauri National Councils of Chiefs and the Nikoletan Council of Chiefs, members of diverse faith communities, and representatives of local and national Bahá'í institutions. [BWNS1550]
The Universal House of Justice was represented by Henry Tamashiro who delivered this Message.
Unveiling of the design: 18 June 2017 Foundation Stone: 17 November 2019 Construction Period: 17 November 2019 to 13 November 2021 Site Dedication:13 November 2021 Architect: Ashkan Mostaghim Architectural firm: Capacity: 300 Dimensions: Cost: Dependencies: Amphitheater for large community gatherings References: BWNS1550; BWNS1549; BWNS1530; BWNS1515; BWNS1175; BWNS1373; BWNS1176 |
* Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Ashkan Mostaghim; Henry Tamashiro; Lenakel, Vanuatu; Vanuatu | |
2021 8 Nov 202- |
The Baha'i World Centre gave details of the conservation work that was continuing on the Mazra'ih Mansion. Most significantly, the room that Bahá'u'lláh's occupied had been made ready to receive pilgrims. This Holy Place has been described by the Universal House of Justice in a letter to all Bahá'í National Spiritual Assemblies as "that serene and sacred spot, the first residence of Bahá'u'lláh after nine years' confinement within the walls of the prison-city of 'Akká." |
House of Bahá'u'lláh (Mazraih); Mazraih, Israel; - Restoration and renovation; Mazraih, Israel | |
2021 4 Nov 202- |
The US premiere of the short film entitled The Prisoner in the Cinema Paradisl in Hollywood. The film was written and directed by Jayce Bartok. In the film two bickering prison guards, one with a dangerous secret, connect while guarding a prophet that is causing a revolution throughout the Middle East of the 1800's. [FLIFF 2021 Film Guide; Bahá'í Blog] | The Prisoner (film); - Film; Jayce Bartok; * Báb, The (chronology); Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA; California, USA; United States (USA); Chihríq, Iran; Iran | |
2021 Nov 202- |
A six-part documentary series about the life of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was produced by Fred Badiyan and Ramin Khadem in honour of the centenary of the ascension of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Each of the six parts covers His life in chronological order, from His childhood and imprisonment, to His travels and ascension. The film was made by Badiyan Productions (badiyan.com). * Abdu'l-Baha: The Mystery – Part 1: Beginnings * Abdu'l-Baha: The Mystery – Part 2: Master of the Prison City * Abdu'l-Baha: The Mystery – Part 3: Tumultuous Years * Abdu'l-Baha: The Mystery – Part 4: Travels in the West * Abdu'l-Baha: The Mystery – Part 5: The End of the Journey * Abdu'l-Baha: The Mystery – Part 6: Touching Hearts: Stories of Transformation |
`Abdu'l-Bahá: The Mystery (film); Fred Badiyan; Ramin Khadem; - Documentaries; - Film | |
2021 29 Oct 202- |
In preparation for the commemoration of His passing, the Bahá'í communities around the world released a number of publications honouring 'Abdu'l-Bahá, recounting stories of His life and the principles He espoused. These included new translations of His Will and Testament, illuminated prayer books, stories of His life, and storybooks for children. New translations of His Writings have been made for the first time in a number of languages. [BWNS1544] | * `Abdu'l-Bahá, Writings and talks of | |
2021 22 Oct 202- |
The online publication The Bahá'í World released two new articles, 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Champion of Universal Peace, which explores how 'Abdu'l-Bahá advanced the cause of peace not only through His engagement with leading thinkers of His time but also through a plan for the spiritualization of the planet and another new article, titled 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Bahá'í Students, looks at 'Abdu'l-Bahá's contributions to the discourse on education in the Middle East and His guidance of Bahá'í students at the American University of Beirut. [BWNS1543] | - Bahá'í World volumes; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 16 - 18 Oct 202- |
Because of the global heath crisis the Parliament was a virtual event. It was unique in that it took place over 48 hours, it hosted three regional symposium and was the first Parliament to be hosted completely online. The theme was the Opening our Hearts to the World: Compassion in Action.. There were 4,317 attendees from 79 countries in 21 languages. [Virtual]
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Parliament of the World's Religions; Virtual | |
2021 10 Sep 202- |
The World Centre provided an update on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It was announced that the plaza walls had been completed and the complex process of building the intricate trellis that will span the central plaza had begun. [BWNS1531]
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 31 Aug 202- |
A four-day gathering, attended by some 2,000 participants was held in Baraka, DRC in honour of the forthcoming centenary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing. Attendees included officials, a traditional chief of the region, religious leaders, and people of diverse faiths. The conference explored the insights about the advancement of women gained through decades-long efforts of the Bahá'ís of the region aimed at social progress, and planned for an intensification of such activities of social action. [BWNS1529] | - Conferences; Women; Baraka, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2021 25 Aug 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community submitted formal letters of concern to United Nations Special Rapporteurs regarding the confiscation of properties belonging to six Bahá'ís in the province of Semnan. In the formal letters they called upon the UN and other international actors to intervene with Iran's government to ensure that Baha'is are not dispossessed of their properties by the State.
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* Persecution, Iran; Semnan, Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran; Iran | |
2021 29 Jul 202- |
A report on the progress of the construction of the National Mashriqul-Adhkar was provided.
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Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kinshasa; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2021 19 Jul 202- |
The Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation aired a short report on the progress of the construction of the local Bahá'í House of Worship for the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. The report can be found from 13:47 to 15:37 on the news report. [Facebook Post by VBTC] | * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Tanna, Vanuatu; Vanuatu | |
2021 19 Jul 202- |
A Twitter storm under the hashtag of #StopHatePropaganda and running from 5pm to 7pm GMT, 9.30pm to 11.30pm Tehran time, aimed to draw global attention to a 40-year campaign of hate speech conducted by the Iranian government against the Baha'i community in Iran, the country's largest non-Muslim religious minority. Iran Press Watch; Iran Press Watch; BWNS1519] | * Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í International Community; Twitter; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Geneva, Switzerland | |
2021 13 Jul 202- |
In response to the Iranian government's continued campaign of hate speech, the Bahá'í International Community launched a new microsite of The Bahá'ís of Iran website called Raasti (Truth). It was set up to provide accurate information, including from independent sources, in an effort to respond to baseless accusations and misinformation produced by the machinery of propaganda targeting the Bahá'ís in Iran.
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Bahá'í International Community; * Persecution, Iran; Twitter; Geneva, Switzerland | |
2021 8 Jul 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community made representation to the United Nations or the Iranian government to be held accountable for its campaign of hate speech against the Baha'is in Iran. In previous months, the four-decades long state-sponsored campaign of hate speech and propaganda reached new levels, increasing in both sophistication and scale. This provoked fresh concerns for the rights of the Baha'is in Iran, as history had shown that flagrant violations of human rights often take place in a climate of hate and disinformation following such propaganda efforts. The websites and social media channels are compounded by videos, print newspaper articles and other written media, books, seminars, exhibitions, graffiti and fatwas from both official outlets and others sponsored by the government but purporting to be independent. [Bahá'í International Community News] Since 2017, more than 33,000 pieces of toxic anti-Bahá'í content have been published or broadcast. In recent years, hundreds of websites and dozens of social media accounts have systematically attacked the Bahá'í community, misrepresenting Bahá'í beliefs in a manner designed to cause maximum offence to Iran's Muslim-majority population. [CiJA Statement on Iranian anti-Bahá'í Campaign] (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is the advocacy agent of Jewish Federations across Canada.) António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, in his 2019 Plan of Action to Combat Hate Speech, said that "[h]ate speech is a menace to democratic values, social stability and peace. As a matter of principle, the United Nations must confront hate speech at every turn. Silence can signal indifference to bigotry and intolerance, even as a situation escalates and the vulnerable become victims." Incitement to hatred is prohibited under international treaties that Iran itself has ratified, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [United Nations Plan of Action on Hate Speech] The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) strongly condemn the increase in anti-Bahá'í propaganda disseminated by Iranian state-run media. A recent report by the Bahá'í Community of Canada found that "Iran's state-sponsored campaign of hatred against the Bahá''í Faith has been on the rise across all media platforms, including the web, social media, radio, newspapers, and television." On the 20th of July they issued a joint statement from Professor Irwin Cotler, Founder and International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Ali Ehsassi, Member of Parliament (House of Commons of Canada) and Mr. Anders Österberg, Member of the Swedish ParliamentFounding Member of PGA's Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT). See the report entitled State-sponsored hate propaganda against Iranian Bahá'ís published by the Office of Public Affairs of the Bahá'í Community of Canada. See a speech titled A Non-Governmental Perspective on the Relative Effectiveness of Multilateral and Bilateral Measures by Bani Dugal, the Principal Representative, United Nations Office, Bahá'í International Community given in Florence, Italy 9 April 2022. The talk was presented at a conference on Religion, Hateful Expression and Violence sponsored by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy. See Erased in the Shadows: The Persecution of Iran's Bahá'ís by Sabrina Nelson dated 2 October 2024. |
Bahá'í International Community; United Nations; * Persecution, Iran; Hate Speech; Irwin Cotler; `Alí Ehassi; Anders Osterberg; Bani Dugal; Geneva, Switzerland; Genocide | |
2021 6 Jul 202- |
The Bahá'í World Centre released an update on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Baha:
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 18 Jun 202- |
The publication of The Bahá'ís in Yemen: From Obscurity to Persecution and Exile by Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, Casey Coombs, Abdullah Olofi. | Persecution, Yemen; Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen; Casey Coombs; `Abdu'lláh Al Olofi; Yemen | |
2021 8 Jun 202- |
Tehran's Revolutionary Court sentenced Bahá'í Iranian motocross champion Shahrzad Nazifi, a Bahá'í citizen, to 8 years in prison.
The court was also banned Mrs. Nazifi from leaving the country for two years. As a complementary punishment, the court also obliged Mrs. Nazifi to provide services to the mentally disabled for three months, four hours every day. The following charges were brought against her: "Managing illegal groups with the aim of disrupting the country's national security" and "incorrect motive and inner desire to destroy the religious system". Shahrzad Nazifi is an Iranian motocross champion of Baha'i faith, born in 1971 and living in Tehran. She and her daughter Nora Naraghi are among the pioneers of women's motocross in Iran. On November 18, 2018, the clerical regime's intelligence forces arrested Shahrzad Nazifi and her daughter on the motorcycle track. They ransacked the Nazifi residence for about 5 hours and took some personal belongings with them. In May 2019, Mrs. Nazifi and other family members were barred from attending motorcycling tracks, participating in competitions, and exercising with a motorcycle without receiving a court order. [HRANA website] |
Shahrzad Nazifi; * Persecution, Iran; Nora Naraghi; Tehran, Iran; Iran | |
2021 3 Jun 202- |
The passing of John Kolstoe in Livingstone, Montana. [Bahá'ís of Montana and Surrounding Areas Facebook page] John was raised in a Lutheran family, and studied psychology at University. He and his wife, Beverley, became Bahá'ís in 1953 and John attended the New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conference the same year. He had been intending to conduct research in the field of Psychology on cognitive modalities, but felt that pioneering for the Faith was more important after attending the Conference, and volunteered to pioneer to Alaska. John and Beverley moved to Alaska in 1953. He was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Alaska in the late 1950's and served on the body until 1960, when he and Beverley pioneered to Fort Yukon, where they lived for three years. He went on pilgrimage to Haifa in 1960 and met Ruhiyyih Khanum, and told her a story about meeting Dr. Hubert Parris, which she encouraged him to put in writing. He eventually did so when he wrote the book Crazy Lovers of Bahá'u'lláh. In 1962 he co-wrote a pamphlet on the Faith titled Bahá'í Teachings: A Light For All Regions with Peter Simple, the second Athabaskan Indian to become a Bahá'í in Yukon. The Kolstoes moved from Fort Yukon to Fairbanks and John was re-elected to the Alaskan National Assembly in 1963. He was elected Chairman of the Assembly in 1972, and represented the Assembly at the Dedication of the Matthew Kaszab Institute in November that year. In 1975 he wrote twelve articles on the Covenant for Alaska Bahá'í News which eventually served as the basis for the book The Covenant and You. In July 1976 he opened the International Bahá'í Conference held in Anchorage. The Kolstoes left Alaska in 1985 and pioneered to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. John's wife Beverley passed away in Alaska in 1996. In 2001 John re-married, marrying Janet J. Smith. [Bahaipedia] A list of his publications includes:
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John Kolstoe; - In Memoriam; Livingston, MT; United States (USA) | |
2021 23 May 202- |
The dedication of the first local Bahá'í House of Worship in Africa in Matunda Soy, Kenya. The project had been completed in under three years in difficult circumstances. The ceremony was attended by some one hundred people including government officials, village and district chiefs, local dignitaries, representatives of local and national Bahá'í institutions, and other representatives of the construction team including Neda Samimi, the architect. The Universal House of Justice was represented by Townshend Lihanda, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Africa who delivered this message on their behalf. The previous day a small ornamental case containing dust from one of the Holy Shrines at the Bahá'í World Centre was placed within the structure of the House of Worship symbolizing the profound connection between the temple and the spiritual center of the Bahá'í Faith. [BWNS1511]
Specifics
Foundation Stone: 23 March 2019 to 23 May 2021 Construction Period: 28 February 2019 to Site Dedication: 23 May 2021 Architect: Neda Samimi (The first woman whose design for a Baha'i House of Worship was selected.) Architectural firm: under the auspices of Archipoint Consulting Architects (Mr Alfred Mango, Architect) Seating: 250 Dimensions: Land: The area was about 20 acres inclusive of the Lwanda Learning Site which occupies about 3 acres. Cost: (land and building)15m Kshs plus 152m Kshs (approximately US$1.5m) Dependencies: Existing buildings will be repurposed as educational facilities and as offices for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Kenya. References: BWNS1251; BWNS1317; BWNS1473; BWNS1493; BWNS1511. |
- Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Neda Samimi; Townshend Lihanda; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Matunda Soy, Kenya; Dedications; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Kenya | Neda Samimi, the first woman whose design for a Baha’i House of Worship was selected. |
2021 15 May 202- |
The publication of The Bahá'í Faith and African American History: Creating Racial and Religious Diversity edited by Loni Bramson with contributions from Christopher Buck and Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis. It was published by Lexington Books. | The Bahá'í Faith and African American History: Creating Racial and Religious Diversity; Loni Bramson; Christopher Buck; Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis | |
2021 13 May 202- |
The Bahá'í World Centre published an update on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá advising that the first two columns of the main edifice had been raised. Eight columns of these 11-metre columns will eventually be built forming part of the walls of the main edifice and supporting the trellis that will span the central plaza. They reported as well that the first three of the ten segments of the folding walls that will surround the central plaza had been built. Each of these segments must be constructed one by one. [BWNS1509] |
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 10 May 202- |
The publication of two new articles in The Bahá'í World:
|
Amin Egea; Sanem Kavrul; - Bahá'í World Centre; - Bahá'í World volumes | |
2021 30 Apr 202- |
A volume of newly translated tablets (76) penned by 'Abdu'l-Bahá entitled Light of the World; Selected Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was released online and in print.
|
Light of the World (book); * `Abdu'l-Bahá, Writings and talks of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 29 Apr 202- |
A sentence was issued against a Qatar citizen and a Bahá'í, Remy Rowhani, on charges linked to his religious beliefs after a secret hearing was held in his absence. No evidence had been presented at any time to substantiate the charges against Mr Rowhani. To then issue a prison sentence and fine in absentia was contrary to due process and was further evidence of an official policy of discrimination against the Bahá'ís. [The European Times 11 June 2022] | Persecution, Qatar; Remy Rowhani; Qatar | |
2021 27 Apr 202- |
The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States provided guidance on the question of the vaccination for the coronavirus. They included five letters from the Universal House of Justice on the subject. [27 April 2021]
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Vaccination; Covid-19 (Corona virus); United States (USA) | |
2021 26 Apr 202- |
It was reported that the murder case of Ata'u'llah Rezvani, a Bahá'í citizen of Bandar Abbas, had been referred to Branch 6 of the Bandar Abbas Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office for retrial, eight years after the incident took place. This case had been removed from the archives of the Bandar Abbas court for investigation after years of sabotage and judicial procrastination. [Iran Press Watch] | Ataullah Rezvani; * Persecution, Iran; Bandar Abbas, Iran; Iran | |
2021 Ridván 202- |
In its Ridván Message the Universal House of Justice lowered the age from 21 to 18 at which a believer may vote in Bahá'í elections while the age at which one could serve on a Spiritual Assembly remained the same at 21 years. [Ridván 2021] | Elections; Voting | |
2021 Ridván 202- |
The formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Timor-Leste with its seat in Dili. [Ridván 2021 p8]
|
National Spiritual Assembly, formation; Dili, East Timor; Timor Leste, East Timor, | |
2021 Ridván 202- |
The formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Croatia with its seat in Zagreb. [Ridván 2021 p8; BWNS1506]
Formally part of a regional spiritual assembly of Slovenia and Croatia, the left the National Spiritual Assembly of Slovenia with its seat in Ljubljana, Slovenia. [BINS317:2; BW93–4:82; BW94–5:25, 3–6] |
National Spiritual Assembly, formation; Zagreb, Croatia; Croatia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Slovenia | |
2021 - 2022 202- |
The One Year Plan
Objectives
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- Teaching Plans; One Year Plan (2021-2022); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 202- |
The end of the Five Year Plan marked the conclusion of a series of plans that began in 1996 with the Four Year Plan (1996-2000) and the call to establish a series of Training Institutes. Next came the Twelve Month Plan (2000-2001) followed by four Five Year Plans, 2001-2006,2006-2011, 2011-2016 and finally, the Fourth Five Year Plan (2016-2021). For a synopsis of the progress of the Faith during this period see the Ridván Message.
Achievements of the last Five Year Plan (2016-2021)
This date marked the beginning of the Third Epoch of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan. [Message 30 December 2021] |
Statistics; - Institute process; Core activities; Five Year Plan; - Teaching Plans; Cycles, Eras, Ages and Epochs; Tablets of the Divine Plan | |
2021 8 Apr 202- |
The Bahá'í World Centre announced the completion of a two-year project of seismic strengthening and restoration work on the House of 'Abbúd. Bahá'u'lláh and His family moved to the house next door, the House of 'Údí K̲h̲ammár, in 1871. In March of 1873, the owner of the adjacent house, Ilyás `Abbúd, offered to provide a room in his house for `Abdu'l-Bahá and Munírih Khánum after their marriage. He did this by opening a door in a contiguous wall. Later in 1973 'Abbud moved to the mansion at Bahji and the two houses fully were joined. The building had last been restored in the 1950's by the Guardian in preparation to receive pilgrims. The restoration work was done to reproduce the House exactly as it had been when the Holy Family occupied it. No effort was spared. Even traditional glass-blowing techniques were used to produce the windowpanes. [BWNS1501] |
House of Abbud (Akká); House of Udi Khammar (Akká); Ilyas Abbud; Pilgrimage; - Restoration and renovation; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 Ridván 202- |
Core Activities: 2016 100,000 2021 300,000
Participants in Core Activities: 2016 approx 333,000 2021 2,000,000 Number of National and Regional Training Institutes in Operation: 2021 329 Number of participants who have complete at least one book in the sequence: 2021 750,000 Number of courses completed by participants in the main sequence of courses: 2016 approx. 666,666 2021 2,000,000 Number of Clusters with an Intensive Program of Growth: 2021 approx. 4,000 Number of Cluster that have passed the third milestone: 2016 20 in 40 countries 2021 1,000 in nearly 100 countries. [Riḍván Message 2021] |
Statistics; - Institute process; Core activities; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 Ridván 202- |
The National Spiritual Assembly of São Tomé and Principe was re-established. [Ridván Message 2021 p8]
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National Spiritual Assembly, formation; Sao Tome and Principe; Principe | |
2021 15 Mar 202- |
Bahá'í International Community in Geneva released a video statement addressed to the UN Human Rights Council to respond to developments in Qatar. Over the past several years, a number of Bahá'í individuals and families in Qatar have been blacklisted solely because of their adherence to the Bahá'í Faith. This has resulted in the deportation of several of these individuals from the country leaving many stateless as some Bahá'í families have been in the country for four generations, pre-dating the formation of the state itself. As well, residency permits of non-Qatari Bahá'ís have also been denied, or not renewed, despite their employers or sponsors supporting them to remain in the country. This pattern of deportation is tantamount to religious cleansing and more recently, they seem to be targeting the Bahá'í leadership.
The Bahá'í community of Qatar and the BIC have previously raised these cases with Qatari officials and Qatar's National Human Rights Committee. The authorities have alleged without evidence to UN Special Rapporteurs and diplomats, who had raised concerns, that these cases are unrelated to each other and had each been a national security concern. [BIC Video Statement; BIC News 31Mar21] |
Persecution, Qatar; Qatar | |
2021 14 Mar 202- |
The pouring of the concrete floor slab for the main edifice was completed and some of the walls enclosing the north and the south plazas were near completion. [BWNS1497] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 15 - 26 Mar 202- |
65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
The Baha'i International Community's (BIC) 49 delegates joined more than 25,000 participants from around the world for the gathering. This was the largest gathering since the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, held with the purpose of advancing the global discourse on gender equality.
The CSW took place virtually this year in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which allowed the Baha'i International Community to send a diverse delegation of men and women from Mexico, France, Australia, Ethiopia, Turkey, Papua New Guinea, Canada, the United States, and many other countries
(reference in Baha'i Canada)
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United Nations; Bahá'í International Community | |
2021 9 Mar 202- |
The publication of Without Hesitation: An Account of an Iraqi Prisoner of Conscience by Anisa Abdul-Razzaq Abbas and translated by Alhan Irwin. It was published by One Voice Press. On a December day in 1973, Anisa Abdul-Razzaq Abbas heard a knock at the door of the Baghdad home she was visiting. She opened the door to greet two men from the Iraqi Al-Amn security force, who immediately placed her under arrest. Her crime: being a member of the Bahá'í Faith, Over the next six years, Anisa would spend three years in Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison and a further three years in Al-Rashaad prison before her release in 1979. During her years of incarceration, Anisa would rely on her faith to meet the myriad challenges of prison life. Day after day, she and her fellow-prisoners experienced levels of cruelty and injustice that most would find unthinkable. Separated from her husband, who was being held in the men's prison, and from her children, Alhan and Ruwa, who were without both parents, Anisa was sustained through her darkest days by the love of her family, and by the strength and solidarity offered by her fellow Bahá'í prisoners.*Anisa's story is one of patience, courage, and steadfastness in the face of religious prejudice and state-sponsored oppression, and it is a reminder to us all of the resilient strength of the human spirit. *Their eldest child, Abir was attending university in Sulaimaniyyeh after serving a six month sentence. |
Without Hesitation; Anisa `Abdu'l-Razzaq Abbas; Alhan Irwin; Ruwa Pokorny; Abir Abbas; Persecution, Iraq | |
2021 9 Mar 202- |
Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, presented his report to UN's Human Rights Council detailing the scale of human rights abuses perpetrated by the regime in Tehran against members of many groups in the country. (It should be noted that his requests to visit Iran were denied and so he compiled his report using data collected from government, non-governmental and media sources. He also interviewed victims of abuses, along with their families and lawyers.) In the report he revealed that women, girls, human rights advocates, ethnic minorities, writers, journalists and people with dual nationality are among those targeted by the regime. They faced abuse, torture, arbitrary detention, harassment, forced confessions, and even the death penalty. What follows are some of the details of his report:
Rehman's report also detailed how blatant gender discrimination permeated almost all aspects of the law and daily life in Iran, including marriage, divorce, employment and culture, with the result that women are treated as second-class citizens. He called on the Iranian government to repeal discriminatory laws and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. Iran is one of the few states not to have signed it. |
* Persecution, Iran; United Nations; Javaid Rehman; New York, USA; New York City, NY; Iran | |
2021 4 Mar 202- |
Singapore's National Heritage Board (NHB) has added the Bahá'í Nineteen Day Feast to its intangible cultural heritage list following a national mandate to document and preserve the diverse cultural expressions of the island nation. [BWNS1494] | Singapore | |
2021 28 Feb 202- |
The Bahá'í World News Service provided an update on the construction of the Local Temple in Matunda Soy. [BWNS1493]
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Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Matunda Soy, Kenya; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Kenya | |
2021 28 Feb 202- |
The Bahá'í World News Service provided an update on the construction of the National Temple in Kinshasa. [BWNS1493]
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Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kinshasa; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2021 26 Feb 202- |
In a letter to a National Spiritual Assembly the Universal House of Justice addressed the question of vaccination calling it a "social responsibility" and concluded that ultimately it it an individual decision whether to take it or not. [26 February 2021] | Covid-19 (Corona virus) | |
2021 21 Feb 202- |
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released a report on Yemen stating that the country remained the world's largest humanitarian crisis and aid operation. The crisis was the result of a brutal armed conflict that escalated six years prior. It has killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians, causing immense suffering for the Yemeni people. In 2020, the conflict intensified, the number of frontlines increased from 33 to 49, and 172,000 people were displaced, bringing the number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) to at least 4 million.
Yemen was reliant on import for 90% of its food. The situation was exacerbated by the global COVID-19 turndown which led to a sharp drop in remittances – the largest source of foreign currency and a lifeline for many families where 80 per cent of people live below the poverty line. As a result, millions more people could not afford to meet their basic needs. A fuel crisis in the north led to fuel shortages and price hikes. Government capacity to regularly pay salaries and pensions to public employees has been hindered and public services have been degraded. Between April and August 2020, heavy rains and flooding devastated communities, causing deaths and injuries, destroying infrastructure and livelihoods, and increasing the spread of deadly diseases. Tens of thousands of families were affected, many of them already displaced. Other natural hazards posed a threat, including desert locust infestations. The impact of the drivers of the crisis is most visible in the growing risk of famine and severe acute malnutrition, disease outbreaks, conflict casualties, forced displacement and reversal of past development gains. In addition, the conduct of the parties to the conflict had had a profound impact on the aid operation – particularly humanitarian access, aid delivery and data collection. [OCHA Report] In July it was reported that a large part of the population had been affected by heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding. Covid-19 continued to ravage the population. (No sports were available form the north of the country where the pandemic was not recognized. 11.3 million children were in need of humanitarian assistance and 20.7 million people were in need. [Reliefweb] |
United Nations; Yemen | |
2021 21 Feb 202- |
In a message to all National Assemblies the Universal House of Justice advised that about half of the $75m for the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá had been secured and they estimated that it would take an additional two years to finish the project. [Letter from the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada 26 February 2021] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 21 Feb 202- |
The ground breaking ceremony for the first local Mashriqul-Adhkar in India was held in Bihar Sharif. The ceremony marking the start of construction of the local House of Worship brought together local dignitaries, representatives of the Bahá'í community and residents of the area. The groundbreaking ceremony culminated with the placing of soil collected from villages across the state of Bihar at the temple site. This gesture was evocative of the connection between the thousands of residents of these villages and the House of Worship. [BWNS1491] | Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Bihar Sharif, India; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bihar Sharif, India; India | |
2021 15 Feb 202- |
In an update on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá it was reported that the first steps had been taken to raise the walls of the central plaza. [BWNS1489]
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Akka, Israel | |
2021 14 Feb 202- |
A compilation on transsexuality was released by the Bahá'í World Centre titled Extracts from Letters Written on Behalf of the Universal House of Justice on Transsexuality. It was written by / on behalf of Universal House of Justice. | Transgender (transsexuality); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 11 Feb 202- |
In a message to an individual the Universal House of Justice responded to the question as to what a Bahá'í is to do in face of the misinformation that is so common in the world today. They quoted Bahá'u'lláh:
as well as:
They encouraged us to rely on science and the independent investigation of truth but not to let differing opinions among the believers lead to division. [11 February 2021] |
Covid-19 (Corona virus); Misinformation; * Science; Independent investigation of truth | |
2021 8 - 17 Feb 202- |
The 59th session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD59) took place from 8 to 17 February 2021 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Commission is the advisory body responsible for the social development pillar of global development.
At the conclusion of the session four draft resolutions, all without a vote, were forwarded to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for consideration, including one that addressed this year's priority theme for the 46-member subsidiary body — the role of digital technologies on social development and the well-being of all. [59th Session]
The Bahá'í International Community partnered with the United Arab Emirates and the NGO Committee on Social Development to host an online event entitled "Artificial Intelligence: Ethical Dimensions of the Virtual World". Drawing more than 100 diplomats, policy makers, and civil society actors, the panel discussion was organized under the auspices of the United Nations's 59th session of the Commission for Social Development. It responded to the Commission's focus on the role of digital technologies in providing for the well-being of all. [BWNS1487] |
United Nations; Bahá'í International Community; New York, USA; New York, USA | |
2021 5 Feb 202- |
More than 40 prominent members of Canada's legal community, including former Supreme Court judges and justice ministers, have penned an open letter to the Chief Justice of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, in order to draw attention to what they call "an alarming new chapter" in Iran's state-sanctioned persecution of its Bahá'í religious minority.
Their letter came in response to a series of court rulings in 2020 that sanctioned the confiscation of the properties of dozens Bahá'ís in the village of Ivel in northern Iran justifying the seizure and sale of land on the grounds their religion denies them the right to own property. [Globe & Mail 8Feb21]
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* Persecution, Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran; Mazandaran, Iran; Iran | |
2021 3 Feb 202- |
To mark the 25th anniversary of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that resulted from the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, the Bahá'í International Community released a film that reflected on the advances made toward the goals for gender equality articulated in the declaration.
The feature-length film called Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality premiered at a virtual screening before a gathering of UN officials, ambassadors of member states, non-governmental organizations, and other civil society actors.
[BWNS1485] |
Bahá'í International Community; - Film; Gender; Equality; Saphira Rameshfar; Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality (film); New York, USA | |
2021 31 Jan 202- |
Some 30 traditional chiefs from the area gathered in the village of Baro to discuss the future of their people. This was one of a continuing series of gatherings that were initiated by the Bahá'í community in collaboration with traditional leaders about two years ago.
The consultations at the conference allowed the chiefs to examine many different societal issues, while drawing in part from the experience of the Bahá'ís of Chad in their community-building efforts. The moral education of children and youth, educational programs, the evolution of culture, and solving disagreements among people were some of the issues they addressed in their consultation. [BWNS1484] |
Public discourse; Baro, Chad; Chad | |
2021 29 Jan 202- |
Mr Turaj Amini began serving his sentence at the Central Prison in Karaj, Mehrshahr, located about an hour northwest of Tehran. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment and two years in exile on charges of "propaganda against the regime." He was taken to prison as the coronavirus outbreak was growing again in the city. Amini was not granted the right to take any of his personal belongings with him. Amini's wife suffers from acute multiple sclerosis and he was her carer. In July 2019 agents from the Ministry of Intelligence entered Mr. Amini's home and confiscated his books and computer. A year later, in August 2020, Mr. Amini was sentenced to a one-year term of imprisonment and two years of exile. That sentence was reduced to a six-month term of imprisonment at the Alborz Province Appeal Court. Mr Amini was denied access to higher education however he was been able to make a significant contribution in the field of Iranian history. Among his publications are:
An open letter written on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and signed by some 40 North American Islamic/Persian scholars was addressed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, Head of the Judiciary calling on them to end such abuses, to promptly release Mr. Amini, and to return his computer and books so that he could resume his work and continue to make scholarly contributions that benefit all those who support and admire Iran and its peoples. [Telegraph posting 3 April 2021; Iran Press Watch; Iran Wire] |
* Persecution, Iran; Touraj Amini; Karaj, Iran; Iran | |
2021 26 Jan 202- |
In a progress report the World Centre advised that the concrete bases that will support the two garden berms on either side of the central plaza for the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá were complete. The structural reinforcement and formwork for one of the walls enclosing the south plaza was also taking shape.
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 13 Jan 202- |
The Continental Board of Counsellors has informed all National Spiritual Assemblies in Europe that the Universal House of Justice has determined that, exceptionally, the new five-year term for Auxiliary Board members will this year begin on 1 July 2021 rather than on the Day of the Covenant. This is to provide the Auxiliary Board members with sufficient time to make preparatory arrangements for the conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members called for in January 2022. [UK Bahá'í News 13 January 2021] | Auxiliary board members; Assistants; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2021 (In the year) 202- |
The publication of Bahá'í Faith: The Basics by Christopher Buck. See the Critics' Reviews.
This publication is available on the Routledge site as an ebook for loan if your institution has access. It may be previewed at this location. (Click on "Preview Book") |
Abingdon, England; United Kingdom; New York City, NY; United States (USA) | |
2021 (In the year) 202- |
By 2021 the situation for the Bahá'ís in Egypt had not changed much. The constitution identified Islam as the state religion and the principles of Shari'a as the primary source of legislation. While Article 64 stated that "freedom of belief is absolute," only Muslims, Christians, and Jews can practice their religion publicly and build places of worship. Of the country's estimated 104 million people, around 90 percent were Sunni Muslims, and non-Sunni Muslims, such as Shi'a Muslims, comprised less than 1 percent. An estimated 10 percent were Christians, the majority of whom belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church; other Christians belong to various denominations that include Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical Protestant, Maronite, Armenian Apostolic, Greek and Syrian Orthodox, and others. There were at least 2,000 Bahá'ís, approximately 1,500 Jehovah's Witnesses, and fewer than 20 Jews. [US Commission on International Religious Freedom-Annual Report 2021 p67; Persecution.org] | Persecution, Egypt; Egypt | |
2020 (In review) 202- |
The Bahá'í World News Service published 2020 In Review. | Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 Dec 202- |
As part of the series of events to mark the 10 year anniversary of the revelation in Tunisia, the Bahá'í community hosted a gathering, coinciding with UN Human Rights Day, to explore new conceptions of citizenship. The gathering brought together distinguished guests including Member of Parliament Jamila Ksiksi, Omar Fassatoui from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as academics and representatives of religious communities. In addition to participants who attended in person, thousands more were connected to the discussions through a live stream of the event.
Mr. Ben Moussa of the Bahá'í Office of External Affairs expressed the opinion that new notions of citizenship must be based on inclusivity and not exclusivity, stating: "Societies have historically been built hierarchically: believer and nonbeliever, free person and slave, man and women. As a result, many segments of society have not been able to contribute to public life. In such an environment, a society is not able to reach its potential. [BWNS1476] |
Ben Moussa; Tunis, Tunisia; Tunisia | |
2020 16 Dec 202- |
The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution expressing "serious concern about ongoing severe limitations and increasing restrictions on … recognized and unrecognized religious minorities including … members of the Bahá'í faith." The resolution, approved by U.N. member states by a vote of 82-30, with 64 abstentions, also called upon Iran to stop the "denial of and restrictions on access to education" for members of recognized and unrecognized religious minorities, "including for members of the Baha'i faith." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh responded to the U.N. vote by expressing "abhorrence of the deep-rooted hypocrisy" of the resolution's 45 co-sponsors, which include the U.S., Israel, Canada, Australia and other U.S. allies in Europe and the Pacific. He also called on the resolution's co-sponsors to "stop their interventionist and immoral behavior" toward Iran and unspecified other nations. [Iran Press Watch] |
* Persecution, Iran; United Nations; New York, USA; New York, USA; Iran | |
2020 15 Dec 202- |
In a letter to an individual the Universal House of Justice stated that an individual Bahá'í could not refuse a governmental mandate of vaccination on religious grounds. [15 December 2020] | Covid-19 (Corona virus) | |
2020 11 Dec 202- |
Work on the concrete walls and roof beams of the central edifice had been completed; work on the steelwork for the roof, the cladding for the external walls, and the decorations for the pillars and doorways continued. Work on the Reception Centre and other ancillary buildings were near completion.
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Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Kenya | |
2020 8 Dec 202- |
In a letter to an individual on the advisability of taking the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine the Universal House of Justice stated that the friends should follow the counsel of medical and other scientific experts. [12 December 2020] | Covid-19 (Corona virus) | |
2020 6 Dec 202- |
The presentation of a webinar at the Wilmette Institute by Jan Teofil Jason entitled 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the "Other". In his presentation he discussed the newspaper coverage given 'Abdu'l-Bahá during his Western Tour, the influence of xenophobia on that coverage, and the challenges facing scholars in recovering those publications.
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Travels of; `Abdu'l-Bahá, Second Western tour; `Abdu'l-Bahá, Talks at public places; `Abdu'l-Bahá, Talks to ethnic groups; Xenophobia; Newspapers; Race; Wilmette, IL; Illinois, USA | |
2020 5 Dec 202- |
The Austrian Bahá'í Office of External Affairs launched a new vlog that will explore issues of national concern in Austria. It was titled "Themes that move Austria," and such topics as environmental protection, migration, social cohesion, and the role of youth in social transformation will be the subject of discussion. See the video featuring Dr Leyla Tavernaro of the Office of External Affairs in the referenced link. [BWNS1471] | Public discourse; Internet; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Austria | |
2020 202- |
The paintings of Maryam Safajoo depict the many forms of persecution faced by the Bahá'ís of Iran. She has exhibited her work at venues including Harvard University, the Massachusetts State House and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She has been interviewed by Voice of America, BBC, Radio Farda, Iran Wire, Iran Press Watch, the Centre for Human Rights in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre and Persian Bahá'í Media Services about this current persecution. Boston Herald wrote an article about her life. She currently lives in Champaign, Illnois.
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* Persecution, Iran; * Arts and crafts; Champaign, IL; Illinois, USA; United States (USA) | |
2020 25 Nov 202- |
The release of
Creating an Inclusive Narrative, a publication of the Australian Bahá'í community. Hundreds of discussion were held all across the country to consider the future of their country. The results of the meetings were reported in this document. The Bahá'ís of Australia embarked on the two year project to facilitate discussion on social cohesion and related questions with hundreds of participants—including officials, organizations of civil society, journalists, and numerous social actors—across all states and territories. The project began in 2017 and by 2018 the Office of External Affairs had become more engaged. With the encouragement of different social actors and government departments, the idea for Creating an Inclusive Narrative began to take shape. Australia is a country of over 80 ethnic and racial groups in more than 417 localities and the process had to involve diverse voices from different realities throughout the country—east and west, rural and urban, and from the grassroots to the national level. In order for this to scale, many people were involved as facilitators. It was important that facilitators were residents of the areas in which gatherings were taking place ensuring their familiarity with local issues and concerns. This approach meant that facilitators and participants could continue their discussions in between the monthly gatherings, resulting in growing enthusiasm and interest among participants to continue the process. The project eventually sustained monthly gatherings concurrently across several states, resulting in a total of 50 roundtables. [BWNS1504; BWNS1470; BWNS1498] |
Creating an Inclusive Narrative (publication); Australia | |
2020 22 Nov 202- |
Over a hundred government agents raided the shops and homes of tens of Baha'is across Iran, on 22 November 2020, and demanded that they hand over their property deeds. The simultaneous raids were staged in at least seven cities around the country and came just hours into a 15-day national lockdown imposed to slow coronavirus infections in the country.
The raids took place in the capital Tehran, as well as Karaj, Isfahan, Mashhad, Kerman, Shahin-Shahr and Baharestan. Witnesses reported that the agents ignored all the government's own health protocols while at the homes of the Baha'is. [BIC News] |
* Persecution, Iran; Tehran, Iran; Isfahan, Iran; Mashhad, Iran; Kerman, Iran; Shahin-Shahr, Iran; Baharestan, Iran; Iran | |
2020 20 Nov 202- |
Hamed bin Haydara told Al-Sharea daily newspaper that "The Houthis are applying a policy of silent extermination of our cultural and social heritage. This is a type of systematic religious cleansing crime. The Houthis are applying the same radical ideologies that they learnt in Iran, which deems members of religious minorities heretics. There is no country in the world that has persecuted the Baha'is like Iran and the Houthis. There is a great similarity between persecution against us in Iran and Sana'a, as both use the same methods of persecution, rhetoric, rumors and lies against the Bahá'ís," he said.
Hamed bin Haydara and five others were expelled from Yemen in July. They were abruptly taken to a United Nations plane at Sana'a International Airport and forcibly sent into exile. They were not given an opportunity to settle their affairs in the country or to retrieve their belongings. They were taken to Luxembourg, where Haydara received medical treatment for injuries sustained during torture that have affected his hearing and mobility. [Iranwire 26 May 2-23]
Note: Al-Shari 'newspaper is an independent newspaper publishing since 2007 in Sana'a. In 2015 it was forced to stop publishing due to harassment and threats received by the Houthi militia and resumed its daily publication from Aden. [Arab News 20/11/2020; Iran Wire 22NOV20] |
Persecution, Yemen; Hamed bin Haydara; Yemen | |
2020 20 Nov 202- |
The Bahá'í World News Service released a progress report on the construction of the Mashriqul-Adhkar in Port Moresby. After the laying of the foundations which was completed last December, work progressed on an intricate steel structure for the central edifice that traces the unique weaving pattern of the exterior. An innovative design for the steel dome, devised by Werkstudio, an engineering firm based in Germany and Poland, will provide the required strength with an economical use of material. The structural system will interfaces with the nine entrance canopies that provide lateral strength to the temple. This system, parts of which are nearing completion, will eventually support a steel dome mesh that will at its apex reach a height of approximately 16 meters above floor level. Designs were being finalized for wood panels that will adorn the entrances of the temple, using local timber. Planning is also under way for gardens that will surround the central edifice. |
Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Port Moresby; * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Design; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Architecture; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Papua New Guinea | |
2020 18 Nov 202- |
The United Nations General Assembly had passed a resolution condemning human rights violations in Iran and calling on Iran to honour the human rights of all its citizens, including members of the Bahá'í faith. The resolution asks Iran to "eliminate, in law and practice… all forms of discrimination on the basis of thought, conscience, religion or belief, including economic restrictions… [and] the denial of and restrictions on access to education, including for members of the Bahá'í faith." It also urges an end to "other human rights violations against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities." This deprivation of the freedom to practice their religion is a breach of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The United Nations covenant holds that every person has the right to freedom of religion, freedom of converting religion, as well as freedom of expression, individually or collectively; openly or secretly. Just four days after the UN resolution was passed there were raids on Bahá'í homes in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and its suburbs, Mashhad and Kerman. [Iran Press Watch 22 November 2020; Iran Press Watch 23 November 2020] |
United Nations; * Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); Tehran, Iran; Karaj, Iran; Isfahan, Iran; Mashhad, Iran; Kerman, Iran; Iran | |
2020 16 Nov 202- |
Progress report for the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was issued by the World Centre. Since the completion of the foundations for the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the first vertical elements were being raised. The subterranean portion of the structure, which will lie beneath the circular geometry, was also beginning to take shape.
[BWNS1467]
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 2 - 6 Nov 202- |
The Geneva Office of the Bahá'í International Community joined with civil society actors, academics, and representatives of UN agencies and international organizations to contribute to discussions on peace-building initiatives around the world at Geneva Peace Week, an annual event that has been held since 2014. In a seminar held by the Office, three members of the Bahá'í community with expertise in the fields of governance, economics, and the environment explored some of the implications of the BIC statement, A Governance Befitting, and its call for a "global civic ethic." The BIC presenters were: Maja Groff, an international lawyer based in The Hague, Netherlands, Augusto Lopez-Claros, executive director of the Global Governance Forum, and Arthur Lyon Dahl, president of the International Environment Forum. [BWNS1465] |
Bahá'í International Community; Geneva, Switzerland; Switzerland | |
2020 Nov 202- |
The release of the film The Mystery of God. It was written by Linda Marshall Youssefian and Nadia Ferrorini Cucè, and was directed and edited by Vargha Mazlum.
One of his previous productions was a film about Carole Lombard and another was called Liao Chongzhen: A Bright Candle of the World of Humanity. |
* `Abdu'l-Bahá (chronology); - Documentaries; - Film; Mystery of God (film); Linda Marshall Youssefian; Nadia Ferrorini Cuce; Vargha Mazlum; Carole Lombard; Liao Chongzhen | |
2020 29 Oct 202- |
The Universal House of Justice announced an increase in the number of members of the Continental Board of Counsellors from 81 to 90. The names of those appointed for a five-year term to commence on the Day of the Covenant, the 25th of November 2020 were as follows: AFRICA (20 Counsellors): Mélanie Bangala, Mariama Ousmane Djaouga, Alain Pierre Djoulde, Agatha Sarinoda Gaisie-Nketsiah, Augustino Ibrahim, Mati Issoufou, Hamed Javaheri, Jacques Tshibuabua Kabuya, Musonda Kapusa-Linsel (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Linnet Sifuna Kisaka, Townshend Lihanda, Izzat Abumba Mionda, Maina Mkandawire, Judicaël Mokolé, Amélia Mujinga Ngandu, Nsika Mutasa, Michael Okiria, Nancy Oloro Robarts, Djamila Tchakréo, Jean- Pierre Tshibangu THE AMERICAS (21 Counsellors): José Luis Almeida, Ayafor Temengye Ayafor, Louis Boddy, Natasha Bruss, Beatriz Carmona, Brígida Carrillo, Ingrid Umpierre Conter, Blas Cruz Martínez, Daniel Duhart, Farah Guchani-Rosenberg, Sonlla Heern, Badí Hernández, Irene Iturburo, Nwandi Ngozi Lawson, Ada Micheline Leonce Ferdinand, Borna Noureddin (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Arthur Powell, Pejman Samoori, Bernardino Sánchez, William Silva, Margarita Valdez Martínez ASIA (27 Counsellors): Yam Prasad Acharya, Jamil Aliyev, Bhavna Anbarasan, Walid Ayyash, Marjini Deraoh, Gulnara Eyvazova, Shareen Farhad, Nadera Fikri, Kam Mui Fok Sayers, Rahul Kumar, Nicholas Loh, Parimal Mahato, Tarrant Matthew Mahony, Uttam Mitra, Myint Zaw Oo, Faris Naimi, Sokuntheary Reth, Foad Reyhani (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Artin Rezaie, Hesham Saad, Niroshani Saleh, Omid Seioshanseian, Dregpal Singh, Zebinisso Soliyeva, Ircham Sujadmiko, Fang Jung Tseng Chung, Ozoda Zoidova AUSTRALASIA (10 Counsellors): Bob Ale, Latai 'Atoa, Ritia Kamauti Bakineti, Kirk Johnson, Jalal Rodney Mills, Taraz Nadarajah, Daniel Pierce, Kessia Ruh, Vahid Saberi, Tessa Scrine (Trustee of the Continental Fund) To the Bahá'ís of the World 2 29 October 2020 EUROPE (12 Counsellors): Raffaella Capozzi Gubinelli, Aistė Elijio, Orlando Ravelo Hernández, Varqá Khadem, Shirin Youssefian Maanian, Sabà Mazza, Veranika Medvedeva, Hedyeh Nadafi-Stoffel, Yevgeniya Poluektova, Mehdi Rezvan, Amir Saberin (Trustee of the Continental Fund), Paul Verheij
The Universal House of Justice paid tribute to those retiring members:
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Counsellors; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 22 Oct 202- |
The publication of The Reception of Abdul-Bahá in Britain East Comes West by Brendan McNamara. It was published by Brill.
Exploring Abdul-Bahá's visits to Britain expands the jigsaw of our knowledge of how the east came west. The work posits that the cultic milieu thesis is incomplete and the arrival of eastern forms of religions penetrated more mainstream Christian forms. The author received his Ph.D from University College Cork in 2017 and is a lecturer in the study of religions at that university. |
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2020 21 Oct 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community launched the statement entitled A Governance Befitting: Humanity and the Path Toward a Just Global Order on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The launch event, which welcomed some 200 attendees across the world, was an invitation to further exploration and one of many contributions the BIC is making to discussions about the need for systems of global cooperation to be strengthened. [BWNS1461] The statement, which was released in September, highlights the need for systems of global cooperation to be strengthened if humanity is to address the serious challenges of our time and seize the immense opportunities of the coming years for progress. |
United Nations; - Statements; - BIC statements; Bahá'í International Community; New York, USA; United States (USA) | |
2020 18 Oct 202- |
The groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future national Mashriqul-Adhkar was held at the temple site near Kinshasa. The event, which coincided with the celebration of the Birth of Báb, was broadcast on national television and was host to government officials, representatives of religious communities and traditional chiefs.
[BWNS1460]
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Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kinshasa; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2020 13 Oct 202- |
The Mazandaran Court of Appeal, in northern Iran, validated the expropriation of 27 Baha'i farming families, settled since the 19th century in the village of Ivel. Bahá'í inhabitants had already been expropriated in 1983 and 2010. Since then, the remaining Bahá'í families had to apply for permits to use their property. land, lead their herds and collect the nuts grown in their orchards. The decision marks the end of all legal remedies and validates their final expulsion from the village. [Teller Report] | * Persecution, Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran; Iran | |
2020 8 Oct 202- |
Ehsan Yarshater, a Persian academic scholar and a historian and linguist by training, founded the Center for Iranian Studies at Columbia University, New York in 1968. The center changed its name later to the Ehsan Yarshater Center for Iranian Studies. He dedicated his life to creating the Encyclopedia that would cover anything Iranian studies related – a comprehensive reference for Iranology. He began to physically publish Encyclopaedia Iranica in 1973 with the first volume becoming available in 1981.
Approximately 7,100 articles have been published in print or online in the Encyclopedia of Iranica after four decades. If one includes cross-reference, the total of entries would be over 9,000. In 1990, Professor Yarshater established the Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation to ensure the continuation of this comprehensive scholarly work. He was the Foundation's President until his passing at the age of 98 in 2018. Columbia University and the Encyclopædia Iranica became involved in two lawsuits: In the first, Columbia University asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to rule that Columbia owned the copyright of Encyclopedia of Iranica. In the second the EIF accused Columbia university of infringing Iranica's copyrights and misusing their trademarks. A year later, in July 2020, the court granted the EIF a temporary restraining order to prevent Columbia from using the "Encyclopaedia Iranica" name connected with its publications. As a result, Columbia University had to stop publishing facsimile 6 of Volume XVI of the encyclopedia. The restraining order was lifted in October 2020. The ruling by the New York court not only granted the Yarshater Center at Columbia University the right to publish Encyclopaedia Iranica but by implication viewed Columbia as the legitimate holder of Iranica's copyright. The legal battle continues. [Radio Maneh] |
Encyclopedia Iranica; Encyclopedias; Columbia University, NY; Ehsan Yarshater; New York, USA | |
2020 1 Oct 202- |
The release of the documentary film Nasrin, about the Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, in the USA. [IMDB; Wikipedia]
The American screenwriter, director and producer Jeff Kaufman and his co-producer, Marcia S. Ross, were unable to get visas to travel to Iran themselves. They relied on their on-the-ground film crew as well as calls with Sotoudeh and her husband Khandan. The film took four years to make and is essential viewing. Everyone involved, including Sotoudeh, put themselves in jeopardy by agreeing to participate in the project, but clearly, for them, the importance of its message outweighed the risk of arrest. The project also had to forego crowdfunding or fundraising of any kind in order to keep the film secret and protect those involved. Sotoudeh has been called "the Nelson Mandela of Iran." [Forbes] , |
- Documentaries; - Film; Nasrin (film); Nasrin Sotoudeh; * Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Human rights; United States (USA); Iran | |
2020 29 Sep 202- |
A progress report on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was released. The project continued to progress with appropriate health measures in place to protect the safety of all the personnel from the pandemic. The central foundation of 2,900 square metres was completed in a single concrete pour. It is supported by deep underground piles. Next the base will be laid for the sloping gardens that will rise from the encircling path to culminate over the spot where the sacred remains of 'Abdu'l-Bahá will rest. Permits have been obtained for the final stages of construction. [BWNS1454] |
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Akka, Israel | |
2020 28 Sep 202- |
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas was translated and published in Icelandic. The effort to produce the Icelandic translation was a significant undertaking requiring a dedicated team a year and a half to complete the work. [BWNS1536] | Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Most Holy Book); * Translation; Reykjavík, Iceland; Iceland | |
2020 28 Sep 202- |
The passing of former Universal House of Justice member James Douglas Martin (b. 24 February 1927 in Chatham, Ontario) in Toronto. [CBNS] See Memorial for Douglas Martin -Online Commemoration. He was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada from 1960 to 1985 and served the last twenty years as the general secretary. In 1985. He was appointed director-general of the Bahá'í International Community's Office of Public Information at the World Centre. He served in that capacity until 1993 when he was elected to the Universal House of Justice. He retired from the House of Justice in 2005 due to considerations of age and related needs of the Faith. [BWNS1455]
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Douglas Martin; - In Memoriam; Universal House of Justice, Members of; Toronto, ON; Canada; Chatham, ON; Ontario, Canada | |
2020 25 Sep 202- |
The passing of former Universal House of Justice member Farzam Arbab (b. 1941 in Tehran) in San Diego where he had been living. He completed an undergraduate degree at Amherst College, Massachusetts in 1964 and obtained a doctorate in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968 before settling in Colombia as a pioneer. From 1970 until 1980 he served as the Chairman for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Colombia. In 1980 he was appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors for the Protection and Propagation of the Faith in the Americas, on which he served for eight years. In 1988, he was named to the Bahá'í International Teaching Centre and was a member of that body until 1993, when he was first elected to the Universal House of Justice. He served until his retirement in 2013. He served as president of Fundacion para la Aplicacion de las Ciencias (FUNDAEC), a nongovernmental development agency in Colombia, from 1974 to 1988, and continued to serve on its board of directors until the end of his life. [BWNS1453; Bahaipedia] |
- In Memoriam; Farzam Arbab; Universal House of Justice, Members of; San Diego, CA; United States (USA) | |
2020 24 Sep 202- |
The passing of former member of the International Teaching Centre Violette Haake (b.1928 in Iran) in Melbourne, Australia. She served in the United States and in Australia in the role of Auxiliary Board Member, as a Continental Counsellor in Australasia and ten years as a member of the International Teaching Centre. [BWNS1452] | Violette Haake; - In Memoriam; Auxiliary board members; Melbourne, Australia; Australia | |
2020 23 Sep 202- |
Progress report on the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá:
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`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 22 Sep 202- |
The Association for Bahá'í Studies UK launched a new website. The core focus was on creating and supporting special interest groups: groups that correlate Bahá'í teachings to discourses in society through activities that range from informal study and discussions to publications and seminars. | Bahá'í Studies, Associations for; London, England; United Kingdom | |
2020 21 Sep 202- |
The German news agency DW obtained a leaked document that appeared to be the minutes of a meeting that was held in the city of Sari in Iran's northern province of Mazandaran. According the document, 19 representatives of key Iranian agencies, including the intelligence services and the police, as well as state authorities responsible for business, commerce and education, gathered in the northern province of Mazandaran for a meeting of the so-called Commission for Ethnic Groups, Sects and Religions. The stated aim: "To gain control over the misguided movement of the perverse Bahá'í sect." The document confirms that the persecution was nothing less than official government policy and that there was a concerted strategy in place in which a government authority provided direction to a whole range of other agencies. When an accusation is made that the persecution of the Bahá'ís is state policy they usually sidestep the issue by saying that there are "various tendencies and groupings in Iranian society' who find the Bahá'í offensive."
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* Persecution, Iran; Sari, Iran; Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran; Iran | |
2020 21 Sep 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community issued a statement entitled A Governance Befitting: Humanity and the Path Toward a Just Global Order on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations.
[BIC Publications]
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Bahá'í International Community; United Nations; New York, USA; United States (USA) | |
2020 18 Sep 202- |
The passing of Talat Bassari (b. 1923 Babol, Iran) in Los Angeles. She was an Iranian Bahá'í poet, feminist, academic, and writer with a doctorate in Persian language and literature. She was the first woman to be appointed as vice-chancellor of a university in Iran when she worked at the Jondishapur University in Ahvaz (1956–1979). In the aftermath of the Islamic revolution in Iran and because of her Bahá'í faith, she was dismissed from her university position and eventually migrated to the United States. In addition to her critiques on Persian literature she published a biography of Zandokht Shiraizi, a pioneer in the feminist movement in Iran. She resided in New Jersey where she worked on the editorial board of the New Jersey-based magazine, Persian Heritage. Bassari also assisted in books on the life of Táhirih and contributed with Persian to English translations in academia. [Wikipedia] |
- In Memoriam; Talat Bassari; Women; Tahirih (Qurratu'l-'Ayn, Zarrín-Táj); Los Angeles, CA; United States (USA); Iran | |
2020 24 Aug 202- |
Wildfires caused widespread destruction in California in the summer of 2020. The National Assembly of the United States informed the Bahá'í community that "the property (Bosch Bahá'í School)sustained severe damage to a number of structures; many were a total loss, including the cabins. However, several other buildings, including most of the major structures, appear to have been spared."
"Bosch has for several decades served as a vital center of learning and inspiration," the letter continued. "We have no doubt that, once the present difficulties are overcome, it will once again become a place radiating the light of the unifying teachings of our Faith and a source of spiritual power for the entire region." [US Bahá'í News} |
- Bahá'í schools (conference centres); Bosch Bahá'í School; Bonny Doon, CA; California, USA | |
2020 30 Jul 202- |
It was announced that Mr. Hamed bin Haydara, Mr. Waleed Ayyash, Mr. Akram Ayyash, Mr. Kayvan Ghaderi, Mr. Badiullah Sanai, and Mr. Wael al-Arieghie, prominent Bahá'ís that had been imprisoned by the Houthi authorities in Sana'a, were released from prison in Sana'a. Their years-long incarceration on charges of espionage and heresy had drawn worldwide condemnation.
Mr. Haydara, an engineer, was arrested because of his beliefs at his workplace in December 2013. Following a long court case that lacked due process, he was sentenced to death in 2018. His appeal was rejected in 2020. Mr. Ghaderi, a project officer, was arrested in 2016 when a gathering was raided. In April 2017, Mr. Waleed Ayyash, a Yemeni tribal leader, was arrested on his way to Hudaydah and was held in an undisclosed location. The following month, Mr. Al-Arieghie, a civil rights activist, was abducted by the authorities in Sana'a. Mr. Sana'i, a prominent civil engineer in Yemen in his late 60s, was arrested in front of his workplace. In October 2017, Mr. Akram Ayyash, a manager of a nonprofit organization, was arrested during a raid by security forces on a Bahá'í celebration. |
Persecution, Yemen; Hamed bin Haydara; Waleed Ayyash; Akram Ayyash; Kayvan Ghaderi; Badiullah Sanai; Wael al-Arieghie; Bahá'í International Community; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen; Ethiopia | |
2020 22 Jul 202- |
The Universal House of Justice addressed a message to the Bahá'ís of the United States on the subject racism in their country. [22 July 2020]
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Racism; - Bahá'í World Centre; United States (USA) | |
2020 11 Jul 202- |
The Bahá'í Chair for Studies in Development organized a series of webinars on the social and economic impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on India's most vulnerable populations in rural and urban areas. The first of these webinars was titled Making Cities Belong to Those Who Build Them: Towards a More Inclusive Urbanization.
The webinar explored the various dimensions of the challenge with urban development in India. Deliberations were focused on the dual need to bring about structural changes to make urban spaces more inclusive and to transform the way the urban poor are conceived in development thinking and urban policies. Speakers included the following noted economists, social scientists and development practitioners: Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Distinguished Fellow, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, New Delhi; Prof. Partha Mukhopadhyay, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi; Dr Siddharth Agarwal of the Urban Health Research Centre, New Delhi; Dr Puja Guha Azim Premji University, Bangalore; Dr Vandana Swami, Azim Premji University, Bangalore and Ms Caroline Fazli, Research Scholar, University of Bath. The webinar was moderated by Dr. Arash Fazli, Head, Bahá'í Chair for Studies in Development. |
Bahá'í Chair for Studies in Development; Indore, India | |
2020 10 Jul 202- |
In a message to an individual the Universal House of Justice stated that a Bahá'í was required to obey the civil laws mandating vaccination. [10 July 2020] | Covid-19 (Corona virus) | |
2020 3 Jul 202- |
The passing of Sir Earl Cameron (b. 8th August 1917 in Pembrooke Parish, Bermuda) at his home in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.
|
Earl Cameron; - In Memoriam; Queen Elizabeth II; Kenilworth, England; United Kingdom; Pembroke Parish, Bermuda; Bermuda | |
2020 2 Jul 202- |
The design for the national Bahá'í House of Worship to be built in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was unveiled through an online announcement by the National Spiritual Assembly. The design, created by Wolff Architects in Cape Town, South Africa, was inspired by traditional artworks, structures and natural features of the DRC, as well as by the Bahá'í sacred teachings, particularly by the spiritual concept that God's bounty is unceasingly flowing over all people. The patterns that will adorn the outside of the dome of the central edifice will express this idea in a style reminiscent of the artwork of various Congolese peoples. Commenting on the design, the architects stated: "We were inspired by an image of 19th century Congolese architecture which showed the most beautiful structures that appear to have finely woven bamboo facades with a parabolic roof made of palm leaves. These houses were located amongst giant baobab trees. ... The undulating roof of the temple makes reference to this history." [BWNS1438; BWNS1649] A section drawing showing the temple's interior (top) and an elevation drawing of the temple's exterior (bottom). Some team members of the firm Wolff Architects Nokubekezela Mchunu, Alexandra Böhmer, Bayo Windapo, Takalani Mbadi, Paul Munting, Temba Jauch, Matthew Eberhard, and Alex Coetzee. |
Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kinshasa; - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Design; Architecture; - Architects; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2020 (Mid year) 202- |
The Pakistani government continued to prohibit citizens, regardless of religious affiliation, from travelling to Israel by marking Pakistani passports as "valid in all countries, except for Israel." Representatives of the Bahá'í community continued to say this policy particularly affected them because the Bahá'í World Centre is in Haifa, Israel. Christian advocates also called on the government to allow Christians to travel to Israel. [US State Department's Report on International Religious Freedom for 2020] | Persecution, Pakistan; Pakistan | |
2020 (Mid year) 202- |
As of mid year 2020 the U.S. Department of State in their Report on International Religious Freedom 2020. estimated there were between 350 to 400 Bahá'ís in Morocco, a country with a population of 36.7 million. More than 99% of the population was Sunni Muslim. Religions other than Islam and Judaism are not recognized by the constitution or laws. Voluntary conversion is not a crime under the law. The law can penalizes anyone who "employs enticements to undermine the faith" or converts a Muslim to another faith by exploiting a weakness or need for assistance, or through the use of educational, health, or other institutions. The law government may summarily expel any noncitizen resident determined to be "a threat to public order," and the government has used this clause to expel foreigners suspected of proselytizing.
The challenge for the Bahá'í Community was the lack of legal recognition, which created difficulties for Moroccan Bahá'ís with regard to the personal status system. [Yabiladi] |
Persecution, Morocco; Morocco | |
2020 29 Jun 202- |
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Papua New Guinea issued a statement through its External Affairs department entitled Forging a Path to Gender Equality in response to a series of tragic events and a situation that intensified during the pandemic. [BWNS1439]
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Equality; Women; - Statements; Public discourse; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Papua New Guinea | |
2020 19 Jun 202- |
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States issued a statement entitled Forging a Path to Racial Justice in response to the death of George Floyd and the subsequent demonstrations for racial unity that followed.
|
Race amity; Race; Race unity; Racism; - Statements; Public discourse; Wilmette, IL; United States (USA) | |
2020 12 Jun 202- |
The Bahá'í World News Service provided a progress report on the construction of the first local Mashriqul-Adhkar in Africa located in Matunda, Kenya. The foundations for the central edifice have been laid and the nine walls have been raised. In addition, the supports for the roof had been put into place.
|
Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Matunda Soy, Kenya; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Kenya | |
2020 12 Jun 202- |
In Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the temple site was being prepared for the construction phase while they waited in anticipation of the unveiling of the design. [BWNS1434] | Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); * Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, National; Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Kinshasa; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Congo, Democratic Republic of | |
2020 8 Jun 202- |
In a report by the Bahá'í International Community about the intensification of persecution in Iran, they reveal that the recent pressures come as Iran's state-affiliated media have also stepped up the public defamation of the Bahá'ís through an increasingly coordinated spread of disinformation. Television channels, newspapers, radio stations and social media have been saturated with articles and videos denigrating Bahá'í beliefs, all while Bahá'ís were denied the right of reply. More than 3,000 articles of anti-Bahá'í propaganda were recorded by the Bahá'í International Community to this date in 2020, the figures doubling from January to April. [BIC News 8 Jun 2020] | * Persecution, Iran; Iran | |
2020 2 Jun 202- |
The passing of Hossain Banadaki Danesh in Victoria, BC
|
Hossain Danesh; Victoria, BC; Canada | |
2020 202- |
The Bahá'í community in Iran experienced increased pressures since the COVID-19 epidemic began in Iran in February. There was an upsurge in threats and persecution particularly in Shiraz, with an unprecedented number of new prison sentences, high numbers of people being returned to prison who had been given temporary leave due to the coronavirus outbreak. There was a fresh hate speech campaign against Bahá'ís in the national media. Since the Persian new year on March 20, the Bahá'í International Community reported, at least 3,000 pieces of anti-Bahá'í propaganda had been published in Iranian state media. The community was denied the right to respond publicly to these reports and accusations.
|
* Persecution, Iran; Shíráz, Iran; Iran | |
2020 25 May 202- |
George Floyd, an African-American man, was killed during an arrest by four police officers. Subsequently a memorial was set up for him on the site where he died.
[Wikipedia]
|
George Floyd; Minneapolis, MN; Minnesota, USA; United States (USA) | |
2020 May 202- |
The publication of A World in Travail: Understanding and Responding to the Events of Our Time compiled by Kamran Sedig. | - Compilations; Crisis | |
2020 29 Apr 202- |
The design for the local Bahá'í House of Worship to be built in Bihar Sharif was unveiled. (Due to the coronavirus situation, the announcement was made online in lieu of a ceremony that would have marked the historic event.) News of this project was announced in 2012 along with other projects in Battambang, Cambodia; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Norte del Cauca, Colombia; and Tanna, Vanuatu.
|
* Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship); - Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Local; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Bihar Sharif, India; New Delhi, India; India | |
2020 28 Apr 202- |
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan federal government advisory entity. The U.S. Congress created the USCIRF to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to freedom of religion. In their annual report, USCIRF 2020 Annual Report (PDF) they documented a particular uptick in the persecution of
Bahá'ís and of any local government officials who supported them in 2019. Iran's government blamed Baha'is for widespread popular protests, accusing the community of collaboration with Israel and continued to promote hatred against Bahá'ís and other religious minorities on traditional and social media channels. More specifically the USCIRF released Iran Policy Brief: Increased Persecution of Iran's Bahá'í Community in 2019 (PDF). Referring to the continuing violations of religious freedom by the clergy-dominated Islamic Republic government, the report urged the U.S. government to impose sanctions on government institutions and officials responsible for violating religious freedoms in Iran, to freeze their assets and to ban them from entering the United States. |
* Persecution, Iran; - Persecution, Human rights; Human rights; United States (USA); Iran | |
2020 23 Apr 202- |
Despite slowdowns in aspects of the project to ensure the safety of personnel on the construction site, foundational work advanced and was nearing completion. A tower crane was installed on the site to be used in the laying of the foundation. The support piles that had been driven deep into the centre of the site were capped with a layer of concrete that will provide stability for the structure. [BWNS1419] | `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; Bahá'í World News Service (BWNS); - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 22 Apr 202- |
The Brussels Office of the Bahá'í International Community launched a quarterly newsletter to share more widely insights emerging from its efforts to contribute to contemporary discourses in Europe.
[BWNS1424; BIC Newsletter]
|
Bahá'í International Community; - Newsletters; Brussels, Belgium; Belgium | |
2020 20 Apr 202- |
A new section, featuring images, videos, and music from commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Báb, was added to the two bicentenary websites. These websites stand as a permanent testament to how Bahá'ís and many of their compatriots throughout the world—from major urban centres to remote rural locations—commemorated the bicentennial anniversaries of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The final additions made to the bicentenary websites included country pages illustrating the diversity of celebrations that these historic occasions inspired in over 150 countries and territories. [BWNS1717] | Bahá'u'lláh, Birth of; Centenaries; Twin Holy days; Holy days; Websites; Internet; * Publications; * Translation; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 11 Apr 202- |
The Iranian government released a number of prisoners of conscience in the country as a result of health risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This included several Baha'is imprisoned purely for their religious beliefs. However, other Bahá'ís remained in prison, raising increasing concern for their health. [BIC News Release] | * Persecution, Iran; Covid-19 (Corona virus); Iran | |
2020 8 Apr 202- |
In a letter to a National Spiritual Assembly The Universal House of Justice clarified burial during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. [8 April 2020] | Covid-19 (Corona virus) | |
2020 25 Mar 202- |
The Houthi authorities announced the intended release of all Bahá'í prisoners in Yemen as well as a pardon for Hamed bin Haydara whose death sentence was upheld by an appeals court in Sana'a just two days prior. The six Bahá'ís that were to be released from custody were the aforementioned Mr. Hamed bin Haydara, as well as Mr. Waleed Ayyash, Mr. Akram Ayyash, Mr. Kayvan Ghaderi, Mr. Badiullah Sanai, and Mr. Wael al-Arieghie.
|
Persecution, Yemen; - Persecution, Court cases; Hamed bin Haydara; Waleed Ayyash; Akram Ayyash; Kayvan Ghaderi; Badiullah Sanai; Wael al-Arieghie; Bahá'í International Community; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen | |
2020 23 Mar 202- |
The passing of prominent jazz musician Mike Longo. He had a distinguished jazz career as a pianist, composer, and educator, notably as longtime musical director for fellow Bahá'í Dizzy Gillespie. He died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The cause of death was COVID-19. [Live Stream WBGO 23 March 2020] | Mike Longo; - In Memoriam; - Births and deaths; Jazz music; - Famous Bahá'ís; New York, USA; United States (USA) | |
2020 22 Mar 202- |
Houthi-controlled Court of Appeal upheld the preliminary ruling that ordered the execution of Hamed bin Haydara. He was not allowed to attend the trial nor was he allowed to have anyone defend him. The court ruling also ordered that his properties, as well as those of the Bahá'í institutions in the country, be confiscated. [Republican Yeman dated 22 March 2020]
|
Hamed bin Haydara; - Persecution, Court cases; Persecution, Yemen; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen | |
2020 9 -20 Mar 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community submitted a statement entitled Developing New Dynamics of Power to Transform the Structures of Society to the
Commission on the Status of Women in the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to
the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.
The statement can be found on the UN website. |
Bahá'í International Community; - Statements; Equality; New York, USA; United States (USA) | |
2020 2 Mar 202- |
The Bahá'í International Community-Brussels hosted a conference entitled A Vision for A Society of the Future? A Brainstorming Session on AI. [YouTube; BIC website]
|
Bahá'í International Community; Brussels, Belgium; Belgium | |
2020 25 Feb 202- |
A hearing on the case of 24 Yemeni Bahá'ís took place in Sana'a. The presiding judge, Mujahed al-Amdi, mocked the defence lawyer when he protested at being denied access to his clients. The judge later relented yet made access to the Bahá'ís contingent on officers being present during any meeting, in violation of their rights. Judge al-Amdi also tried during the hearing to replace the defence lawyer with a lawyer of the Judge's own choosing. Five Baha'is, who had been detained since 2017 and were among the 24 being tried, were present during the court hearing. The Bahá'ís later, for the first time since their original detention, were allowed to meet with their lawyer outside the courtroom. Six officers supervised the meeting as per Judge al-Amdi's decree. The lawyer continued to be denied access to the documents presented to the court by the prosecution. [BIC 28 February 2020; BIC 23 February 2020] |
Persecution, Yemen; Sanaa, Yemen; Yemen | |
2020 5 Feb 202- |
The establishment of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) in Washington, D.C., created to promote Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all peoples have freedom to believe or not believe, to change faith, to meet alone for prayer or together for worship.
At its inception, the Alliance had 27 founding members. They published a declaration, written in cooperation with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) that set out the guiding principles of the Alliance. The ministers of the alliance meet once a year on a rotating basis. [Forbes Magazine; Joint Statement; Website]
|
International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA); Washington, DC, USA | |
2020 27 Jan 202- |
The Baha'i International Community expressed its concern with the surge in persecution by the Iranian authorities against the Bahá'í community. It had the appearance of an institutional decision that impacted Bahá'ís across the country.
|
* Persecution, Iran; Bahá'í International Community; Iran; Ivel, Mazandaran | |
2020 23 Jan 202- |
The Cambridge University Press published Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century co-authored by Augusto Lopez-Claros (former Director, Global Indicators Group at the World Bank Group), Arthur L. Dahl (former Deputy Assistant Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)), Maja Groff (International lawyer, Visiting Professor, Faculty of Global Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University College). [BWNS1279; Photo]
Using the book as a model, the Global Governance Forum was created with the objects to: |
Arthur Dahl; Augusto Lopez-Claros; Maja Groff; Cambridge, England | |
2020 13 Jan 202- |
A tree-planting ceremony coinciding with the start of the construction of the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá was attended by the mayor of Akka, Shimon Lankri, and dignitaries representing the city's religious communities as well as guests including leaders of the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze communities, officials of local government, and academics from educational institutions in the area.
[BWNS1383]
|
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Shrine of; - Bahá'í World Centre | |
2020 (In the year) 202- |
The publication of The Last Refuge: Fifty Years of the Universal House of Justice by Shahbaz Fatheazam. It was published by 'Irfán Colloquia. | Universal House of Justice; The Last Refuge; United States (USA) |
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