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]

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.

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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]

On December 13, HRANA reported authorities had released Afif Naimi from prison. [US State Department 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran]

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]

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]

Subsequently one man and three women were released in June and two men in July. [Amnesty International 8 August 2023]

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]

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]

          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!'
          Alma's 13 years in Germany saw an astonishing growth in the Bahá'í community to become the largest in Europe. Following 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit in 1913 and the outbreak of the First World War, the emerging community focused its efforts on peace: soldiers who had attended Bahá'í meetings entered the battlefields with Baha'i prayers and quotations against their breasts. Alma continued to open new Bahá'í communities, and at the end of the War she emerged from the bomb shelters of Mannheim to receive confirmations in large halls overflowing with hundreds of people who came to hear the message of Baha'u'llah throughout Germany. She also taught early believers in Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic, as well as future Hand of the Cause Hermann Grossmann, and the first European martyr, Adam Benke. Many of the Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Bahá to Alma and other believers in Germany from 1908 to 1920 are published in English in this book for the first time.
          In 1920, Alma returned to the United States, where she dedicated the rest of her days to race unity, fearlessly crossing the racial and social barriers to build up lasting communities in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. These later years of her life have been little known until now and are recounted here.

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