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]

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]

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.

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]

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]