• See as well Iranwire 11 July 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]

• See as well Pahlavi's speech at the Anti-Defamation League’s 2023 National Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. [Jewish Journal 11 May 2023; YouTube (start at 7:10)

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]

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 Canada in the vicinity of the long-established National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Toronto.

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]

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]

• In a sermon on the 2nd of June the Houthi’s Grand Muft,i Shams al-Din Sharaf al-Din, delivered a bloodcurdling sermon filled with disinformation and hate against the Bahá'ís. He insisted that while Islam protects the freedom of belief, anyone who leaves Islam should be killed. [UN Dispatch 12 June 2023] iiiii

• He began serving his sentence on the 5th of August, 2023. [IranWire 5 September 2023]

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]

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 Iṣfáhán 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]

Website.

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]

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] .

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.

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.

A website has been established and they have a YouTube and a Facebook presence as well.