As if unlawfully arresting the Faith’s leaders, intensifying propaganda campaigns and vilifying those willing to speak out on behalf of the oppressed isn’t enough, Iranian news agencies have reported the launch of a petition demanding the dissolution of Baha’i administrations in Iran.

Yesterday four Bahá’í youth who have been barred from entering university by the names of Armin Rahmani, Samim Pezeshki, Mavid Khanjani and Hesam Misaghi, paid a visit to the office of Hujjat’u'l-Islam Rahbar, the representative of Isfahan to the Islamic Senate. Their visit was to follow up on issues such as being dismissed form the university and being banned from entering any institute of higher education or university on the basis of their adherence to the Bahá’í Faith.

A map of Yemen

NEW YORK — Three Baha’is currently imprisoned in Yemen are facing the possibility of imminent deportation to Iran, where Baha’is are intensely persecuted and they would likely face imprisonment or torture.

“We are gravely concerned about the fate of these three Baha'is, who are being held without charges in a case that is clearly based on religious persecution,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

Although recent crackdowns by Iran's government against Bahá'ís have gained the attention of western politicians and religious freedom activists, living as Bahá'í has been a daily struggle since the 1979 revolution brought Islamic fundamentalists to power.

Six Bahá'í leaders arrested in Iran; pattern matches deadly sweeps of early 1980s

New York, 12 August 2008 — The fears of Bahá’ís worldwide over the intended fate of their coreligionists in Iran have heightened in the light of occurrences since the arrests, three months ago, of the “Friends in Iran,” the seven Bahá’ís who coordinate the affairs of the 300,000 Bahá’ís across Iran.

It was a lucky day for me and my two then-toddlers when 14-year-old Susan answered my help-wanted ad for a mother's helper (as nannies were then called). For years, this gentle, patient girl proved to be an indispensable and much-loved fixture in our Montreal household, and thereafter a valued friend.

August 1, 2008 - 10:44am

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. H. RES. 1008 is the tenth congressional resolution since 1982 on the Baha’is in Iran.

“The passing of this resolution is particularly timely given the escalation of attacks against the Baha’is in Iran in recent months,” said Ms. Kit Bigelow, Director of External Affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S.

The home of the family Mehran Shaaker of Kerman, Iran, was gutted by fire on 18 July. Family members had received theatening phone calls, and their car had been the target of a recent arson attempt.

NEW YORK — Acts of arson targeting homes and vehicles are the latest violent tactics directed against the Baha’is of Iran.

“In the early hours of the morning of 18 July, the house of the Shaaker family in Kerman went up in flames, only weeks after their car had been torched and in the wake of a series of threatening phone calls,” said Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

CAIRO: Local schools are denying Bahais the right to enroll their children, five months after an Egyptian court recognized the right of members of the minority religion to leave the religious affiliation field on birth certificates and ID cards blank.

NEW YORK — Seven prominent Baha’is imprisoned in Iran have each been allowed a brief phone call to their families, the Baha’i International Community has learned.

The calls were the first contact with the jailed Baha’is since six of them were arrested on 14 May in pre-dawn raids at their homes in Tehran. The seventh was arrested in March in the city of Mashhad.