Baha'is

The Bahá’ís have been in the news out of Iran and neighboring regions.
I could go on about the governmental angle but my real focus is the experience and attitudes of people. This isn’t just about government oppressions and fanatical theologies to hold onto power. This is really about bias and oppression of a minority that [...]

Beyond our culture of contest lies a different kind of democracy: gentle, just and… inevitable.
“Beyond King of the Mountain” is a documentary short about democratic governance outside of the “Western Liberal” model. Particularly poignant for those who are thinking of what democracy would mean in the Middle East, it features interviews with: Iraj Abedian, Nick [...]

According to the Baha’i leadership studies, Iraq is home to less than 2,000 Baha’is, spread all across the country. In 1970, Iraq banned the Baha’i Faith, and in 1975 there was a subsequent decision of prohibiting the issuance of identification documents to Baha’is. In 2007 the government abolished the Ministry of Interior’s [...]

Twitter is a great tool for raising awareness about all kinds of human rights violations. For one of our projects, the Muslim Network for Baha’is Rights, we’ve created this app that tracks tweets about Baha’i human rights abuses in real time and displays them on a map or as a list. We’ve previously created a [...]

A few days ago, we launched the latest video that the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights has created to help promote the cause for Baha’i human rights. We are extremely pleased to note that Foad, a very talented artist from Iran, has turned that video into a rap song.
We conducted an interview with Foad a [...]

We are extremely excited to release our latest video, which has been in the works for quite some time now. Abuses against the innocent Baha’i minority in Iran have been committed for over 30 years. Inspired by the reactions of Iran’s latest election, where many Iranians took to the streets to demand change and respect [...]

Several months ago, we profiled Shahriar AZ, a contemprary Iranian artist from New Zealand who utilizes art to raise awareness on human rights violations. In March 2008, Shahriar launched World Art Collective, the website that has become a vehicle for raising awareness of human rights violations, injustices and persecution. Shahriar has always been interested in [...]

As a Baha’i, I am grateful for the friends from the MideastYouth.com and Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights for coming up with the idea and organizing the Baha’i Rights day, which was also made possible with the enormous help of our friends at Iran Press Watch. The idea was simple: get the #BahaiRights hashtag* (see [...]

For many months, we have been thinking about creating a day in which everyone can become aware of Baha’i human rights abuses. We approached our friends at Iran Press Watch with the idea and we agreed upon July 11 in order to mark Baha’i Rights Day, a day dedicated to support the human rights for [...]

Just like so many of us, I have been so absorbed with following the events in Iran, tweeting and re-tweeting and making sure #iranelection was trending. You may ask, why does a Czech person in California care? After all, how can someone who is not from Middle East, or who has not lived in Middle [...]