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Baha'is celebrate the declaration of the Bab

The shrine of the Bab at night in Haifa, Israel. © Baha'i International Community Toronto, Ontario, 22 May 2015 (CBNS) — On May 24th, Baha’i communities in Canada and around the world celebrate a holy day commemorating the very beginning of the Baha’i Faith, a day known to Baha’is as the Declaration of the Báb.

The Bahá’í Faith began with the mission of two divine messengers, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. The Báb was the Herald who prepared the way for the coming of Bahá’u’lláh.

Social Media Campaign to Focus on Relative of Canadians in Iran’s Evin Prison

Jamaloddin Khanjani, one of seven Baha'i Leaders imprisoned in Iran. © Baha'i International Community Toronto, Ontario, 15 May 2015 (CBNS) — A global social media campaign, Seven Days in Remembrance of Seven Years for the Seven Baha’i Leaders, focuses on Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani on Saturday 16 May. Over 80 years of age, Mr. Khanjani is the oldest of the seven prisoners whose 20-year sentences are the longest terms of any current prisoners of conscience in Iran.

From a family that has seen several other members imprisoned because of their Baha’i beliefs, Khanjani has two Canadian relatives in Toronto and Montreal. Niece Nika Khanjani is a film-maker in Montreal and nephew Siavosh Khanjani is a businessman in Toronto.

Canadians Add Their “Voice” to Global Campaign to Mark Seventh Anniversary in Prison of Seven Baha’i Leaders

Official campaign logo: Seven Days in Remembrance of Seven Years for the Seven Baha’i Leaders. © Baha'i International Community Toronto, Ontario, 13 May 2015 (CBNS) — Several prominent Canadians, have added their “voice” to the global campaign Seven Days in Remembrance of Seven Years for the Seven Baha’i Leaders. Coordinated by the Baha’i International Community, the campaign calls for the immediate release of the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders now in their seventh year of incarceration in Iran. Over the past week many Canadian artists, journalists, parliamentarians and authors including Margaret Atwood and John Raulston Saul, have supported the campaign on Twitter, through the hashtag #7bahais7years.

The campaign is scheduled to run from the 14 of May to the 21 of May and will highlight the arrests of the seven Baha’i leaders in 2008 and the fact that 90 other Baha’is are also prisoners of conscience in Iran. During this week events around the world will recall the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm. One Baha’i leader will be commemorated each day of the campaign beginning with Mahvash Sabet, the first to be arrested, and then continuing in alphabetical order

Electing our Institutions: A Sacred Responsibility

Delegates at the National Convention. © Donald Long

Toronto, 27 April 2015 (CBNS) — As happens each springtime during the Baha’i holy festival of Ridvan, delegates from across Canada again elected their national governing council, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada, on the weekend of April 23-26 in Toronto.

Delegates from Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and all ten provinces elected Deloria Bighorn, Karen McKye, Mehran Anvari, Elizabeth Wright, Judy Filson, Enayat Rawhani, Ciprian Jauca, Hoda Farahmandpour, and Susanne Tamas to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly for the coming year.

Vancouver conference aims to reframe religion and secularism in Canada

Canada responds to film on the perseverance and persecution of Baha’is in Iran

Poster showing the Azadi Tower in Tehran designed by Baha’i Hossein Amanat who would today be refused access to university

2 March 2015 (CBNS) — Many of more than 90 communities across Canada screened the film “To Light a Candle” on Friday as part of the campaign “Education Is Not a Crime” (www.educationisnotacrime.me) launched on 27 February by Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari. Other communities will be screening the film over the coming days.

Canadian Communities Active in Worldwide Campaign “Education Is Not a Crime”

Poster for Maziar Bahari's 'To Light a Candle' film. © Education is not a Crime Toronto, 8 February 2015 (CBNS) — More than 85 Canadian communities will screen Maziar Bahari’s film “To Light a Candle” as part of a global campaign condemning the denial of the right of Baha’is to higher education in Iran.

The campaign, titled “Education Is Not a Crime”, begins with a global day of action on February 27. The campaign and the film document the peaceful response of the Baha’is of Iran to 35 years of unrelenting persecution, highlighting the story of informal arrangements by which Baha’is organized university classes in order to overcome the violation of their education rights by the Iranian regime.

"Education is Not a Crime" gains momentum

The website for the Education is Not a Crime campaign contains statments of support from prominent Iranians and human rights activists, as well as videos uploaded by individuals from around the world. © Baha'i International Community LOS ANGELES, 8 February 2015 — Education is Not a Crime, a worldwide campaign drawing attention to the constructive response of the Baha'i community to the Iranian government's systematic denial of university education to young Baha'is, is gaining momentum as it nears its global day of action, 27 February.

New international website of the Baha'i community launched

The landing page for the "What Baha'is Do" section of the new Bahai.org website. © Baha'i International Community HAIFA, 18 January 2015 (BWNS) —
The website of the worldwide Baha'i community at www.bahai.org has been launched in a new version, representing the latest stage in the development of an official presence on the Web that extends back to 1996. The site explores the beliefs and writings of the Baha'i Faith and presents the experience of those throughout the world who, inspired by the teachings of Baha'u'llah, are striving to contribute to the betterment of society.

The revised site highlights two broad sections – "What Baha'is Believe" and "What Baha'is Do" – and features a new presentation of the Baha'i Reference Library.

UN says Iran continues to violate human rights

UNITED NATIONS, 18 December 2014 —

Today the UN General Assembly strongly expressed its concerns over ongoing human rights violations in Iran.

“Unfortunately, as today’s resolution demonstrates, Iranians do not enjoy even basic human rights, such as freedom of assembly or religious belief, and it is their own government that is the chief violator of their rights,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.