Today, the Baha’i International Community launched “a global campaign calling for the immediate release of the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, unjustly imprisoned now for nine years.” Canadian Baha’is are participating in the campaign by social media. The hashtag for the campaign is #releaseBahai7now.
Among a range of videos, tweets, facebook postings and blogs, a Baha’i International Community 80 second video conveys the message of the campaign. The seven Bahá’í leaders are not criminals. They worked for the betterment of society. Because they are Bahá’ís, they were unjustly and illegally imprisoned. They have remained in prison despite their innocence.
This week Conservative Members of Canada’s Parliament, David Sweet and David Anderson, joined Liberal Member of Parliament, Anthony Housefeather, and former Liberal Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler in calling attention to the injustice meted out to the Baha’is in Iran. Sweet said in the House of Commons, “Mr. Speaker, … Professor Irwin Cotler lamented the ongoing suffering of Baha’is at the hands of the tyrannical Iranian regime. His assertion is that the wrongful imprisonment of seven of their leaders by the Iranian regime should be viewed as a litmus test of its commitment to human rights…”
Two weeks ago Canadian columnist Terry Glavin wrote a stirring commentary with a headline the sentiment of which is now being widely shared: “These seven people are victims of Iran because of their faith, Remember their names, always.”