HOLA
News items on this page come from the Bahá’í community of Vancouver via its governing council, the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Vancouver, and the Canadian Bahá’í News Service, an agency of the Bahá’í Community of Canada that is under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, the national governing body of this community. International stories from the Bahá’í World News Service are also available here.
Source: Poutan Makari, Farhang, https://online.fliphtml5.com/beig/aaqs/#p=11
Three columns on the 10 Women and 6 men executed in Shiraz have appeared in the FARHANG magazine, See Farhand # 518 pages 10 and 11
Source: Paivand, July 1, 2023. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lvXUr6T5CxQzYULuKAJdQXLVpMyM7Otx/view See Page 13 and 24
See the full article here, Page 13: Paivand, July 1, 2023 or the PDF from our site here: Paivand PDF
Source: Vancouver Sun, June 22, 2023, https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/sandra-lynn-hutchison-forty-years-later-i-take-strength-from-the-courage-of-10-women-executed-at-irans-adelabad-prison?fbclid=IwAR25DjQVY9_uwtJ0kRjP0wlEk5XtM0VEQkzD__3wAZ7fq9V65pp1lgbZkQg
Opinion: On June 18 this year, I didn’t think of dark prison cells as I remembered the ten women executed at Adelabad prison in Iran on that date in 1983, but of free spirits and butterflies, of a vision of a just and tolerant Iran in which all people can live in the light of freedom.
Author of the article:
The year was 1983, and I was a graduate student at the University of Toronto, living a life of enormous freedom. My only obligation was to work, at my own pace, on my dissertation — no one ever asked me about my beliefs, and certainly no one would have ever have thought to arrest, let alone execute, me for practising my faith as a Bahá’í.
I could not imagine what these women, who were, like me, in their 20s, had faced. The horror of their execution overwhelmed me — and the boundlessness of their courage amazed me. How had they had the strength to give up everything for the one thing they could not give up: their faith? And I wondered: What impact would their sacrifice have?
Forty years later, as I look out the window at the garden I planted when I moved to Maine, I am astonished at how much has changed. Where there was a mere plot of grass, roses, lilies, and lavender abound. My student days are far behind me. I have spent decades nurturing students the same age I was on that day in 1983 when I heard that terrible news. And when June 18 comes around now, I feel more awe and admiration than I do anger or sorrow. It has taken decades, but over the years my grief and horror have been transformed into a conviction that ordinary people who give all of themselves for the things they believe in, can and do make a difference.
Read full story here: Vancouver Sun
Source: BWNS, June 23, 2023, https://news.bahai.org/story/1679/
LONDON — On Wednesday evening, Central Hall Westminster in London resonated with artistic performances and moving presentations honoring the 10 Bahá’í women executed in Iran 40 years ago.
This global commemorative event was part of the “Our Story Is One” endeavor—a year-long campaign that honors the memory of the 10 Bahá’í women and sheds light on the ongoing struggle for gender equality in Iran. Similar gatherings have been held over the past days in different countries, including at five Bahá’í Houses of Worship throughout the world.
The event was co-hosted by the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) and the Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs of the United Kingdom, bringing together 150 attendees, including government officials, United Nations officials, representatives of international civil society organizations, leading human rights advocates, and journalists from several countries. They recalled that tragic event as a stark reminder of the sacrifices made by women everywhere for the principle of equality. The event was livestreamed and extensively covered by media.
Read the complete story at BWNS
Source: Global News, June 18, 2023, https://globalnews.ca/video/9777365/anniversary-of-hangings-of-10-bahai-women-launch-of-ourstoryisone-campaign/
Sunday June 18 marks the 40th anniversary of a tragic event in the history of Iran. 9 women and 1 teenage girl, executed by the Islamic Republic, simply for refusing to renounce their faith. The impact still being felt today, with a global campaign – #OurStoryIsOne – launched to honour their memories. Negar Mojtahedi has the story of one local woman who lost her entire family that day.
View the video on Global News
See #OurStoryIsOne
Source: New Canadian Media: https://newcanadianmedia.ca/canadian-bahai-community-remembers-execution-of-10-women-in-iran-for-refusing-to-recant-their-faith/
Around 650 people gathered in Vancouver in commemoration of the past, and to call for an end to the current oppression of women in Iran.
By Fabian Dawson, June 19, 2023
Every June, for the past 40 years, Vancouver resident Nahid Mazloum has relived the horror of her mother, sister, and father being executed for refusing to recant their Baha’i faith, hoping their stories will bring about change in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Life goes on, but the pain never goes away,” Mazloum told New Canadian Media before addressing a gathering of about 650 people from the Baha’i community in Vancouver last Friday, June 16.
They had come together to honour those who were killed in the Iranian city of Shiraz on June 18, 1983 and be part of a global campaign called #OurStoryIsOne to push for gender equality in their homeland.
. . .
Read full story on on New Canadian Media
Source: CTV News https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/british-columbia/2023/6/18/1_6446377.amp.html
June 18, 2023, By Kraig Krause,
Sunday marked the grim 40th anniversary of the public execution of Baha’i women in Iran.
On June 18, 1983, in Shiraz, Iran, 10 women aged between 17 and 57 were publically hanged for practicing Baha’i.
Two of the 10 women killed that day were Vancouver resident Nahid Mazloun’s mother, Ezzat-Janami Eshraghi, and sister, Roya.
Her father Enayatullah was executed two days prior.
“It’s a gap that lives in your life, a gap that you have to live with,” said Mazloun.
Mazloum was forced to navigate life without her parents and younger sister.
Read more at CTV NEWS:
See #OurStoryIsOne
Source: https://hypeddit.com/colbyjeffers-sarahmohebiany/ourstoryisone
Source: Parvaz TV
داستان ما یکی است… کمپین جهانی به یاد ده زن بیگناه بهایی که چهل سال پیش به طور همزمان و جلوی چشم یکدیگر اعدام شدند. یادشان گرامی
The campaign honors Bahá’í women executed in Iran 40 years ago and highlights the principle of equality
June 18, 2023, will mark 40 years since the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out a chilling act of oppression: 10 Bahá’í women were hanged in a single night in a public square in the city of Shiraz. Their only ‘crime’ was their refusal to renounce their beliefs in a faith that promotes the principles of gender equality—absent and even criminalized in Iran—along with unity, justice, and truthfulness.
The women were hanged one by one, each forced to watch the next woman’s death in a harrowing attempt to coerce them into recanting their faith. One was only 17; most were in their 20s. Human rights groups and ordinary citizens around the world were shocked and outraged at this barbaric act by the Iranian authorities. Global leaders at the time led a wave of appeals for condemned Bahá’í women and men to be released from their death sentences. But to no avail. The Bahá’í International Community is now launching a global campaign, called #OurStoryIsOne, to honor the executed women and the long struggle for gender equality lived by women of all faiths and backgrounds in Iran for many decades and which continues to this day.
Vancouver event: Friday, June 16, 2023, Vancouver Playhouse
Video: Parvaz TV Canada/ Skyrise Media Society
Please see the video coverage from Parvaz TV here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN4egkJ_zHE
Houses of Worship: Officials explore social cohesion at Chile temple
September 27 2023
Bahá’í World Centre: BWNS website now features the Persian language
September 19 2023
