Today, on the inauguration of Baha’i Rights Day, most people are posting about the persecution of Baha’is in Iran. But persecution of Baha’is is certainly not limited to Iran.

Over a month ago, I posted about how we were facing discrimination in adopting a Korean baby due to our being members of the Baha’i faith.

Despite a personal visit to the Government run agency in Korea by the top administration of the Baha’i faith in Korea, which revealed significant ignorance of the faith, the agency returned our dossier (all our application papers and funds) last week and sent our local agency a letter claiming the refusal of the adoption.
The fact that they have returned all our application papers last week and have made a final decision so quickly shows they are no longer willing to discuss this case, and it is now officially closed, as nothing can be done without those papers.

This not only affects our adoption, and any Korean Baha’is that may want to adopt in that country, but people of many other faiths adopting from other countries as well. The fact that the limited resources of the international Baha’i community are focused on the possible execution of 7 Baha’is arrested in Iran for their beliefs makes our case insignificant at the moment.

All I want to see is some justice in this case, especially considering that the agency could have informed us 6 months before, and not proposed a child to us if they had issues with our beleifs. The failure on their part to do this would no doubt guarantee successful results if pursued legally.

However we live in a world where injustice prevails and is the standard. Here we are, trying to adopt a baby from 4 different countries for over 5 years now, and despite being ideal candidates and fulfilling all legal, health, psychological, financial, and social requirements one needs to adopt, nationalism of countries and the lack of value for children in our society has left us unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Mothers abort babies every day, have children that they don’t want, and abuse them at will with little consequences.

If anything, our world has little respect for children, and is becoming more complacent and less tolerant of others beliefs than ever. The only recourse is to spread information of this case, and others far and wide so that people of faith are aware and can show the world that this is actually NOT acceptable, and we won’t be complacent when discriminated against.

As a follow up to my previous post about a song Elika released, ‘Persecution’ about oppression of the Baha’is in Iran, I wanted to post some videos about the issues that more clearly expose Iran’s practices:

Other great videos exist that I wanted to share but they have been removed from Youtube.

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Here is also a commentary on CNN.com by actor from ‘The Office’ Rainn Wilson:

cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/02/17/wilson.faith/?iref=mpstoryview

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Artist Elika Mahony has made a special release of a song we worked on called ‘Persecution’ dedicated to Baha’is in Iran who have been persecuted for their Faith despite posing zero threat to the government, or showing any signs of aggression in any way towards anyone.

You can find out more about it, and listen/download it on Elika’s blog post about it here.

It was a rushed production, so not as refined or elaborate as usual, but Elika wanted to get it out without delay to help spread awareness… The amazing thing about this kind of web release though is that within 24 hours of mixing the song, we were getting feedback from hundreds of people who had listened to it and downloaded the song! It was also impressive to see the web activity of people sharing the song online. Immediate feedback, rather than months later was very exciting.

Leaders of the Baha’i Faith in Iran, recently arrested for their beliefs

The plight of the Baha’is in Iran is a truly sad one, many have been martyred, including Elika’s own great uncle, and the current head of the Baha’i administration in Iran were recently arrested soley for their beliefs, although the Iranian government makes up all kinds of other reasons for detaining them. Information from a friend who knows a relative of one of the prisoners who was finally able to talk to them said they use psychological torture on the prisoners, such as keeping them in a white room, in white clothes, with white food for weeks on end without beds or chairs. This is apparently so there are no signs of physical torture. The ultimate objective is to get them to recant their beliefs, as the fundamentalist clergy in Iran feel the Baha’is are a threat to Islam.

The bizarre thing is that Iran feels that by disrupting and eradicating the Baha’i Faith there, they will somehow affect the Faith in a concrete way, despite the fact that there are Baha’is in over 220 other countries and territories around the world! But perhaps the most interesting thing is the backlash that is happening in Iran and worldwide as a result of these recent arrests. Many Iranians who know Baha’is personally know this is an unjust and cruel act on the part of the government, and is causing an uprising against the government giving them more trouble than they could have every imagined.