Vigil commemorates plight of Baha'is

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat Ten-year-old Jasmine Rouhani prepares a reading from her prayer book by the light of a candle last night at the UA fountain. The Baha'is of the greater Tucson area held the candlelight prayer vigil for Baha'is undergoing persecution in Iran and around the world.

Under a cloudy sky, about 30 UA students, faculty and Tucson community members gathered last night on the UA Mall for a candlelight vigil to "pray, provide assistance and call attention to the plight of the Baha'is persecuted in Iran," said Gail Powers, who serves on the Spiritual Assembly for Baha'is in Tucson.

"We have so much freedom here in the United States that we lose perspective of what's happening on the other side," said Martha Wolverton, secretary for Local Spirit of Tucson, a Baha'i organization. "All over the world people are protesting the persecution of Iranian Baha'is. We're all doing the same thing for the oneness of mankind and human rights."

The Baha'is, a religious group, were denied the freedoms of speech, religion, education and the right to assemble under Iran's 1979 Constitution.

In 1979, the Iranian Shaw government was overthrown, instituting the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Under the new government, power and political authority is granted to the theologian, a religious leader who appoints 12 member to the Council of Guardians. The council sets most legislation, interprets the Constitution to conform with Islamic beliefs and acts to influence the judicial branch curtailing Baha'i access to legal representation.

In the past month, 32 professors have been illegally detained in Iran and two have been condemned to die - without due process of law.

Three Baha'is have been executed this year alone for holding religious meetings.

"The Baha'is are not allowed to attend universities so professors opened universities on the Internet for Baha'i students to study, and they were arrested," said Nanci Aiken, biochemistry professor and UA Baha'i club faculty adviser.

Speakers and singers delivered hymns in six different languages, which is common for a religion that spans 200 countries and is translated in 700 languages.

Biology freshman Bonnie Wyckoff said a prayer in Japanese.

"My father, a Baha'i, was kicked out of his teaching job in Japan because of his religion," Wyckoff said.

Baha'is, who support global unity, believe in one god that transcends national boundaries, eliminating religious strife they believe tears at the seams of peace and tolerance.

"One of my cousins lives in Iran and was among the 30 teachers taken to prison," said Nasim Maani, a UA alumna. "He was released but everything in his home was taken."

Mina Ighani, a Pima Community College English student and Iranian Baha'i refugee, recently obtained a visa from the U.S.

"Our religion is everything, it is our life - we are not happy we have left our homeland but we are happy we held steadfast to our faith," she said. "The whole world is our country."

Genevieve D. Cruise can be reached via e-mail at Genevieve.D.Cruise@wildcat.arizona.edu.