| It is not clear how long the trial of the seven Bahais will last
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Posted on 08/15/2009 6:56:07 AM PDT by expat_panama
Seven members of the Bahai faith in Iran are to go on trial on Tuesday on charges of spying for Israel and of "insulting sanctities".
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Six of the Bahais were arrested in May, 2008. The other one was arrested two months earlier. They were the leaders of the Bahais in Iran.
The Bahai faith is banned by the Islamic revolutionary leadership of Iran which considers it heretical.
Bahais claim some 300,000 members in Iran, where the faith originated.
Midnight raids
"The trial of the seven Bahais accused of spying for the Zionist regime of Israel and insulting sanctities will be held on Tuesday," Hassan Haddad of the Tehran's prosecutor office said, the official Iranian news agency reports.
Last year relatives of the six Bahai leaders arrested in May said they had been taken to Evin Prison in Tehran after intelligence ministry officers raided their homes in the middle of the night.
Hundreds of Bahai followers have been jailed and executed since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, the Bahai International Community says.
However, the government denies it has detained or executed people because of their faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
The Baha’is in Iran are the only group that the Shiite clerics hate more than the Jews. The Bahai Faith is a post Islamic religion, declaring in no uncertain terms, that there can be and have been divine messengers (specifically, The Bab and Baha’u’llah) AFTER Muhammad.
can anyone tell me if there exists conservative Bahai’is? All the ones i’ve ever known (mostly americans) were new age liberals.
They do exist. I am married to one. I haven't seen any "new age liberals" in her Bahai community.
LOL!! Sometimes it sure as hell seems that way, but seriously if you're interested I can link you to my daughter and her beau (Marine just back from Iraq) that can't be classified as "new age liberals" by any definition. Imho liberal Baha'is are like liberal Jews or Christians, they betray their sacred values for mindless politics.
Thanks for the link; am passing it on...
One of the perceptual obstacles is that the Baha'i Faith tries extremely hard to be non-political. Then, once an issue becomes politicized, the Baha'i leadership cannot take a stand on it without seeming to be political.
For example: Baha'i law prohibits abortion - except to save the life of the mother. However, if the Baha'i Faith were to take a stand against abortion, that would be regarded as a political stand - not a moral one - and so the stand is not taken. The same disconnect occurs with homosexual behavior or the use of recreational drugs or alcohol, none of which are permitted within Baha'i law.
Actually, it is much more complex. See my previous post.
Absolutely; the point is remembering what the word 'politics' means, as the Baha'is are very much active in all seven definitions; what they steer clear of is partisan politics. The thing is that politics is like religion, in groups it's meant to bring about harmony of purpose but the individuals often pervert it into an "I'm-better-than-you" tool.
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