Incarceration of the Yárán
National Spiritual Assembly
nsa@bahai.org.uk
11 May 2016
15 Jamál 173 B.E.
To all believers in the United Kingdom
Dearly loved Friends,
This coming Saturday marks the eighth anniversary of the arrest and incarceration of the Yárán, the seven members of an informal coordinating group that looked after the Iranian Bahá’í community’s religious and administrative affairs. During these days, as Bahá’í communities worldwide remember these precious souls – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm – we recall also the services that they were rendering to their countrymen and to humanity: acts of love and devotion that resulted in their long, unjust and ongoing imprisonment. They were, and continue to be, devoted to the spiritual advancement and prosperity of the people of Iran. As the Universal House of Justice noted in a letter dated 13 May 2014 to the Bahá’ís of Iran, they are:
… a group of your fellow believers, devoted and loyal citizens of your nation, who, although themselves suffering from the deprivation of their basic human rights, had set themselves the task of assisting their community to arrange its affairs, educate its children, aid its youth debarred from university, take care of its elderly, and live according to its own spiritual precepts—thus to promote a distinguished pattern of life and help to build a dynamic society. For these “crimes” they have been confined to prison.
As we mark this anniversary, we call upon the Bahá’í community of the United Kingdom to remember the former members of the Yárán in their daily prayers and, in response to the afflictions they and the rest of the Bahá’ís in Iran face, undertake acts of service that those dear souls would wish to render and that draw upon the spiritual forces released by their suffering.
Be assured that the National Spiritual Assembly and its Office of Public Affairs are continuing their efforts, as directed by the Bahá’í International Community, to raise awareness about the plight of the Bahá’ís in Iran, including the former members of the Yárán.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
National Spiritual Assembly
Patrick O’Mara,
Secretary