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12 May 2009, NEW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A. – The seven Bahá’í leaders currently imprisoned in Iran are facing the anniversary of their arrest this Thursday, along with new and extremely grave accusations, after spending a year in jail without formal charges or access to their lawyer, Shirin Ebadi.

“Despite their obvious innocence and the call by many for their immediate release, these seven men and women have been in legal limbo for a year now, against all international human rights standards,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations. (more…)

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8 May 2009, SYDNEY, Australia – A congratulatory message from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was read to Australian Bahá’ís as they celebrated the 75th anniversary of their National Spiritual Assembly at an event in Sydney. Participants remembered the Bahá’ís in Iran, who would be marking the same anniversary if not for the decades of persecution in that country.

Both Iran and Australia elected their first national Bahá’í governing councils in 1934.

In Sydney, more than 2,500 people turned out on 25 April for a special anniversary event at the Sydney Convention Centre, followed the next day by a reception on the grounds of the Bahá’í House of Worship. (more…)

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26 April 2009, IQALUIT, NUNAVUT, Canada – Beth McKenty moved to sparsely populated northeast Canada – to Iqaluit on Baffin Island – in 1999 to fulfill a pledge, made 45 years earlier, to devote part of her life to reducing youth suicide.

Within two weeks of arriving she had begun a project to help children build self-esteem by exploring their creativity. The Arctic Youth Art Initiative has since grown to involve hundreds of children.

Ms. McKenty’s efforts were acknowledged this month when she was one of 75 individuals from across Canada named as recipients of the Caring Canadian Awards for 2009. Created in 1996 by the Canadian Governor General, the award is presented to individuals and groups whose unpaid, voluntary contributions over a number of years provide extraordinary help or care to people in their community. (more…)

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2009 April 24, LONDON, UK – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has sent a message to UK Baha’is to mark Ridvan, the most important Bahá’í festival. In it he expressed his “respect and admiration” for the British Bahá’í community which, he said, “makes a contribution to British life out of all proportion to its size.”

In the letter, which was addressed to the annual reception hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís, Mr. Brown welcomed the Bahá’ís’ “participation in public life” and described as “tragic” the prejudice and discrimination faced by some Bahá’ís in the world. (more…)

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2009 April 24, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -This week, for the 70th year, the Bahá’ís of Buenos Aires gathered to elect their local Spiritual Assembly – one of the two oldest of what are now 600 such Bahá’í governing councils throughout South America.

A special program featuring historical photographs was presented at the annual meeting of the Buenos Aires’ Bahá’ís on April 20th, said Behrooz Khomassi, who has researched local Baha’i history and helped prepare the program. (more…)

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2009 April 19, GENEVA, Switzerland – The Bahá’í International Community joined two human rights organizations in calling on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address discrimination in his own country when he speaks this week at the conference known as Durban II.

The statement was issued as a joint news release by the Bahá’í International Community, the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LDDHI), and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH). (more…)