About 50 people from the Redmond area gathered at the Redmond Library last Saturday to remember seven leaders of the Baha’i Faith in Iran who will likely be put on trial soon and could potentially face the death penalty.

The plight of the Baha’is, one of the most visible examples of religious persecution in the world, has sparked an outcry in the international media and on Feb. 13, the U.S. House of representatives passed a resolution condemning the continuing persecution of the Baha’is of Iran and urging the release of the seven leaders.

The community gathering heard about how the seven have been charged with spying for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic, charges that are completely unfounded.

The Baha’i leaders have been held for nearly a year in Evin prison and denied access to their attorney, the Nobel Laureate, Shirin Ebadi.

Four Baha’is from the local community who escaped from Iran then shared their stories about their own persecution. Farzaneh Mazkori and Nagmeh Fahm-Hesari shared how their Islamic religious teachers condemned them and expelled them from school with the result being that education was no longer an option for those following a faith deemed heretical by Iran’s revolutionary government. Negin Haghighi and Forozan Zamani shared how they escaped from Iran under the most harrowing of circumstances.

It is hoped that by bringing the light of international attention to the plight of the seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran that the authorities will be pressured to drop the trumped up charges. The gathering was encouraged to write to government representatives to support the house and senate resolutions.

Roy Steiner, Redmond