On Saturday, June 12, seven members of the Bahá’i community of Halifax Regional Municipality, along with three members from Chester and one from Falmouth, gathered on the lawn of Spring Garden Road Library in Halifax from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to engage the public about human rights abuses in Iran, specifically highlighting the Yaran (seven friends of the Bahá’i Faith) imprisoned in Evin prison in Tehran for the past two years.
This event was one of many worldwide coordinated by the human rights group United4Iran and co-sponsored by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Nobel’s Women’s Initiative, Bahá’i International Community, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, FIDH (Federation Internationale des Ligues Droits de L’Homme) and Pen International.
To illustrate the plight of the imprisoned friends, demonstrators used an area of 3X4 metres and another of 2X3 metres to outline the size of the cells holding 5 men and 2 women, respectively. A poster was produced depicting the seven Friends in jail and a handout was offered to members of the public.
An estimated 100 people took the time to become engaged in conversation and receive a handout about these issues.
Special thanks to all who helped to coordinate and attend this important event.
