Please join the Baha’is in prayer today

The Baha’is of Cyprus are praying today for seven Baha’is who are still in prison in Iran, where they have now been for over a year. These Baha’i ‘leaders’ face charges which carry the death sentence, though their only crime is to be members of the Baha’i faith, the largest minority religion in Iran.

Baha’is in every country of the world will today be praying for justice for these prisoners of conscience, and your readers are asked if they can also spare a moment to say a prayer both for them, and for those who hold their lives in their hands to be just.

Many Bahais will be using this short prayer, often said in times of difficulties:

‘Is there any remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God!
He is God! All are His servants and all abide by His bidding.’

Baha’is believe in the unity of mankind and the fundamental unity of religion; they work for world peace; they fight to abolish all kinds of prejudice; they love their own country and obey their government; they teach that religion and science must work in harmony and that universal education, and the equality of men and women, are essential foundations for world peace.

Yet these beliefs mean that they are not allowed to go to university, not allowed to have government and many other jobs, not allowed to organise education for their children, not allowed to practice their religion, and, in the case of these seven ‘leaders’, not allowed to be free, and perhaps not allowed to live. Twice before Baha’i leaders in Iran have been arrested on similar charges and executed – or simply ‘disappeared.’

Please pray for the lives of these innocent people, and for all others in the world who face the same threat to their lives solely for their beliefs.

Eric Hellicar,
Chairman of the Baha’i Community of Cyprus

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.