Interfaith Prayer Service Planned In Belvedere to Support Jailed Iranians

July 10, 2009

Author: Brent Ainsworth

Source: Contra Costa Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_12811998

Out of the estimated 150 Marin County residents who are active in local Baha'i faith groups, about one-third are of Persian descent. The political unrest and violence going on in Iran has them quaking.

On Saturday night, local Baha'is will congregate in Belvedere with members of other faiths for a prayer service for human rights and religious freedom in Iran. Baha'is, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus are to speak and pray on the day that seven Baha'i leaders of Iran's largest religious minority are to go on trial in Tehran.

"One of the men on trial is the relative of a Tiburon woman, and many Marin Baha'is had relatives who were executed over there, so this is a very real concern," said Sherna Deamer, chairwoman of the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i in San Rafael.

The seven Baha'is on trial, jailed for more than a year without access to a lawyer, are accused of espionage on behalf of Israel and propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The charges could lead to the death penalty.