Baha'is pray for imprisoned leaders

The Nonantum home of Quemars and Faeze Niaraki was filled with song and prayer Sunday as 20 members of the Baha'i faith gathered in support of seven Baha'i leaders on trial in Iran this week.
The special devotional service was just one of hundreds held around the globe Sunday in solidarity with those on trial.
The seven Iranian Baha'i were arrested in May 2008 for espionage. The Baha'i Universal House of Justice contends those charges are false and stem from the defendants' Baha'i Faith.
Sitting in a circle in the Niaraki living room, those present took turns leading their fellow Baha'i in prayers in English, Farsi and French. The prayers were spoken and sung.
Neda Sobhian explained the importance of the devotional, saying because the Baha'i imprisoned in Iran have not been allowed access to prayer books, they have had to rely on their memories to pray for a successful trial in the two years they have been held in Tehran's Evin Prison.
``We are here praying not only in support of them, but also on their behalf,'' she said.
The Baha'i Faith, founded in Iran in 1844 on the principle that humanity is one race and should therefore be unified into one global society, prides itself on diversity and acceptance.
Since then, Baha'is living in the ``cradle of the faith'' have been the subject of religious persecution, something Kevin Andrews, who helped lead the devotional, finds unsettling given the faith's founding principles.
``Our faith's principles are all good to me,'' he said. ``How can you be against something that is good? I don't know.''
Two of the seven on trial in Iran are related to members of the Newton Baha'i community, which Sobhian estimated includes 50 members.
Those members were not present at the devotional because they did not want to be seen or named in public for fear it would endanger their family in Iran, Sobhian said.
``They are so afraid about what would happen and about putting their families in Iran in danger,'' she said. ``We are dealing with a government that is very illogical.''
Newton resident Soroush Ghadyani, who was imprisoned in Evin Prison from 1983 to 1985 with his father-in-law, said he was worried about the fate of the seven currently on trial.
``I can imagine what is going on for them because I was there,'' Ghadyani explained in Farsi with Sobhian translating.
Ghadyani said he and his father-in-law, each charged with espionage, were beaten and verbally abused by the guards in Evin, and told they would only be released if they renounced their Baha'i faith.
He said his father-in-law was ultimately executed when he refused to convert to Islam.
Andrews said the purpose of the devotional was to pray to God and ask that the same fate not befall those currently on trial.
``We will in the end know if they are to live on, freed, or to be martyred,'' he said. ``We pray to God because it is in his hands, only time will tell.''