Hi-contrast image of Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, one of the seven Baha’i leaders
Hundreds of young people will converge at the national Baha’i center in India as part of the Five Years Too Many Campaign. They will be bearing images of the faces of the seven Baha’i leaders as a means of calling attention to their imprisonment.
Government leaders, human rights organizations, and the news media will be invited to the event, which is scheduled for 14 May at 17:30 at Baha’i House in New Delhi, as the national center in India is known.
A number of prominent individuals have been confirmed as speakers. They include Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of the All India Organization of the Imams of Mosques, Prof. Amitabh Kundu of Jawahar Lal Nehru University, and Amitabh Behar, Director of the National Foundation for India and the Founder of Wada Na Todo Abhyan.
“As 14 May is the actual date of the five year anniversary of the arrest and imprisonment of six of the seven Baha’i leaders, we are hoping for a good turnout of the media,” said Farida Vahedi, director of the Office of Public Affairs of the Baha’i community of India.
“There will be a signing of a joint appeal for the release of the seven leaders, along with multi-faith prayers for them,” she said.
Ms. Vahedi said the chief Imam of the main Sunni Mosque in Lucknow has sent a video message, as has Syeda Hameed, a member of the Planning Commission, and Mohini Giri, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women.
“We have also created a stencil for each of the faces of the seven, and we will be printing those images onto placards. The campaign logo will be printed on the T-shirts.
“Young people from all around the area will converge on Baha’i House wearing the T-shirts. People will also be holding up the placards. There will also be billboards and banners all around the lawns of Baha’i House,” she said.
The stencils created for the India event are available to be used by others and can be downloaded as a ZIP file here: High Contrast Face Images
Baha’i House is located at 6, Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Marg, opposite Andhra Pradesh Bhawan, in New Delhi. For more information, contact the Baha’is of India at: [email protected]