In commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders, the Baha’i International Community is coordinating a global campaign to call for their immediate release.

The campaign will run from 14 May to 21 May 2015, and events are being planned around the world by Baha’i communities and others to call attention to the plight of the seven, who were arrested and imprisoned in 2008. The wrongful imprisonment of some 90 other Baha’is in Iran – as well as other prisoners of conscience there – will also be highlighted.

Taking the theme “Seven Days in Remembrance of Seven Years for the Seven Baha’i Leaders,” events will focus on a different member of the seven each day during the campaign.

“Our hope is that people around the world will organize spirited actions, reach out to governments and society at large, and involve friends and family in an effort to draw attention to the situation of each member of the seven on the day designated to him or her,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“We have asked that this be a grassroots campaign, and that people use whatever ideas they may envision – prayer meetings, video uploads, creative arts – to express their concern over the continued imprisonment of the seven,” said Ms. Dugal.

The campaign will make extensive use of social media to disseminate information about events as they happen, and to publicize the situation of the seven generally. To that end, a special hashtag has been designated for the campaign: #7Bahais7years

A Facebook event page has also been set up as a rallying point for the campaign.

A campaign website with background information about the seven Baha’i leaders and other prisoners of conscience in Iran has been created at: www.bic.org/7Bahais7years

The seven formed the entire membership of the now-disbanded ad hoc group known as the “Yaran” or “Friends,” tending to the spiritual and social needs of the Iranian Baha’i community in the absence of formally elected Baha’i leadership, which was banned in 1983.

Their names are Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm. Ms. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008, while the other six were arrested on 14 May 2008.

In 2010, the seven were tried and wrongfully convicted on charges of “espionage” and “spreading propaganda against the regime,” among other false accusations. They were sentenced to 20 years in prison, the longest terms of any current prisoners of conscience in Iran.

During this month’s campaign, each individual will be commemorated on the following day:

14 May: Mahvash Sabet

15 May: Fariba Kamalabadi

16 May: Jamaloddin Khanjani

17 May: Afif Naeimi

18 May: Saeid Rezaie

19 May: Behrouz Tavakkoli

20 May: Vahid Tizfahm

On 21 May, the campaign will be summarized and concluded.

During the campaign, people are also being asked to call attention to the plight of Baha’i educators who also remain unjustly held in prison in Iran. In 2011, more than a dozen Baha’i educators at the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education were arrested and ultimately sentenced to four- or five-year prison terms. While some have been released, at least seven remain in prison, among the 100 Baha’i prisoners in Iran overall.