Film and panel discussion on the persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran
Around 130 people gathered in a lecture theatre at Victoria University of Wellington on the evening of Thursday 29 September to view the recently released film ‘Others’ in Their Own Land and listen to a panel discussion on the plight of our brethren in Iran.
The panelists were:
Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish-Iranian journalist, former refugee, human rights defender, writer and film producer.
Golriz Ghahraman MP, an Iranian-born New Zealand politician, member of Parliament and author.
Dr Kat Eghdamian, a Kurdish-Turkish Iranian writer, speaker, human rights advocate, and former child refugee.
The MC was Mava Moayyed, an Iranian New Zealander, award-winning investigative journalist and Current Affairs Reporter for TVNZ's Sunday programme.
The evening was started with a welcome and closed with a blessing from kaumatua Alex Maehe.
About 70 guests and 60 Bahá'ís were in attendance. In addition, 19 people joined the panel discussion online as a Zoom Webinar. Many Bahá'ís invited their friends and colleagues.
All panelists spoke strongly about the persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran. Golriz spoke of her first-hand experience as a child in Mashhad, when her neighbours who were Bahá'ís were called on to recant their faith.
Although Mr Boochani could have highlighted the situation of the Kurds, Baluchis and other minorities in Iran, he emphasised that what the Bahá'ís are suffering is different – it is not merely discrimination, but is a kind of genocide.
Ms Ghahraman echoed the point made by Dr Eghdamian, that the situation of the Bahá'ís is a litmus test for the treatment of all other minorities in Iran, as well as a litmus test for the strength of the human rights movement.
The evening was organised by the Bahá'í Office of Public Affairs as part of its work to inform and influence government and civil society. Dr Eghdamian, Ms Moayyed and Mr Maehe are all Bahá'ís.
* The English subtitled film (in .mov format) can be downloaded from this link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IGz2zig92PwA9mvuuhQiMu5JfQ5lugMX/view and can be played using software such as VLC Player.
