Baha’is on Both Sides of Docket: US & Egypt

judge-gavelThe Baha’i community is receiving some good news from Egypt. In case you’re not familiar with the situation there, it involves the right of Egyptian Baha’is to have government issued ID cards. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.

According to the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, there ruling will probably come in a few days and it will most probably be favorable for the Baha’is. I hope it will put an end to this and the Egyptian Baha’is can live in peace.

Meanwhile, over in the US the Baha’is are also involved in a court case but they are acting as the plaintiffs rather than defendants. The case involves the Orthodox Baha’is and their use of Baha’i names, symbols and trademarks. You can read about it to get some background information. The US NSA was trying to enforce a crazy 1966 ruling against Mason Remey and his organization for infringing on Baha’i copyright.

The NSA of the Baha’is of the United States lost the case last year when the presiding judge ruled that there was no “substantial continuity between the NSA-UHG and the PNBC”. What she meant was that the 1966 ruling was enforceable on Remey’s organization but the current Orthodox Baha’i group has little if any resemblance to it.

Unfortunately the NSA of the Baha’is of the US decided to appeal this ruling. The case will come before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and be argued before a panel of judges on February 20th, 2009.

It is sad to see the NSA spend so much time and the precious resources of the Faith to engage in a legal wrangle of this sort. It is especially lamentable when you consider that it is all based on a flimsy ruling which will not stand up to the most superficial scrutiny.

Would any legal minds reading this care to offer their opinion as to why the Orthodox Baha’is haven’t simply attacked the trademark basis of the 1966 ruling? After all, the word “Baha’i” can not be owned by any one organization, just as the term Christian doesn’t belong to only the Catholic Church.

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  • http://www.wahidazal.com Wahid Azal

    [quote comment=""]So what if they receive a grant here or there. Its common practice for big corporations to give to institutes. Its a tax write off to them and a boost for different causes.[/quote]

    Thank you for this admission and gem of a quote. You will be quoted on it. Perhaps in your money-and-god driven cult universe that is the Haifan Bahaim organization practices of taking money from organizations with pre-established political agendas is alright. After all such funds are specifically designed towards specific political ends. It was definitely the modus operandi of the past 8 years under the Neo-Con regime of terror, and it is exactly the manner in which you Bahaim were given a free ride through various think-tanks and the office of the former vice-president Dick Cheney to pursue their global hackery and vendetta against the government and people of Iran, or political enemies generally speaking. As of noon Washington EST this all ended for the forseable future.

    Now with Obama in – and given the stringent directives he just passed today as executive orders limiting lobbyist influence on the new administration – the free ride and lobbyist directed policy making by proxy initiatives that your cult has been vigorously engaged in since 2001 (together with the dudd organizations and fronts you have set-up through your global money laundering) will soon be under wide scrutiny, and eventually *prosecution*.

    Wahid

  • http://www.wahidazal.com Wahid Azal

    [quote comment=""]So what if they receive a grant here or there. Its common practice for big corporations to give to institutes. Its a tax write off to them and a boost for different causes.[/quote]

    Thank you for this admission and gem of a quote. You will be quoted on it. Perhaps in your money-and-god driven cult universe that is the Haifan Bahaim organization practices of taking money from organizations with pre-established political agendas is alright. After all such funds are specifically designed towards specific political ends. It was definitely the modus operandi of the past 8 years under the Neo-Con regime of terror, and it is exactly the manner in which you Bahaim were given a free ride through various think-tanks and the office of the former vice-president Dick Cheney to pursue their global hackery and vendetta against the government and people of Iran, or political enemies generally speaking. As of noon Washington EST this all ended for the forseable future.

    Now with Obama in – and given the stringent directives he just passed today as executive orders limiting lobbyist influence on the new administration – the free ride and lobbyist directed policy making by proxy initiatives that your cult has been vigorously engaged in since 2001 (together with the dudd organizations and fronts you have set-up through your global money laundering) will soon be under wide scrutiny, and eventually *prosecution*.

    Wahid

  • http://www.wahidazal.com Wahid Azal

    http://www.swans.com/library/art14/barker04.html

    25. United Jewish Communities is an organizational member of the Save Darfur Coalition, and a member of IsraAID — which was founded in 2001 and describes itself as a “coordinating body of Israeli and Jewish NGOs (non governmental organizations) and other interested parties based in Israel that are active in development and relief work and concerned about global issues (‘Tikkun Olam’).” In 2002, Henry Elkaslasi, the head of The Humanitarian Fund of the Kibbutz Movement, became chair of IsraAID. Elkaslasi presently also serves as the co-chair of the Israeli Coalition for the Refugees of Darfur and Sudan (also known as Israel for Darfur). Israel for Darfur is listed as a campaign of the blogging group, Darfur Awareness, which in turn is a project of a group called Mideast Youth. This latter group was founded by Esra’a Al Shafei — who also cofounded the Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network — and in June 2007, she received an award from free-market Atlas Economic Research Foundation for her Mideast Youth project. (back)

  • David

    The American NSA sent a message dated two days ago that said the seven Bahai leaders arrested in Iran last year will be put on trial next week for “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

    The NSA asks we:

    • Hold your own prayer gatherings for the safety of the Friends in Iran.

    • Organize prayer gatherings in your community, in consultation with your Local Spiritual Assembly, as soon as possible for the safety of the Iranian Bahá’í leaders and for the amelioration of the deplorable situation of religious freedom in Iran. These gatherings should be open to the public and the members of your local media should be invited. Reach out to your Christian, Jewish and Muslim friends, and to your interfaith groups, as well as to all those concerned about religious freedom in Iran. The main purpose of such
    gatherings is for prayer, and it is essential that they should uphold and exemplify the Bahá’í standard of non-involvement in partisan politics. Discussion on matters outside the scope of religious freedom and human rights should be strictly avoided.

    • Contact your federal Congressional Representatives from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, by telephone or email, or in person at their district offices. Express to them or their staff your deep concern for the Iranian Bahá’í leaders whose lives are in danger. Most of the members of Congress will be in their home districts the week of February 15, as there is a Congressional recess at that time.

    I want to start by saying that we should pray for the safety of these seven Bahai’s. I also want to point out that this is a clear example of what I wrote about a few weeks ago concerning Bahai’s and the Bahai Administration usually speaking up and urging action only when Bahai’s are the victims. There was not one official word (that I’m aware of) from the UHJ or any NSA concerning Israel’s attacks on Gaza. It is interesting that the NSA thinks it is possible for Bahai’s to protest the treatment of other Bahai’s by a foreign government without it being involvement in partisan politics. But when it comes to protesting the military attacks launched by the country which is home to the world center of the Bahai Faith, all is quiet. And not only are Bahai’s now supposed to speak up, we’re to contact the media and invite them to our prayer gatherings. And we’re to invite our Jewish, Christian, and Muslim friends too. So is it okay for us to join our Jewish friends when they ask us to pray and protest the bombing of Israel by Hamas? Or how about our Muslim and Christian friends who want us to pray and protest with them when Israel bombs Gaza? Or is it not an issue of “human rights” when people are killed in warfare?

  • David

    The American NSA sent a message dated two days ago that said the seven Bahai leaders arrested in Iran last year will be put on trial next week for “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

    The NSA asks we:

    • Hold your own prayer gatherings for the safety of the Friends in Iran.

    • Organize prayer gatherings in your community, in consultation with your Local Spiritual Assembly, as soon as possible for the safety of the Iranian Bahá’í leaders and for the amelioration of the deplorable situation of religious freedom in Iran. These gatherings should be open to the public and the members of your local media should be invited. Reach out to your Christian, Jewish and Muslim friends, and to your interfaith groups, as well as to all those concerned about religious freedom in Iran. The main purpose of such
    gatherings is for prayer, and it is essential that they should uphold and exemplify the Bahá’í standard of non-involvement in partisan politics. Discussion on matters outside the scope of religious freedom and human rights should be strictly avoided.

    • Contact your federal Congressional Representatives from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, by telephone or email, or in person at their district offices. Express to them or their staff your deep concern for the Iranian Bahá’í leaders whose lives are in danger. Most of the members of Congress will be in their home districts the week of February 15, as there is a Congressional recess at that time.

    I want to start by saying that we should pray for the safety of these seven Bahai’s. I also want to point out that this is a clear example of what I wrote about a few weeks ago concerning Bahai’s and the Bahai Administration usually speaking up and urging action only when Bahai’s are the victims. There was not one official word (that I’m aware of) from the UHJ or any NSA concerning Israel’s attacks on Gaza. It is interesting that the NSA thinks it is possible for Bahai’s to protest the treatment of other Bahai’s by a foreign government without it being involvement in partisan politics. But when it comes to protesting the military attacks launched by the country which is home to the world center of the Bahai Faith, all is quiet. And not only are Bahai’s now supposed to speak up, we’re to contact the media and invite them to our prayer gatherings. And we’re to invite our Jewish, Christian, and Muslim friends too. So is it okay for us to join our Jewish friends when they ask us to pray and protest the bombing of Israel by Hamas? Or how about our Muslim and Christian friends who want us to pray and protest with them when Israel bombs Gaza? Or is it not an issue of “human rights” when people are killed in warfare?

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  • habibullah

    just go to hell like any other muhammadan muslim
    you bahislamists

  • habibullah

    just go to hell like any other muhammadan muslim
    you bahislamists

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  • optimist

    well we all now know, that hiefa based bahai organisation eventully lost
    the us case for good. Personally I think that is one of the best things that
    has happend to bahai faith on last 10 years. The self declared monopoloy of haifa based on bahai faith need to be broken. sooner or later all differing view on the faith need to be addressed and discussed in civilised and intelacutal manner rather than employing the mafia tactics and suppressing the disent by uhj. I am very much looking forward that bahais rather demand justice and unity rather follow the uhj like the sheeps.