May
15, 2015
#7Bahais7years
– Fariba Kamalabadi
 Today, Day Two, the Baha’i
Community is celebrating the life of Fariba Kamalabadi, a developmental
psychologist and mother of three who was denied the chance to study at
a public university as a youth because of her Baha’i belief. Before her
current incarceration, she had been arrested twice before, and was held
for periods of one and two months respectively, all due to her
volunteer work for the Baha’i community.
Mrs. Kamalabadi was born in Tehran on 12 September 1962. An excellent
student, she graduated from high school with honors but was
nevertheless barred from attending university. Instead, in her mid-30s,
she embarked on an eight-year period of informal study and ultimately
received an advanced degree in developmental psychology from the Baha’i
Institute of Higher Education (BIHE), an alternative institution
established by the Baha’i community of Iran to provide higher education
for its young people.
Mrs. Kamalabadi married fellow Baha’i Ruhollah Taefi in 1982. They have
three children, the youngest of whom was only 13 when she was arrested
in 2008.
Mrs. Kamalabadi’s experience with persecution extends beyond her
immediate situation. Her father was fired from his job as physician in
the government health service in the 1980s because he was a Baha’i, and
he was later imprisoned and tortured.
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