May
19, 2015
#7Bahais7years
– Behrouz Tavakkoli
 Today is the day the world will
honor Behrouz Tavakkoli, who has been wrongfully imprisoned since 2008
solely for his religious beliefs, as part of the global “Seven Days in
Remembrance of Seven Years in Prison for the Seven Baha’i Leaders”
campaign.
Mr. Tavakkoli, 63, is a former social worker who lost his government
job in the early 1980s because of his Baha’i belief. Prior to his
current imprisonment, he has also experienced intermittent detainment
and harassment and, in 2005, he was jailed for four months without
charge, spending most of the time in solitary confinement.
Like five of his six colleagues, he was arrested at home in Tehran in
the early morning of 14 May 2008. He was first sent to Evin prison,
where he was held for some four months in solitary confinement, like
the others.
After an unfair trial in 2010, he and the four male members of the
seven were sent to Gohardasht prison.
In 2014, in a poignant letter sent from prison to his granddaughter,
Mr. Tavakkoli said he was proud to be imprisoned for his beliefs.
“I don’t want you to ever bear any ill will toward your countrymen,” he
wrote. “I assure you that we even love those who have persecuted us;
not only do we not feel hatred toward them, but we pray for them.”
His son, Naeim, said he father was an ordinary person who was called
upon to do extraordinary things.
“My father is not an unusually brave man, or gifted with exceptional
talents, nor does he possess the ability to learn faster than
others. But when it comes to serving the Faith, he fears
nothing – absolutely nothing,” he wrote in 2009.
Born 1 June 1951 in Mashhad, Mr. Tavakkoli studied psychology in
university and then completed two years of service in the army, where
he was a lieutenant. He later received additional training and then
specialized in the care of the physically and mentally handicapped,
working in a government position until his firing in early 1980s.
Mr. Tavakkoli married Ms. Tahereh Fakhri Tuski at the age of 23. They
have two sons, Naeim and Nabil.
Mr. Tavakkoli was elected to the local Baha’i governing council in
Mashhad in the late 1960s or early 1970s while a student at the
university there, and he later served on another local Baha’i council
in Sari before such institutions were banned in the early 1980s. He
also served on various youth committees, and, later, during the 1980s
he was appointed to the Auxiliary Board, an appointed position which
serves principally to inspire, encourage, and promote learning among
Baha’is.
To support himself and his family after he was fired from his
government position, Mr. Tavakkoli established a small millwork
carpentry shop in the city of Gonbad. There he also established a
series of classes in Baha’i studies for adults and young people.
He has been periodically detained by the authorities. Among the worst
of these incidents was in 2005 when he was held incommunicado for 10
days by intelligence agents, along with colleague Fariba Kamalabadi. He
was then held for four months and during that confinement developed
serious kidney and orthotic problems.
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