May
20, 2015
#7Bahais7years
– Vahid Tizfahm
 Today is the day the world will
honor Vahid Tizfahm, 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. Tizfahm, 42, is an optometrist and owner of an optical shop in
Tabriz, where he lived until early 2008, when he moved to Tehran.
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 other four male members of
the seven were sent to Gohardasht prison.
Earlier this year, he sent a letter from prison that sought to answer
why he has held to his beliefs in the face of persecution, especially
the relentless questions of his interrogators.
“Yes, I think differently, I act differently and I see differently,” he
wrote. My world is a world of kindness and love. My approach is service
to others and my mentality desires the elimination of all forms of
prejudice. My aspiration is to create unity among all my compatriots
from every ethnicity, group and religion.”
“My heart is free of any animosity and my hands – after many years of
confinement and unending pain and suffering – continue to be willing to
shake the hands of those who accompany me in the reconstruction of my
home land and the revival of our beloved Iran,” he said.
Mr. Tizfahm was born 16 May 1973 in the city of Urumiyyih. He spent his
childhood and youth there and, after receiving his high school diploma
in mathematics, he went to Tabriz at the age of 18 to study to become
an optician. He later also studied sociology at the Advanced Baha’i
Studies Institute (ABSI).
At the age of 23, Mr. Tizfahm married Furuzandeh Nikumanesh. They have
a son, who was in the third grade when Mr. Tizfahm was arrested in 2008.
Since his youth, Mr. Tizfahm has served the Baha’i community in a
variety of capacities. At one time he was a member of the Baha’i
National Youth Committee. Later, he was appointed to the Auxiliary
Board, an appointed position which serves principally to inspire,
encourage, and promote learning among Baha’is. He has also taught local
Baha’i children’s classes..
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