Martyrs for Women’s Rights in Iran: 40 Years Remembrance - Full program

#OURSTORYISONE SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

The Bahá’í International Community has invited all to participate in a two-hour social media event on Sunday, June 18, 2023, starting 1:30 p.m. Eastern daylight time. This event is part of the broader #OurStoryIsOne campaign, which sheds light on the continuing sacrifices made by Iranian women of every background in their pursuit of justice and gender equality.

June 18, 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the hanging execution of 10 Iranian Baha’i women in Shiraz. Their only crime was refusal to renounce their Baha’i Faith. Remembrance of such a heartbreaking event could evoke despair—or worse, the details from these women’s lives could have been forgotten—if not for stories of their bravery and steadfastness, including those shared recently by a friend and fellow prisoner.

Ruhi Jahanpour, who had been imprisoned with the 10 women in 1983, shared their stories with some two hundred people gathered at the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois on Friday evening, June 9.

The event was held as part of a campaign, #OurStoryIsOne, launched this month by the Baha’i International Community. Honoring the executed women, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the long struggle for gender equality lived by women of all faiths and backgrounds in Iran for many decades, which continues to this day.

These women were arrested, interrogated and tortured. Then they were forced to look on as, one after another, they were hanged on a single night in the town square. Eight of the 10 women were 30 years old or younger. The youngest was only 17.

These are the women who were remembered:

Mona Mahmoudnejad, 17
Roya Eshraghi, 23, executed along with her mother, Ezzat-Janami Eshraghi
Simin Saberi, 24
Shahin (Shirin) Dalvand, 25
Akhtar Sabet, 25
Mahshid Niroumand, 28
Zarrin Moghimi-Abyaneh, 29
Tahereh Arjomandi Siyavashi, 30. Her husband, Jamshid Siavashi, was executed two days earlier
Nosrat Ghufrani Yaldaie, 46. Her son, Bahram Yaldaie, was executed two days earlier
Ezzat-Janami Eshraghi, 57, along with her daughter Roya, 23. Her husband, Enayatullah Eshraghi, was executed two days earlier