Mona Mahmudnizhad
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Mona Mahmudnizhad (1965-June 18, 1983) was a Persian Bahá'í who, together with nine other Bahá'í women, was sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz because of her membership to the Bahá'í Faith.[1][2][3]
Mona Mahmudnizhad was arrested and charged for teaching Bahá'í school classes to children. The Iranian authorities tried to make Mahmudnizhad, and the other arrested Bahá'í women, recant their religious beliefs through torture. However, when the women did not recant they were sentenced to death.[3] At the time of their sentencing, the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, made a plea for clemency, but the women were hanged on June 18, 1983.[2]
Mahmudnizhad's story is the subject of several art works; music artist Doug Cameron recreated Mahmudnizhad's story in a music video, Mona with the Children, which made the the pop charts in Canada (#14 for the week of October 19, 1985).[4] The video was distributed throughout the music scene and was effective in bringing the human rights situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran to the attention of the public.[1] More recently a play, A Dress for Mona has been produced[3] and currently Jack Lenz is working on a movie called Mona's Dream.[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Affolter, Friedrich W. (2005). "The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran". War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity 1 (1): 59– 89.
- ^ a b Reuters. "Iran reportedly executes 16 Baha'is in secret", New York Times, 1983-06-20.
- ^ a b c Mullins, Sandy (2007). Mona Mahmudnizhad. Bella Online. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
- ^ "Pop Annual 1955-1999: Sixth Edition" for October, 1985. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
- ^ Mona's dream (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
