2008

Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Categories:	Births - Deaths - Declarations Establishments - Publications
Media:	2008 (Events)

2008 was a leap year of the Gregorian calendar, the 2008th year of the Common Era (CE), the 8th year of the 21st century, and the 9th year of the 2000s decade. 2008 corresponds to the years 164–165 of the Bahá'í Era (BE) according to the Badi calendar.

Events

• January 29: Egyptian identification card controversy: A lower court again rules in favor of the right of Bahá’ís in Egypt to be explicitly identified on official documents.
• March 21: After a year-long probationary period, the National Spiritual Assembly of Vietnam is reformed.
• April: The Tenth International Convention is held at the Bahá'í World Centre, resulting in the election of Gustavo Correa and Shahriar Razavi to the Universal House of Justice.
• May 27: /r/bahai, the first Bahá’í group on Reddit, is created.
• July 9: The first translation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas into Norwegian is presented at a summer school in Norway.
• July 25: The government of Vietnam gives full recognition to the Bahá’í community as a religious organization.

Persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran

Main article: Persecution

The home of the Shaaker family in Kerman, destroyed by arsonists on July 18.

• March 4: The Bahá’í cemetery in Zarnan is vandalized. Unknown individuals break into the reception room, poured a flammable substance on the floor, burn benches in the room and spray-paint walls outside the building with graffiti.
• April 4: The home of a Bahá’í is set on fire in Babolsar, in the north of Iran.
• April 23: A 70-year-old man of limited means living in Kermanshah, arrested and charged with possessing three Bahá’í CDs, is tried in court, where he is charged with “propagating and spreading Bahaism and the defamation of the pure Imams.” His lawyer is given only 10 minutes to prepare a defense. The final verdict is only given orally, not published: One year in prison and 70 lashes.
• June 10: An outbuilding on the property of elderly Baha’is living in Fars Province was destroyed by fire when it was doused with gasoline.
• July 15: Molotov cocktails were thrown into the front courtyard of the home of Khusraw Dehghani and his wife, Dr. Huma Agahi, in Vilashahr. Months before, anonymous threats directly related to her being a Bahá'í forced Dr. Agahi to close her clinic in nearby Najafabad where she had practiced medicine for 28 years.
• July 18: Arsonists destroy the house of the Shaaker family in Kerman, Iran, only weeks after their car had been destroyed in a similar fashion.
• July 25: The car of Soheil Naeimi, a prominent Bahá’í in Rafsanjan, is destroyed by arsonists on motorbikes. He and 10 other Baha’i families in the town had received threatening letters from a group calling itself the "Anti-Bahá’ísm Movement of the Youth of Rafsanjan" that, among other things, threatened jihad (holy war) against the Bahá’ís.
• September: The Bahá’í cemetery in Najafabad, which serves five communities, is attacked four times during the month and is ultimately razed. In the first incident, sometime during September 8–9, some gravestones are damaged, a number of saplings are uprooted, and the water tank is destroyed. The following day, further damage is done to the site. A few days later, intruders demolish 95 graves, destroy a small sanitation facility, and damage beyond repair two water tanks used for watering trees.
• October 20: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expresses concern over the arrests of seven Bahá’í leaders in Iran, as well as other human rights violations in that country. Nearly a full page of his 20-page document is dedicated to the situation of Iran’s Bahá’í community.
• November 21: The General Assembly of the United Nations rejects a "no-action motion" which would have used procedural rules to set aside a resolution that is sharply critical of Iran's human rights record, including its persecution of Bahá’ís and other minorities.
• December: An optical shop run by an Iranian Bahá’í in Nazarabad is closed by authorities, along with four other Bahá’í shops.
• December 18: The General Assembly of the United Nations adopts a resolution that expresses “deep concern at serious human rights violations” in Iran and notes “the arrest and detention of seven Baha’i leaders without charge or access to legal representation.”
• December 23: The Bahá’í International Community expresses its “grave concern” over the closing by the Iranian government of Shirin Ebadi’s Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran.

Imprisonment of the seven Bahá’í leaders

The seven Bahá’í leaders known as the Friends in Iran, imprisoned since 2008.

Main article: Friends in Iran

• March 5: Mahvash Sabet, a schoolteacher and mother of two living in Iran, is summoned to the city of Mashhad ostensibly to discuss some matters regarding a Bahá’í burial, but is instead arrested and imprisoned. She spends the first 175 days of her imprisonment spent in solitary confinement.
• May 14: After an early morning sweep on their homes in Tehran, six more Bahá’í leaders are arrested and taken to Evin Prison where they are held incommunicado.
• May 20: An Iranian government spokesman says that the seven Bahá’í leaders have been arrested for “security reasons and not for their faith”, and that they are linked to “foreigners, the Zionists in particular.” The Bahá’í International Community describes the allegations as “utterly baseless and without documentation.”
• May 26: Mahvash Sabet is moved to Evin prison in Tehran.
• June 30: Six women Nobel Peace Prize winners in Canada issue a statement calling on the Iranian government to free the seven Bahá’í leaders immediately.

Regional conferences

The first in the series of regional conferences took place in Lusaka, Zambia.

Between November 1 and December 28, a series of regional conferences took place, marking the midway point of the Five Year Plan (2006–2011).

• November 1–2: Lusaka, Zambia
• November 8–9: Nakuru, Kenya; Johannesburg, South Africa
• November 15–16: Bangui, Central African Republic; Bangalore, India; Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• November 22–23: Quito, Ecuador; New Delhi, India; Kolkata, India; Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• November 29–30: Antofagasta, Chile; Manila, Philippines; Yaoundé, Cameroon
• December 6–7: Portland, United States; Chicago, United States; Atlanta, United States; Almaty, Kazakhstan
• December 13–14: Stamford, United States; Dallas, United States; Los Angeles, United States
• December 20–21: Kuching, Malaysia; São Paulo, Brazil
• December 27–28: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Establishments

Social & Economic Development

• Rays of Light Foundation.

Deaths

• May 17: Death of Brigitte Lundblade, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh named for pioneering to the Shetland Islands.

Publications

Compilations

• Family Life: A Compilation of Extracts from the Bahá’í Writings and from Letters Written on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice compiled by Research Department of the Universal House of Justice.
• Illumine My Heart: Bahá'í Prayers for Every Occassion published by Bahá'í Publishing.
• Illumine My Spirit: Bahá'í Prayers and Meditations for Women published by Bahá'í Publishing.
• O God, Guide Me: A selection of Bahá’í Prayers for Children published by Bahá’í Literature and Publication Trust, India.
• Days to Remember compiled by Baher Forghani.

Books

• Happy at Home, Happy at Work: The Powerful Rewards of Building Character by Susanne M. Alexander.
• A Maze in Grace: A Review of Heaven and Hell, Jesus and Satan, Creation and Evolution by Jamie Banks.
• I Loved Thy Creation: A Collection of Short Fiction by Maya Kaathryn Bonnhoff.
• Where Art and Faith Converge by Michael Fitzgerald.
• Iranian Bahá’ís from Jewish Background: A Portrait of an Emerging Bahá’í Community by Arsalan Geula.
• The Art of Nesting by Sandra Lynn Hutchison.
• Time and the Bahá’í Era: A Study of the Badi' Calendar by Gerald C. Keil.
• Roadmaps to the Future by John Kolstoe.
• In the Glory of the Father: The Bahá’í Faith and Christianity by Brian D. Lepard.
• Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees by Baharieh Rouhani Ma'ani.
• Immortal Heroines: Sarah, Asiyih, the Virgin Mary, Tahirih, Bahiyyih Khanum by Jacqueline Mehrabi.
• Baha'i Faith: A Beginners Guide by Moojan Momen.
• Understanding Religion: A Thematic Approach by Moojan Momen.
• Prescription for Health by Manouchehr N. Nadimi.
• Positive Family Therapy: The Family as Therapist by Nossrat Pesechkian.
• The Door to the Missing Link by Kam Rad.
• From a Gnat to an Eagle by Nathan Rutstein, edited by Carol Rutstein.
• Towards the Summit of Reality: An Introduction to the Study of Bahá’u’lláh's Seven Valleys and Four Valleys by Julio Savi.
• Legacy of Courage: The Life of Ola Pawlowska, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh by Suzanne Schuurman.
• Towards a Partnership of Men and Women in Business by George Starcher.

Albums

• Everlasting Fire by Alessandro.
• The Departure by Badi.
• Mobius Street by Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff.
• Romper a Madrugada by Eric Harper.
• Fire and Gold by Elika Mahony.
• Celestial Soul by Rowshan.
• Along the Tigris by Sonbol Taefi.

References

• GR publications listed in Jan Jasion's George Ronald: A Bibliographic History, accessed online April 30, 2019.
• 2008 Publications at BahaiBooks.com.au