May
18, 2015
#7Bahais7years
– Saeid Rezaie
Today, Day Five of the
#7Bahais7years Campaign, the Baha’i Community is celebrating the life
of Saeid Rezaie, an agricultural engineer who has run a successful
farming equipment business in Fars Province for more than 20 years. He
is also known for his extensive scholarship on Baha’i topics, and is
the author of several books.
Born in Abadan on 27 September 1957, Mr. Rezaie spent his childhood in
Shiraz, where he completed high school with distinction. He then
obtained a degree in agricultural engineering from Pahlavi University
in Shiraz, attending with the help of a scholarship funded from outside
the country.
In 1981, he married Ms. Shaheen Rowhanian. They have three children,
two daughters and a son.
Mr. Rezaie has actively served the Baha’i community since he was a
young man. He taught Baha’i children’s classes for many years, and
served the Baha’i Education and Baha’i Life Institutes. He was also a
member of the National Education Institute.
A scholar and an author, he has served as an academic adviser to Baha’i
students.
During the early 1980s, when persecution of Baha’is was particularly
intense and widespread, Mr. Rezaie moved to northern Iran and worked as
a farming manager for a time. Later he moved to Kerman and worked as a
carpenter and at other odd jobs in part because of the difficulties
Baha’is faced finding formal employment or operating businesses.
In 1985, he opened an agricultural equipment company with a Baha’i
friend in Fars Province. That company prospered and won wide respect
among farmers in the region.
He has experienced various forms of persecution for his Baha’i belief,
including an arrest and detention in 2006 that led to 40 days in
solitary confinement.
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