AUBURN – The men came to her parents’ home, asked about her, and set the house on fire.

Parivash Rohani learned early about the persecution of people of the Bahai Faith in Iran. Her parents moved the teenager to India, to be safe, after that fire in 1979. She thought the exile would be temporary, lasting only until tensions calmed. They didn’t.

She met Nasser Rohani, a fellow Bahai, in India. In Iran, his brother-in-law, badly injured by a street bomb, had been denied treatment at a hospital because of his religion. He died. Parivash and Nasser fell in love and fled to America in 1985, settling in Auburn.

Parivash, who as a teen had performed community service work that drew attention to her, is an intensive care nurse at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. Nasser works at L.L.Bean. They’re part of a community of 35 or 40 who practice the Bahai Faith in Lewiston-Auburn.

They keep up on news back home, the disputes between the Muslim Iranians and the Bahai.

When Nasser read about seven Bahais arrested and taken away in Tehran last May, accused of being spies for Israel, of “insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” one of the names looked familiar. It was his cousin’s wife, Fariba Kamalabadi.

It’s easy to hear about strangers facing those sorts of charges, Nasser said, and think maybe they did it, maybe they didn’t. It’s different, he insisted, when it’s someone you know, when you know the allegations are wrong.

Seeking help

From Auburn, he, Parivash and other Bahais are trying to do something about it.

The Rohanis have opened the regular Thursday night Bahai service at their home to the public and will be part of a forum at 6 p.m. Friday at the Auburn Public Library.

They’re asking people of all faiths to join them in prayer and write members of Congress. That last part, at least, has already shown results.

Spokesmen for U.S. Reps. Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree said Tuesday both had agreed to co-sponsor a House resolution that condemns Iran for holding the seven and asks for their quick release.

Each office had heard from at least a dozen constituents.

One of the religion’s central teachings, according to the Bahai International Community Web site, is: “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.” The religion, founded in the 1800s in Iran, was immediately at odds with the local Islamic government, believing in group decisions over those made by religious leaders and equal rights for women. In a 1979 Islamic Constitution, Bahais were excluded from a list of protected minority faiths.

Bahais were, unlike Christians and Jews, not “people of book,” like the Bible or the Quran, Nasser said. “Bahai faith is a newer religion, so they regard it as heresy; we are heretics. In a country where a man can marry four wives, we believe in absolute gender equality.”

The local community isn’t large enough to support a Bahai center, so services are held in people’s homes. Members recently began a fast, preparing for the Bahai New Year on March 21.

‘It is a fear’

Nasser grew up playing with Fariba’s husband, his cousin, in Tehran. They haven’t spoken in 40 years, but through family, he knows they have three children. She’s a housewife.

The seven detained Bahais were unofficial Bahai leaders, Nasser said, tracking things like births, deaths and marriages among fellow Bahais.

“They were supposed to undergo a secret trial last week but we haven’t heard of anything,” Nasser said. “My worry is when they brand somebody as a spy, that is the worst crime you can give someone. Usually, in most countries, that is punishable by death. Really, it is a fear.”

The U.S. House resolution is in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee, awaiting a hearing. Pressure from abroad could help, Nasser said.

“We are a little part of this world, this big machinery,” he said. “Action of all of us really works.”

Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert said he would attend Friday’s forum to show support. Through a spokeswoman, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe said she was keeping an eye on the issue.

“Several Mainers have written to our office in support of the resolution. And, like them, I strongly respect the rights of others to express their spirituality in whatever ways they see fit,” Snowe said. “(I will) support measures that come before the Senate to keep pressure on Iran’s government until religious freedom is protected in Iran.”

For a box:

The public is invited to two events to learn more about the seven Bahai members being held in Iran and efforts in Congress to lobby for their freedom:

• Bahai devotional service, 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 Amberley Way, Auburn

• Public information session on human rights in Iran, 6 p.m. Friday, Auburn Public Library, Auburn