A teenage Muslim girl learned of the Faith from one of her Bahá’í school classmates and, together with her older sister, became seriously interested in the teachings. When the Bahá’í Faith was referred to during a discussion of religion in class in one of the Government schools in Baghdad, the girl rose to her feet in defence of the Cause. When questioned by the teacher she announced her belief in Baha’u’llah, an assertion which created a stir in the class. The students spoke of the incident the same day to their parents, among whom was the Minister of Education, who, the following day, ordered an investigation to be made. He himself went to the school, dismissed the headmaster, and following the intervention of the Minister of the Interior ordered the arrest of the girl, together with that of three Bahá’í girls studying at that school. A chain of arrests, totalling almost fifty, followed in the course of the next few months. [BW15p138]
• One of the detainees, Anisa Abdul-Razzaq Abbas wrote of her time of her confinement over six years. Her book was translated by her daughter, Alhan Irwin, and published under the title Without Hesitation: An Account of an Iraqi Prisoner of Conscience. The book was published by One Voice Press in March 2021.

On a December day in 1973, Anisa Abdul-Razzaq Abbas heard a knock at the door of the Baghdad home she was visiting. She opened the door to greet two men from the Iraqi Al-Amn security force, who immediately placed her under arrest. Her crime: being a member of the Bahá'í Faith, Over the next six years, Anisa would spend three years in Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison and a further three years in Al-Rashaad prison before her release in 1979. During her years of incarceration, Anisa would rely on her faith to meet the myriad challenges of prison life. Day after day, she and her fellow-prisoners experienced levels of cruelty and injustice that most would find unthinkable. Separated from her husband, who was being held in the men's prison, and from her children, Alhan and Ruwa, who were without both parents, Anisa was sustained through her darkest days by the love of her family, and by the strength and solidarity offered by her fellow Bahá'í prisoners.*Anisa's story is one of patience, courage, and steadfastness in the face of religious prejudice and state-sponsored oppression, and it is a reminder to us all of the resilient strength of the human spirit. *Their eldest child, Abir was attending university in Sulaimaniyyeh after serving a six month sentence.