The Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights » Arrests

Iran: Four Baha’is arrested in November in Nour

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 20:58:51 +0000

Over the past month sources from Iran have reported about the arrest of four Baha’is, residents of the northern city Nour, and raids on three homes in the town.

The first raid took place on the evening of November 3rd, during a gathering at the home of the Razi family to celebrate a Baha’i holiday, Feast of Qudrat. During that raid, Mahmud Razi and Jamal Chupani were arrested. All those present in the gathering were required to provide information about themselves and their immediate family to the authorities.

On November 6th, the homes of the Shahnazi and Ta`id families were raided and Baha’i materials were confiscated. On November 20th, Shadya Ta`id whose house was raided two weeks prior was arrested along with her mother. The women were taken to a prison in Sari.

The Importance of Raising Awareness about the Persecution of Baha’is in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 12:40:01 +0000

Below is a great op-ed that appeared in a Malaysian newspaper about the prolonged persecution of the Baha’i community in Iran. The writer, a Malaysian Baha’i, points out that the persecution of Baha’is violates Iran’s obligations under international law, and when the intentional community condemned these violations, the persecution subsided.

End genocide amongst the Baha’i
by Liva Sreedharan | MalaysiaKini
November 4, 2010

For the past 29 months, they’ve been held captive, shielded from sunshine or even the slightest allure of humanity. They have had to bear with the stench of stale, putrid air. They are permitted to have fresh air only two hours each week.

For some time, they were held in solitary confinement and denied access to their families. They are deprived of basic humane facilities. Forced to sleep on the cold, hard, floor. Packed in a tiny cell less than 2m by 2m that made it hard for them to move around or obtain the smallest measure of rest.

These circumstances have quite understandably had a deleterious effect on their health.

The severe and inhumane conditions under which they are being held clearly violates the principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which provides that no one may be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

These seven people are being imprisoned for no crime committed. These are people being punished and persecuted because of their religious beliefs. These seven people are members of the Baha’i community in Iran.

These detentions are not isolated cases. From August 2004 till May 2010, 300 followers of the Baha’i community in Iran have been arrested. Thirty-two are currently imprisoned, while 125 have been released on bail awaiting trial.

The rest have been released without bail or are free pending appeal against their sentences; some have had their verdicts overturned, or had completed their prison terms and have begun their terms of exile after serving their prison sentences.

Since its inception in 1844, Baha’is have been persecuted in their homeland (Iran). The progressive ideals of the Baha’i faith such as the elimination of all forms of prejudice, equal rights for men and women, and compulsory education for all seem to remain a constant struggle between the Republic of Iran and modern civilisation.

From 1979, attacks on Baha’is in Iran have reached a new level; that of official government policy. When the Republic’s new constitution was drafted in 1979, the rights of the Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians in Iran were specifically mentioned.

No mention whatsoever was made regarding the rights of the Baha’i community which incidentally is Iran’s largest religious minority.

Men, women and children alike have been persecuted in Iran for their religious beliefs. Courts in Iran have denied the Baha’is the right to redress or to be protected against assault, killing, injury or other forms of persecution because they are not being provided for.

Without any claim to civil rights, the conditions of the Baha’i community in Iran have deteriorated. By 1981, courts in Iran were openly sentencing Baha’is to death for their religious beliefs.

A more dramatic incident occurred in 1983 where ten Iranian women, including two teenage girls were hanged to death for conducting Baha’i moral classes for children.

These women were subjected to intense physical, mental and emotional torture in the hope that they would recant their faith; an option that was almost always presented to Baha’i prisoners proving that the persecutions were based solely on their religious beliefs.

The early 1990′s saw a shift in the trend of the persecutions to social, economic and cultural restrictions in order to block the advancement of the Baha’i community in Iran.

The Iranian government has violated almost all of the human rights under international law and under Iran’s own national obligations. The systematic elimination of the rights of the Baha’is in Iran is a clear warning sign of the government’s attempt to wipe out the Baha’i community there.

The harassment of Baha’is is persistent and pervasive and they include arbitrary arrests and detention, with imprisonments lasting for days, months, or even years.

Searches of homes and businesses, confiscating of Baha’i books and other items, school expulsions and harassment of school children by classmates, teachers and school administrators alike, and prohibition on Baha’is attending universities.

The bank accounts of Baha’is are being monitored and their movements and activities restricted. They are subjected to official interrogations requiring them to divulge information about their lives and of other Baha’is.

The renewal of their business licenses are not permitted and existing ones are confiscated including evictions from their places of business, not to mention Baha’i doctors from their offices and clinics.

They are denied work opportunities in general. They are victims of physical assaults. Efforts to drive Baha’is out of towns and villages are being pursued. The desecration and destruction of Baha’i cemeteries and harassment over burial rights is continuing.

The dissemination in official news media of misinformation about the Baha’is, and the incitement of hatred against them is ongoing.

Intimidation of Muslims who associate with the Baha’is, attempts by authorities to get Baha’is to spy on other Baha’is, threatening phone calls and letters to them, denial of pension benefits, denial of access to publishing or copying facilities for Baha’i literature and confiscation of property are yet other forms of persecution prevalent in the lives of Baha’is in Iran.

One theme that is common in the persecution of the Iranian Baha’is is the fact that they are not given the chance to defend themselves.

The Baha’i community in Iran seeks no preferential treatment or special privileges. All they want is for the basic rights as human beings to be restored to them.

23 out of the 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been violated by the Iranian government in their treatment meted out towards the Baha’is. Iran is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but it violates these very rights that it claims to defend.

Such violation is not merely to be lamented or condemned on the grounds of morality. More has to be done as it constitutes a breach of a binding international law and an attempt by a government to suppress an entire religious community.

What are needed to stop the atrocities of the Iranian government against its Baha’i citizens are legal and public measures. Persecution of the Iranian Baha’is was at its highest but it subsided a little when international communities intervened and condemned it through different forums.

Any lessening in support from domestic and international communities would be deemed by the Iranian government as approval of their behaviour and persecutions against Baha’is will undoubtedly be intensified.

I am a member of the Baha’i community of Malaysia and am saddened by what is happening to my brothers and sisters in Iran. I feel defenceless and powerless, so this is my appeal on behalf of those imprisoned Baha’is in Iran to those in authority here to play their role in appealing to the Iranian authorities for the unconditional and immediate release of these prisoners of gross injustice.

The author has a Masters in Criminology with Forensic Psychology and performed her research on genocide and religious and cultural cleansing. An earlier version of the author’s article was presented at the Common Studies Session in Critical Criminology at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

New Baha’i Rights Illustration!

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:18:10 +0000

We’re proud to present to you a new Baha’i rights illustration that aims to highlight some of the human rights abuses Baha’is are subjected to in the Middle East: arson, unjustified incarceration and limitations on freedom of speech. We’ve been hard at work on this illustration for quite some time and hope you like it!

Baha’i Activist Dorsa Sobhani Barred from Visitations in Evin Prison

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:27:36 +0000

Dorsa Sobhani, a Baha’i and women’s rights activist, is banned from receiving visits from her family and lawyer, the Committee for Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) disclosed this week. The visit by Dorsa’s lawyer to the judiciary in an attempt to secure visitation rights have not produced a result. The letters Dorsa’s family has sent to the judiciary and other officials of the Islamic Republic asking for a thorough investigation in her case have been ignored.

Dorsa was arrested in the early morning of March 7th in Sari, northern Iran. She was later transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. Dorsa’s arrest came after a raid on Sobhani’s home on March 2th, when six security officials entered the home in the middle of the night, searched it and confiscated belongings. On March 4th, six officials returned to Sobhani’s home, and physically and verbally attacked her father. He was then arrested, blindfolded, bound and interrogated and threatened for hours.

Dorsa is a member of the 1 Million Signature Campaign that aims to abolish the legal inequality between men an women in Iran. Dorsa was prohibited from higher education because of her faith and she is one of the founders of the Committee for the Right to Education, which campaigns to lift all bans on education in Iran. Many members of the committee were arrested recently.

Interview With a Baha’i Education Right Activist in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:18:52 +0000

In an interview with International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Hessam Mishaghi, spokesperson for the Right to Education Committee, most of whose members are in prison right now, spoke of barriers for education for Bahais and students who are active in civil and political activities at universities. He explained in this interview that contrary to Mohammad Javad Larijani’s statements in Geneva in which he said no Bahai has been arrested or deprived from education or social rights on grounds of his Bahai faith, he and one of his friends have discovered a letter in which Ministry of Science’s Security Department and Ministry of Information have deprived them of education on the same grounds. Hessam Mishaghi also talked about the arrests of his friends and colleagues and how what Larijani said in Geneva were lies.
The Campaign’s interview with this civil and student activist who has been deprived from education follows:

Campaign: Mr. Misaghi, you are a member of the Right to Education Committee. Why did you form this Committee and what is the situation with the Committee members right now?

Hessam Misaghi: This Committee was formed as an independent organization to regain the general right to education. Most of its members were Bahai students who had been deprived of education, but the Committee was working to regain the rights of all students deprived from education on grounds such as gender discrimination, suspension and dismissal orders for critical students, as well as deprivation of education for Bahai students which has a long record.

This Committee had several meetings last May and June in different Iranian cities with the aim to disseminate information, something which was unprecedented under the oppressive conditions of Iran. The first meeting was held in Tehran. I participated in the meetings as the Spokesperson for the organization, so I delivered speeches. Navid Khanjani was the founder and Head of this independent organization. The Committee was established as an independent organization to regain the general right to education. Three Committee members were arrested within 24 hours and three other members’ homes were searched.

Who are the other Committee members who have been arrested or are being pursued?

Hessam Misaghi: Dorsa Sobhani, one of our Committee colleagues in Sari is under immense pressure. Her father was arrested by six people yesterday [March 6] and was interrogated blindfolded and handcuffed while he was beaten. Eeghan Shahidi, a Committee colleague in Kermanshah was arrested early in the morning on March 3rd. Sama Nourani, a Shiraz colleague who has been deprived from her medical engineering education at Tabriz Sahand University was arrested on March 3rd. I must add that after joining the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, our Committee’s central members established a new organization named “Society Against Educational Discrimination,” and this is how threats and arrests of members of Committee of Human Rights Reporters came to be related to arrests of our organization which is a defender of the right to education.

Were you summoned, too?

Hessam Misaghi: I was summoned on January 2nd. I didn’t show up to Ministry of Information. On March 3rd they stormed my home and the home of Sepehr Atefi, one of our colleagues in the Right to Education Committee and searched the premises. I have to add that we were an independent organization and our only objective was to defend the right to an education.

What were your group’s objectives regarding the right to education?

Hessam Misaghi: We ask for freedom of thought for university entry. The Right to Education Committee has been dissolved. All our colleagues are now active with the Society Against Educational Discrimination.

What do you think is the reason for the confrontation with this group? Is it because some of the members are Bahais? Or is it because the Ministry of Science has consistently denied the “starred student” phenomenon? Or are there other reasons?

Hessam Misaghi: The government deprives applicants and students from their education, as well as arresting people who are activists around this subject. I think the arrests of these individuals is not related solely to their being Bahais. These individuals were involved in civil activities to defend student rights. The rulers neither approve of their being Bahais, nor their civil activities. Bahais’ joining the Iranian civil society and joining other civil activists working to defend their fellow countrymen’s rights is a very significant development and I think the rulers cannot tolerate this, hence the severe crackdown on these education-deprived students. Dorsa Sobhani was also a One Million Signatures Campaign activist in Sari.

Crackdowns on the Right to Education activists is not unprecedented. Currently members of the Council to Defend the Right to Education are also in prison. Zia Nabavi, Majid Dorri, Saeed Jalalifar, Mahdieh Golroo, and Shiva Nazar Ahari are the ones in prison now.

What do you think about the recent remarks by Minister of Science in which he said those who do not share the regime’s views–more specifically those who do not have practical commitment to Islam and Velayat-e Faghih–will be dismissed from universities?

Hessam Misaghi: Such an approach is in contradiction to international human rights standards and shows the short-sightedness of a regime which does not accept any opposite views. In a country where the entire nation think the same way, no progress will be achieved. It is through criticism and challenge that new ideas are heard and progress is achieved.

What do you think these remarks could bring student political activists?

Hessam Misaghi: Such statements will only intensify the ruling oppression in the society and will increase pressure on student and civil activists. Consequently, security organizations would also confront harder, as we are witnessing, even though many students are already in prison. Now we see even those who have never been allowed to enter the universities despite their efforts for gaining admission are also arrested.

Can you provide more details about Dorsa Sobhani?

Hessam Misaghi: Dorsa is 20 years old. Her father was threatened by telling him that if Dorsa did not turn herself in on Saturday, they would arrest his wife and their younger daughter.
[Update: Dorsa arrived at her home in Sari on March 7th and was arrested by 12 security agents and eventually transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran - BR]

Dorsa’s father said that two days ago, when he left his home, six men waiting outside his home told him that he had to go with them. They then transferred him to an unknown location. He was handcuffed and blindfolded and interrogated for four hours during which he was threatened. I already told you about threats. Dorsa has to turn herself in on Saturday, otherwise her family will be arrested and her home will be confiscated.

Where was Dorsa?

Hessam Misaghi: Dorsa had taken a trip to (…) on the day the officers stormed their home at night.

Is she back now?

Hessam Mishaghi: They have told her father that she should return and turn herself in tomorrow. She will most likely be arrested.

What is her charge?

Hessam Misaghi: They didn’t say anything about charges. They just said we have a warrant and we will explain the charges after arrest. In my and Sepehr’s cases, they informed us of the same charges as for the other Committee members, meaning “contact with MKO” and “moharebeh.”

Are you a Bahai yourself?

Hessam Misaghi: Yes, I am from a Bahai family. This was used in a Ministry of Science letter as grounds for my dismissal from Isfahan’s Sanaee University in 2008, after I had finished two terms studying English Translation. I should add that most of my classmates did not know anything about my being a Bahai, it had never been discussed.

How did they find out and expel you?

Hessam Misaghi: Usually Bahai students are dismissed after a ruling arrives from Ministry of Science’s Security Department. Ministry of Information has all the statistics on Bahai families; they identify [the students] and do the expulsion.

How do they get their statistics? Do families announce that they are Bahais?

Hessam Misaghi: Yes. Bahai’s don’t conceal their belief because it is forbidden for them. If someone asks them they announce that they are Bahais.

What happens if you object? Is there any source to respond to your objection?

Hessam Misaghi: Over the past years, objections have been registered with Ministry of Science, Evaluation Organization, and The Cultural Revolution Superior Council both in written form and in person. But the authorities do not answer at all and consider themselves not at fault.

Navid Khanjani and I even had a situation when last December 17th we went to Ministry of Science. We were detained in a room inside the Ministry of Science for a whole day. We were threatened and interrogated because we had found a confidential letter which Ministry of Science authorities didn’t want to leave the Ministry and we were not giving them the letter.

What was in the letter?

Hessam Misaghi: It was a letter in which it was clearly stated that dismissal of these students was on orders from Ministry of Science’s Security Department. The letter has been scanned and I can send you the file. I was so surprised when I heard Larijani’s statements. We have heard so many lies during these years but this was really surprising. How far can a government go to deny its actions? We are a generation who has heard years of lies and when we tried to expose the lies we ended up in prison, like Navid, Eeghan, Sama, and maybe even Dorsa…

Does the Committee only pertain to education-deprived students or does it also include the starred students?

Hessam Misaghi: We had starred students in our gatherings, too. Our gatherings were a tribune for all education-deprived students from all orientations.

Therefore your organization is only six months old and you have endured so much pressure?

Hessam Misaghi: Yes, that’s right.

You have been illegally barred from continuing your education. When responding to criticism about imprisoning Iranian Bahais and denying them the right to education, Javad Larijani denied it in Geneva. On the other hand, when you ask the authorities to be responsive, you are summoned and arrested. How does this make you feel?

Hessam Misaghi: With all these problems, and even though my best friends are in jail, I am still not disappointed, because I know people of Iran hear our voices. Iranians’ voices demanding their rights have been heard by the world for a while now. We are people who have never accepted injustice and have fought for regaining our rights until our last breaths.

Dorsa Sobhani, a Baha’i Activist, Arrested Today in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:41:56 +0000

Dorsa Sobhani, a member of the 1 Million Signature Campaign, was arrested this morning in Sari, northern Iran. The 1 Million Signature Campaign aims to collect a million signatures to a petition to repeal all the discriminatory laws against women in Iran, while raising awareness about this inequality.

Ms. Sobhani is a Baha’i who was denied her right to higher education because of her faith, and she has also campaigned for those rights. Many students – Baha’is and politically active – have been banned from attending universities in the past. The “Committee for the Right to Education”, which Dorsa is a member of, campaigned to lift these bans. Since the disputed June election in Iran, many members of the committee were arrested.

This arrest comes after a raid on Sobhani’s home on March 2th, when six security officials entered the home in the middle of the night, searched it and confiscated belongings. On March 4th, six officials returned to Sobhani’s home, and physically and verbally attacked her father. He was then arrested, blindfolded, bound and interrogated and threatened for hours. The security officials told him that unless he turns in Dorsa, he, his wife and young daughter will be arrested and their home will be taken away from them.

This morning Dorsa arrived at her home where she was met by 12 security agents who proceeded to arrest her.

Human Rights Watch Issues a Statement on the Violation of Baha’i Rights in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:45:20 +0000

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement about the ongoing persecution of Baha’is in Iran, following the arrest of 13 Baha’is in Iran for alleged connection the Ashoura protests (January 27, 2009). According to the Iranian regime, the Baha’is fomented protests, stored weapons and ammunition in their homes, and sent photographs of protests abroad. These allegations surfaced after an intense media campaign by the Iranian regime that blamed Baha’is for the protests.

Below is the Human Rights Watch statement:

Iran: End Persecution of Baha’is
Dozens Detained Without Charge; Leaders Face Charges Carrying Death Penalty
February 23, 2010

(New York) – The Iranian government should immediately stop harassing and arbitrarily detaining members of the Baha’i community, Human Rights Watch said today.

The detention of 13 Baha’is on February 10 and 11 follows the arrest of 13 others in early January. The government alleges that those arrested in January helped to organize recent anti-government demonstrations but has not made public any charges against those detained in February. These arrests come during a broad government crackdown on opposition activists.

“The Iranian government seems to be using the post-election unrest as a cover for targeting the Baha’i community,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These arrests are only the latest chapter in the government’s systematic persecution of the Baha’i.”

Unlike Iran’s Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian communities, which are accorded constitutional protection, the Iranian government does not recognize the Baha’i Faith and considers its adherents to be apostates from Shi’a Islam. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Iranian government has put in effect various discriminatory policies against the Baha’is, including limiting access to education and employment.

Since October 2009, authorities have detained at least 47 Baha’is in Tehran, Mashhad, Sari, Semnan, and Yazd, according to the United Nations office of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) in Geneva. In May 2008, the government arrested seven leaders of the Baha’i community in Tehran, who have been held in detention since then. Their trial began on January 12, but has been postponed to April 10.

The Judiciary has charged the seven community leaders with a range of national-security-related offenses, including spying for the benefit of foreigners, propaganda against the system, establishing and spreading illegal organizations, undermining the image of the Islamic Republic in the international community, and spreading “corruption on earth.” Most of these charges carry the death penalty. During the more than a year and a half that the five men and two women have been held, they have been allowed only limited visits from family and lawyers.

One of those detained on February 10 was Alaeddin Khanjani. According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Iran, Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) agents entered his home in Tehran at about 2:30 a.m., searched the premises, confiscated personal belongings including a computer and religious material, and took him into custody. Khanjani is the son of Jamaloddin Khanjani, one of the seven Baha’i leaders on trial in Tehran. Ministry of Intelligence agents had also arrested Alaeddin Khanjani’s adult daughter in January. Within several hours of Alaeddin Khanjani’s arrest, agents arrested seven more Baha’is, claiming they were being detained for their involvement in recent public demonstrations. On February 11, agents arrested five Baha’is in their homes in Tehran. No charges have been filed against any of the 13.

On January 3, MOI agents also raided the homes of 13 Baha’is and detained them, releasing three of them after they indicated they would not participate in further public demonstrations. In addition to the others arrested on February 10, one of those arrested on January 3 and then released was rearrested on February 10.

In a press statement on January 12, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran general prosecutor, said that the 10 Baha’is who have been held since January 3 faced charges of “organizing the unrest on Ashura [December 27] and sending photos of the unrest abroad.” In a previous statement on January 8, he claimed that authorities had found arms and ammunition in some of their homes. Dolatabadi denied that the arrests had anything to do with their Baha’i affiliation. Security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of Iranians for their alleged involvement in the demonstrations on Ashura, a Shi’a day of mourning.

The authorities are holding those arrested on January 3 in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj and have not allowed them to contact their lawyers. According to the BIC, a few of them were allowed to contact family members after spending several weeks in prison.

The BIC also indicated that 60 Baha’is are currently in detention, with an additional 90 having been released but awaiting trial. Since 2004, 99 Baha’is have been convicted of various charges, including acting against national security, teaching against the Islamic Republic, propaganda against the regime, involvement in establishing illegal groups and organizations, and insulting the sacred institutions of Islam. These individuals are free pending appeal. Scores of others have been summoned and interrogated by security and intelligence agents without being taken into custody, according to the BIC.

The five Baha’is arrested in Tehran on February 11 are: Taraneh Ghanouni, Naghmeh Ghanouni, Shaida Yousefi, Aria Shadmehr, and Riaz Firouzmandi.

In addition to Alaeddin Khanjani, those arrested on February 10 are: Ashkan Bassari, Maria Ehsan Jafar, Bashir Ehsani, Romina Zabihiyan, Houtan Sistani, Simin Ghaffari, and Pedram Sanaei.

Those arrested on January 3 are: Mehran Rowhani, Farid Rowhani, Babak Mobasher, Leva Mobasher Khanjani, Payam Fanaian, Jinous Ghazanfari Sobhani, Artin Ghazanfari, Nikav Hoveydaei, Ebrahim Shadmehr, Zavosh Shadmehr, Negar Sabet, Mona Hoveydaei Misaghi, and Nasim Beiglari. Negar Sabet, Mona Misaghi, and Nasim Beiglari were released on January 3, but Mona Misaghi was summoned to the MOI agency’s office again on February 10 and rearrested.

The seven members of the Baha’i leadership whose trial began on January 12 are: Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm.

Background

Due to governmental restrictions on openly practicing their faith, Baha’is in Iran are unable to convene and administer a National Spiritual Assembly as in most countries where Baha’i communities exist. Instead, they have formed an informal coordinating body known as the “Friends of Iran.” The seven members facing trial consist of six leaders and the secretary of this coordinating body.

Haifa, in present-day Israel, is the final resting place of Baha’ullah – the founder of the Baha’i Faith – and the faith’s administrative headquarters since 1868, when Haifa was under Ottoman rule, Despite the fact that sites in and around Haifa were considered holy to the Baha’is well before the creation of the state of Israel, the Iranian government has repeatedly used the connection as an excuse to accuse Baha’is in Iran of spying for Israel, with which Iran has hostile relations.

During a recent review of its human rights record before the United Nations Human Rights Council, Iranian officials dismissed numerous concerns by member states regarding the government’s treatment of its Baha’i minority. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s UN delegation, stated on February 15 that “no Baha’i in Iran is prosecuted because he is a Baha’i,” and the government rejected recommendations put forth by other governments calling for “an end to discrimination and incitement to hatred vis-à-vis the Baha’i.”

Five More Baha’is Arrested in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:45:55 +0000

This week, Iranian authorities rounded up five more Baha’is for alleged connections to the Ashoura protests (December 27, 2009). Some of the arrested are related to other Baha’is currently detained in Iran.

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), the names of the people arrested are Niki Khanjani, Ashkan Besari, Maria Jafari and her son, Hooman Sisani and Romina Zobihian. Niki Khanjani is the son of Jamalodin Khanjani, one of the members of the now-dissembled Friends of Iran (Yaran Iran), the unofficial leadership group of the Baha’is in Iran. Jamalodin Khanjani was arrested along with five others members of the group in May of 2008 (another member was arrested in March 2008). Niki Khanjani’s daughter Lava Khanjani and her husband Babak Mobasher have been arrested on January 3 in Tehran on charges of instigating protests on Ashoura along with other eight Baha’is. Maria Jafari, who was arrested earlier this week is the niece of Payam Fanaeeian who was also arrested on January 3rd.

A report in the daily Javan newspaper that is associated with the Revolutionary Guard did not detail the charges against the five arrested, but claimed that Baha’is are now escaping Iran abroad and to remote border region after fomenting post-election protests.

Indian News Channel Focuses on Persecution of Baha’is in Iran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:07:22 +0000

The Indian news channel NewsX recently aired an extensive report about the Baha’is of Iran. The program discusses the trial of the Baha’i 7 (Yaran), the systematic incitement against Baha’is in children’s books , the denial of education of Baha’is, the scapegoating of Baha’is after the post-election turmoil and the history of persecution of Baha’is in Iran. The program also includes an interview with Shirin Ebadi about the Yaran trial and the situation of Baha’is in Iran since the Islamic Revolution.

Part 1:

Part 2: (Note that it overlaps partially with part 1)

Part 3:

Part 4:

Trial of Recently Detained Baha’is to Start “this Week” in Tehran

Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:50:41 +0000

The semi-official Fars News Agency quoted today the Tehran persecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying that the trial of the recently detained Baha’is of Tehran “will be this week in a revolutionary court in Tehran”. He repeated the absurd charges that the Baha’is were behind the mass protests on Ashura (December 27), and that in the homes of several of the arrested weapons and ammunition were found. As we’ve mentioned, the crime of an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic carries the death penalty.

The Baha’i World Community flatly denied those charges. Diane Ala’i, the Community’s Representitive to the UN told the AFP that “without doubt, these are baseless fabrications devised by the government to further create an atmosphere of prejudice and hatred against the Iranian Baha’i community.”

According to a BBC Farsi report, the nine Bahai’s who were arrested on January 3, 2010 are: Babak Mobasher, Lava Khanjani-Mobasher, Negar Sabet, Jhinoos Sobhani, Artin Ghazanfari, Nasim Biglari, Sa’id Rowhani, Mehran Rowhani, and Payam Fanaian.