wfn.org | Baha'i News: Jailed Iranian Baha'is should be released, not put on trial, says BIC

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Jailed Iranian Baha'is should be released, not put on trial, says BIC

>Baha'i World News Service

>http://news.bahai.org

>For more information, contact: news@bahai.org

Jailed Iranian Baha'is should be released, not put on trial, says BIC

GENEVA  12 February 2009 (BWNS) - Reports that seven imprisoned Baha'is have
been accused of espionage and other crimes and that their case will be
referred to the Revolutionary Court next week are deeply concerning,
potentially marking a new and dangerous stage in Iran's persecution of
Baha'is, said the Baha'i International Community today.

"The accusations are false, and the government knows this," said Diane
Ala'i, the Baha'i International Community representative to the United
Nations in Geneva. "The seven Baha'is detained in Tehran should be
immediately released."

Word of a possible trial against imprisoned Baha'is came yesterday in an
Iranian ISNA news agency report quoting Tehran's deputy public prosecutor,
Hassan Haddad. According to the report, a case will be sent to the
revolutionary courts next week accusing the seven Baha'is of "espionage for
Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic
republic."

It is presumed that the seven referred to by Mr. Haddad are the group of
Baha'i leaders from Tehran who were arrested last year in raids reminiscent
of sweeps nearly 30 years ago at the start of the Islamic revolution. Those
sweeps led to the execution of dozens of Baha'i leaders at the time.

The seven Baha'i leaders have been held in prison for over eight months and
no evidence against them has been brought to light. Further, at no time
during their incarceration have the accused been given access to their legal
counsel, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi. Mrs. Ebadi has been threatened, intimidated, and
vilified in the news media since taking on their case and has not been given
access to their case files. In December, the government moved to shut down
the offices of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre, which was founded by
Mrs. Ebadi. "The government must now allow Mrs. Ebadi access to the
prisoners and to their files," said Ms. Ala'i. 

All Baha'i elected and appointed institutions were banned by the government
in 1983; most of the members of the previous three national governing
councils having successively been executed. In the absence of a national
governing council (known as a "National Spiritual Assembly"), the ad hoc
leadership group, called the "Friends in Iran," was formed with the full
knowledge of the government and since then has served as a coordinating body
for the 300,000 Baha'is in that country. The various governments in power in
Iran since 1983 have always been aware of this group. In fact, over the
years government officials have routinely had dealings with the members of
this group, albeit often informally. "To now say that the 'Friends in Iran'
is an 'illegal' group is fallacious," said Ms. Ala'i.

>Systematic campaign

The prosecution of the leaders is just one step in a 30-year-long systematic
campaign orchestrated by the government to eliminate the Baha'i community as
a viable entity in Iran, the birthplace of the Baha'i Faith. Documentary
evidence has been provided by United Nations agencies on this campaign. 

The arrest of the Baha'i leadership takes place in the context of a severely
and rapidly escalating campaign of attacks against the Baha'i community that
has included the creation and circulation of lists of Baha'is with
instructions that the activities of the members of the community be secretly
monitored; dawn raids on Baha'i homes and the confiscation of personal
property; a dramatic increase over the past two months in the number of
Baha'is arrested; daily incitement to hatred of the Baha'is in all forms of
government-sponsored mass media; the holding of anti-Baha'i symposia and
seminars organized by clerics and followed by orchestrated attacks on Baha'i
homes and properties in the cities and towns where such events are held;
destruction of Baha'i cemeteries throughout the country and demolition of
Baha'i holy places and shrines; acts of arson against Baha'i homes and
properties; debarring of Baha'is from access to higher education and,
increasingly, vilification of Baha'i children in their classrooms by their
teachers; the designation of numerous occupations and businesses from which
Baha'is are debarred; refusal to extend bank loans to Baha'is; sealing
Baha'i shops; refusing to issue or renew business licenses to Baha'is;
harassment of landlords of Baha'i business premises to get them to evict
their tenants; and threats against Muslims who associate with Baha'is.

Ms. Ala'i said the nature and timing of the reported accusations against the
seven Baha'is and possible trial are ominous.

"The charges of spying for Israel are often used by the Iranian government
when it wishes to push forward a false case against Baha'is," said Ms.
Ala'i. "Since the early 1930s, the Baha'i Faith's antagonists in Iran have
insisted that the religion was instead a political sect created by
imperialist governments attempting to weaken Islam. Baha'is have
successively been accused of being tools of Russian imperialism, British
colonialism, American expansionism, and most recently, of Zionism.

"The international headquarters of the Baha'i Faith is based today within
the borders of modern-day Israel purely as a result of the banishment of the
Faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, by the Persian and Ottoman empires in the
mid-19th century. In 1868, 80 years before the state of Israel was founded,
Baha'u'llah was exiled to perpetual imprisonment in the city of Akka."

"If the Baha'is are accused of spying for Israel, then why do they not hide
their identity? Why were hundreds previously executed for refusing to recant
their faith and embrace Islam? Why have thousands been deprived of their
jobs, pensions, businesses and educational opportunities? Why have holy
places, shrines and cemeteries been confiscated and demolished? All of this
demonstrates a concerted attempt to destroy a religious community," Ms.
Ala'i said.

>Other charges 

The other charges are equally false, she said.

"Accusations of 'insulting religious sanctity' are more about the Iranian
government's own intolerance of other religions or beliefs than any
imaginary disrespectfulness of Baha'is towards Islam. It is well known that
Baha'is recognize the divine origin of Islam and accept Muhammad as a true
Prophet. 

"As for the idea that the seven have been working against the regime, these
people have been under constant surveillance and have been interrogated and
detained previously. 

"The government knows that the seven, following the principles of the Baha'i
Faith, have refrained from involvement in any partisan political activity,
whether local, national, or international. Like other Baha'is, they reject
violence and any involvement in overthrowing governments. The Universal
House of Justice, the international governing council of the worldwide
Baha'i community, has recently spoken to this issue in a message to the
Baha'is in Iran. 

"Because the government knows such accusations are false, we can only
conclude that this is yet another step in the escalation of its decades-long
crackdown on Iranian Baha'is," said Ms. Ala'i.

Although news reports did not specify the names of the accused, the seven
who were arrested last year are: Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin
Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz
Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. 

All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in
Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad.

Ms. Ala'i also noted that at this time, some 30 other Baha'is are imprisoned
in Iran solely on account of their religion. Close to 80 more Baha'is are
out on bail, having posted deeds of property and business licenses as
collateral for bail. They are awaiting trial on similarly false charges.
They are also innocent and should be released, she said.

>For more information, go to:

>http://news.bahai.org/story/694

>http://news.bahai.org/story/695

>http://news.bahai.org/story/632

>http://news.bahai.org/story/682

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