NEW YORK, 12 May (Baha'i
World News Service) - The seven
Baha'i leaders currently imprisoned in Iran are facing the anniversary of their
arrest this Thursday, along with new and extremely grave accusations, after
spending a year in jail without formal charges or access to their lawyer, Shirin
Ebadi.
|
Reports from Iran say that the case of the Baha'i group arrested in
the spring of 2008 will soon be sent to the revolutionary courts.
The individuals who form the committee that was imprisoned are,
seated from left, Behrouz Tavakkoli and Saeid Rezaie, and, standing,
Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi,
and Mahvash Sabet. |
"Despite their obvious innocence and the call by many for their immediate
release, these seven men and women have been in legal limbo for a year now,
against all international human rights standards," said Bani Dugal, the
principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United
Nations.
"Moreover, their families have recently been told of
a possible new charge - 'the spreading of corruption on earth,' which goes by
the term 'Mofsede fel-Arz' in Persian and carries the threat of death under the
penal code of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Ms. Dugal.
"The sequence of events surrounding their detention
exposes a shameless travesty of justice. Notwithstanding their having been
subjected to intensive interrogations, it took a full seven months before they
were given even a single pretext for their detention. On February 10, 2009, the
Iranian Student News Agency quoted Tehran deputy prosecutor Hassan Haddad as
having said that the investigation of these individuals was complete and that
'the case will be sent to the revolutionary court next week' and that these
Baha'is are accused of 'espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and
propaganda against the Islamic Republic.' The international protest expressed by
governments and civil society was immediate and widespread, causing the Iranian
authorities to review their approach.
"Now a new wrongful accusation reportedly has been
added some three months after the investigation was supposed to have concluded.
The charge of being spreaders of corruption was used against the Baha'is who
were executed in the years immediately following the Islamic revolution. That it
may now be resorted to in this case is a further demonstration that the
authorities have no basis for any allegation against these seven individuals,
other than blatant religious persecution. This action against the Baha'i
leadership reflects the government's sharply increased persecution of the entire
Iranian Baha'i community of more than 300,000 members.
"The upcoming anniversary of their arrest offers an
important milestone and we ask that the international community re-state once
again in the strongest terms its demand for their immediate release, or, at
least, for a fair and open trial that meets international standards of justice,"
said Ms. Dugal.
Ms. Dugal also noted that Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has frequently emphasized the importance of "justice and human
dignity" and "the establishment of a just world system," such as when he
addressed the UN Durban Review Conference in Geneva last month.
"How can the calls of the Iranian leadership for
justice in the international sphere be taken seriously if they do not grant
justice to their own citizens? In Iran, by all accounts universally agreed upon
human rights are routinely ignored, not only for Baha'is but also for women,
journalists, and others who only seek dignity and justice," she said.
The seven 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.
For more information, go to
http://news.bahai.org.
... Payvand News - 05/12/09 ... --
