Iran continues persecution of Baha'is

NEW
YORK, 8 August (BWNS) -  GHN - The Baha'i International Community has received
reports indicating that seven Iranian Baha'i leaders have each received
jail sentences of 20 years.

Baha'i House of Worship, Wilmette,


The two women and five men have been held in Tehran's notorious Evin
prison since they were arrested in 2008 - six of them on 14 May and one
of them two months earlier.


"If this news proves to be accurate, it represents a deeply shocking
outcome to the case of these innocent and harmless people," said Bani
Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International
Community to the United Nations.


"We understand that they have been informed of this sentence and that
their lawyers are in the process of launching an appeal," said Ms.
Dugal.


The prisoners - Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi,
Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Vahid Tizfahm - were
all members of a national-level group that helped see to the minimum
needs of Iran's 300,000-strong Baha'i community, the country's largest
non-Muslim religious minority.


The Baha'i Faith had established beginnings in the mid 19th century in Iraq and Iran and
have a major center in the United States in Wilmette, Illinois.  It is
active in a number of international groups with its message of world
peace, good interfaith relations and a focus on humanitarian causes.  Reports of persecution have continued for many years against this religion, considered by Muslims as a deviant group of Islam because of its acceptance of Baha'u'llah,  the Baha'i Faith's principal founder, as the newest prophet.


The trial of the seven consisted of six brief court appearances which
began on 12 January this year after they had been incarcerated without
charge for 20 months, during which time they were allowed barely one
hour's access to their legal counsel. The trial ended on 14 June.


The defendants were accused of espionage, propaganda activities against
the Islamic order, and the establishment of an illegal administration,
among other allegations. All the charges are completely and
categorically denied.