Pressure on Baha'is increases; one person arrested while homes of 8 other citizens searched
HRANA News Agency – On Sunday, August 29, Behnam Mumtazi, a Baha’i citizen living in Qazvin, was arrested by security forces while his home was searched. At the same time, the homes of other Baha’i citizens, including Navid Molaei, Sogand Rangarz, Masoud Bahrami, and Rojin Beik Aghaei in Qazvin, Sara Shabanpour and Nakisa Sadeghi in Karaj, and Shaghayegh Keshavarz and Esmaeil Jamali in Tehran, were searched by security forces.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, on Sunday, August 29, 2022, security forces arrested Behnam Momtazi in Qazvin, following a search of homes and arrests of Baha'i citizens.
According to information received by HRANA, Mr. Momtazi's arrest was accompanied by a search of his home, and so far, no information is available about his whereabouts.
At the same time, the homes of other Baha'i citizens, including Navid Molaei, Sogand Rangarz, Masoud Bahrami, and Rojin Beik Aghaei in Qazvin, Sara Shabanpour and Nakisa Sadeghi in Karaj, and Shaghayegh Keshavarz and Esmaeil Jamali in Tehran, have been searched by security forces.
Among these citizens, the workplace of Mr. Ismail Jamali was also searched by security forces.
During the search, the officers also confiscated a number of the citizens' personal belongings and took them away.
On Sunday, August 29, HRANA reported on the arrest of Mahvash Sabet (Shahriari), Fariba Kamalabadi, and Afif Naeimi, former members of the directors of the Baha’i community of Iran known as “Yaran Iran,” as well as Saman Estavar, another Baha’i citizen. The homes and workplaces of these citizens, along with four other citizens named Nasir Heravi, Kamyar Habibi, Mozaffar Nabili, and Sara Shaaban, were also searched by security forces, and some of their personal belongings, including mobile phones, electronic devices, and works related to the Baha’i faith, were confiscated. In the wake of this increased pressure, the homes and workplaces of three other Baha’i citizens named Nima Haggar and Nazila Haggar in Tehran, as well as the home of Sabin Yazdani in Karaj, were searched by security forces. During the search of Ms. Yazdani’s home, the officers seized and took away all of her and her family members’ digital devices.
In addition, according to information received by HRANA, during the past day, the homes of Navid Misaghi in Sari, Ehsan Jaberi and Bahar Bangale in Shiraz, Farideh Hedayati in Mashhad, Bita Mumtazi (money changer) and Pouya Mumtazi (money changer) in Karaj, as well as the homes of five other Baha'i citizens in Gorgan, namely Shafaq Fahandaj, Shakib Modi (innocent), Afsun Modi (innocent), Shaghayegh Pour-Enayati, and Neda Taefi, were also searched by security forces.
An informed source also told HRANA: On Sunday, August 29, Soha Sabeti (Rahmani), a Baha’i citizen living in Sari, was arrested by security forces while her home was searched. At the same time, the homes of other Baha’i citizens, including Sanaz Alizadeh and Soria Manouchehrzadeh (Misaghi) in Sari, Azadeh Yaani and Afsaneh Takshar in Gonbad Kavous, and Afnaneh Ansari in Mahshahr, were searched by security forces. Among these citizens, Ms. Ansari was also arrested and released after a few hours.
Baha'i citizens in Iran are deprived of freedoms related to religious beliefs. This systematic deprivation occurs despite the fact that, according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion and to change their religion with conviction, as well as the freedom to manifest it, either individually or in community with others and in public or in private.
According to unofficial sources, there are more than 300,000 Baha'i citizens in Iran, but the Iranian constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not recognize the Baha'i faith. For this reason, the rights of Baha'is in Iran have been systematically violated over the past years.
Source: HRANA
