Setting a court date to hear charges against 26 Baha'i citizens in Shiraz
HRANA News Agency – The court hearing to hear the charges against 26 Baha'i citizens of Shiraz will be held on Wednesday, May 18, in Branch 1 of the city's Revolutionary Court.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, the time and branch of the court hearing to hear the charges against 26 Baha'i citizens living in Shiraz have been set.
The third session of the court hearing the charges against Parisa Rouhizadegan, Esmail Rousta, Bahareh Norouzi, Behnam Azizpour, Samareh Thamreh, Ramin Shirvani, Rezvan Yazdani, Soroush Eqani Saghadi, Saeed Hassani, Shadi Sadegh Aghdam, Shamim Akhlaqi, Sahba Farahbakhsh, Sahba Moslehi, Ohdieh Enayati, Farbod Shadman, Farzad Shadman, Lala Salehi, Mozhgan Gholampour Saadi, Marjan Gholampour, Maryam Eslami Mehdiabadi, Mahyar Sefidi Miandoab, Nabil Tahdhib, Nasim Kashani Nejad, Noushin Zanhari, Varga Kaviani, and Yekta Fahandezh Saadi will be held on Wednesday, May 18, 1402, in Branch 1 of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Seyed Mahmoud Sadati.
The charges brought against these citizens include “propaganda against the regime and in favor of groups hostile to the regime, managing groups hostile to the regime, membership in the aforementioned groups, propaganda activities, and cooperation with hostile governments and connections with hostile governments of the Islamic Republic and global arrogance through implementing their programs in the form of Baha’i organizations in Iran.”
The first court session to hear the charges against these citizens was held on June 16, 2020, and the second session, after the issues were resolved at the prosecutor's office, was held on October 4, 2020. During the first session, the defendants' lawyers pointed out issues in the case to the judge. Ultimately, the judge said the case should be returned to the prosecutor's office for further review.
Marjan and Mojgan Gholampour, Farbod and Farzad Shadman, and Parisa Rouhizadegan, Shamim Akhlaqi and his wife Sahba Farahbakhsh, Sahba Moslehi and his wife Ohdieh Enayati, Mahyar Sefidi and his wife Shadi Aghdam, and Varga Kaviani, Soroush Eqani and Maryam Eslami, and Bahareh Norouzi were arrested by security forces in Shiraz in 2016 and released temporarily on bail until the end of the trial.
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'is in Iran, but the Iranian constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not recognize the Baha'i religion. For this reason, the rights of Baha'is in Iran have been systematically violated over the past years.
Source: HRANA
