Defense attorney for imprisoned Baha'i citizen Lisa Tebyanian: Supreme Court's reversal of acquittal was "illegal and unjust"

The lawyer for Lisa Tebyanian, a Baha'i citizen imprisoned in Iran, says that the authorities of the Islamic Republic cannot accept that a court in the Islamic Republic does not consider "propagating Baha'ism" a crime, and that is why they convicted Ms. Tebyanian after her acquittal.

Mazdak Etemadzadeh, the lawyer for this Baha'i citizen living in Karaj, who was recently arrested and transferred to Shahid Kachhui Prison to serve his sentence, told VOA that the case of this Baha'i citizen was heard in the appeals court without the presence of a lawyer, and Branch 4 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Karaj sentenced him to 7 months in prison in August 2018 on charges of "propaganda activities against the regime."

The lawyer says that the verdict was overturned by Branch 12 of the Alborz Provincial Court of Appeal in January of that year. However, two years later, the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran overturned Ms. Lisa Tebyanian’s acquittal and ordered her arrest on Saturday, August 15. As a result, she must be transferred to Kachhui Prison to serve the sentence from which she had previously been acquitted.

Mr. Etemadzadeh told VOA that the Supreme Court rejected Lisa Tebyanian's acquittal, even though the head of Branch 12 of the Alborz Provincial Court of Appeal had previously declared in a ruling issued on January 2, 2018, that this Baha'i citizen "has not carried out any propaganda activities against the system" and had ruled to acquit her, arguing that "mere propaganda for the Baha'i faith is not considered propaganda against the system, and what is certain is that propaganda must be against the Iranian political system, and therefore, according to Article 500 of the law, religious propaganda in a way that is not considered against the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its sovereignty is not considered a crime."

Referring to the lack of information about the Supreme Court's annulment of the verdict, the lawyer told VOA: "It is still unclear on what grounds the retrial was conducted. However, based on Article 477 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that if the verdict is against Islamic law, the head of the judiciary can review the final verdict at any time and in any place. The Supreme Court has issued a ruling and confirmed the verdict of the lower court." According to Mr. Etemadzadeh, this is illegal, unfair, and unjust.

According to available information, Ms. Tebyanian was arrested on March 16, 2016, by intelligence officers in Karaj and released from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj in early April 2017 after posting bail and pending the completion of the trial.

Mr. Etemadzadeh says that after accessing the file of this Baha'i citizen, it was determined that there was no evidence that Ms. Tebyanian intended to teach any Baha'i teachings, even to a Baha'i person; however, the authorities of the Islamic Republic are prosecuting Baha'is under various pretexts.

The lawyer says that despite the fact that the Charter of Civil Rights of the Iranian Constitution states that "every person, regardless of their beliefs, can benefit from these rights," human rights violations against Baha'is continue. He added that a legal solution must be found to convince and force the Islamic Republic system not to prevent the education and work of some citizens who have a particular view and not to eliminate them.

This is not the first time that a Baha'i citizen has faced a prison sentence. In late May, the Baha'i International Community responded to the increasing harassment of Baha'i followers in Iran and the sentencing of these citizens to long prison terms by issuing a statement, calling for the release of prisoners of conscience from Iranian prisons despite the spread of the coronavirus in prisons.

Sam Brownback, the US ambassador for international religious freedom, said at a special press conference in Washington on May 15: “Baha’is in Iran, and unfortunately in some other countries around the world, are facing severe persecution.”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom also expressed concern in its annual report in early May about the state of religious freedom in Iran; part of the report states that the Islamic Republic has increasingly targeted Muslim minorities, especially Sunnis and Dervishes, as well as followers of other religions and denominations, including Baha'is and Christians.

Source: Voice of America