Five Weeks of Uncertainty in Shiraz Intelligence Detention; Charges Against Yekta Fahandzadeh Saadi Still Unclear
Hrana news agency reported the continued detention of Yekta Fahandzadeh Saadi, a Bahá’í citizen, by the Shiraz Intelligence Office, noting that after five weeks in detention, she remains in an uncertain situation.
According to the report, Ms. Fahandzadeh Saadi has only had one brief phone call during this period. In that phone conversation with her family, she stated that she is still being held at the Shiraz Intelligence Office detention facility, known as Building 100.
Yekta Fahandzadeh Saadi was arrested on December 18 by security forces of the Islamic Republic at her residence in Shiraz and subsequently transferred to the Shiraz Intelligence Office detention facility.
No information is yet available regarding the reasons for the detention and the charges filed against Yekta Fahandzadeh Saadi.
The Bahá’ís, considered the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, have been systematically persecuted since the February 1979 Islamic Revolution.
According to the Iran Human Rights Database, since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, “at least 225 Bahá’ís have been killed directly or indirectly by the Islamic Republic.”
According to the 2022 annual report on International Religious Freedom prepared by the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, the Islamic Republic’s repression, violence, discrimination, and social stigmatization of members of the Bahá’í community in Iran has intensified.
Source: Voice of America
