Home Searches and Seizure of Personal Items of Three Bahai Citizens in Yazd
The homes of Katayoun Shahryari, Peyman Rouhi, and Iman Rashidi, Bahai citizens residing in Yazd, were searched by security forces on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. Upon entering the home of one of these citizens, the officers broke the lock on the door and refused to show a search warrant. After searching the homes, they seized a number of personal items belonging to the citizens and took them away.
According to Hrana news agency, the news organ of the Human Rights Activists in Iran group, on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, the homes of Katayoun Shahryari, Peyman Rouhi, Iman Rashidi, and his wife Shabnam Motahhed, Bahai citizens residing in Yazd, were searched by security forces.
Security officers broke the lock upon entering the home of one of these citizens and refused to show a search warrant. They also searched the home of a neighbor of one of these citizens and seized a neighboring resident’s surveillance camera without showing a warrant. After searching the homes, the officers seized a number of personal items belonging to all family members, including mobile phones, laptops, personal computers, bank cards, photographs, and books related to the Bahai faith.
The seizure of mobile phones and laptops from these citizens comes at a time when the children of these families need access to electronic devices for their education amid the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Among these citizens, Iman Rashidi has a previous record of detention and conviction. He was tried in a collective trial in April 2014 and was sentenced along with his wife Shabnam Motahhed to 3 years imprisonment and 1 year suspended imprisonment. Mr. Rashidi was released from prison in February 2017 upon completion of his sentence.
Bahai citizens in Iran are deprived of freedoms related to religious beliefs. This systematic deprivation occurs despite Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which state that everyone has the right to freedom of religion and to change religion with conviction and to manifest their belief individually or collectively, publicly or in private.
According to unofficial sources in Iran, there are over 300,000 Bahais, but Iran’s Constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not recognize the Bahai faith. For this reason, the rights of Bahais in Iran have been systematically violated over the past years.
Source: Hrana
