New Charges Filed Against 26 Baháʼís in Shiraz, Six Years After Arrest
According to reports received by Radio Farda, the trial of 26 Baháʼí citizens who were arrested six years ago in September 2016 will be held on Wednesday, May 18.
The trial is being held despite one of these citizens stating that the case judge has “repeatedly declared the case file defective” over the past six years.
However, after six years have passed, the prosecutor handling the case has once again filed charges against these Baháʼís and referred the case to Branch One of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz.
The charges brought against these citizens have been stated as “propaganda against the system, membership in an anti-system group, formation of an anti-system group, and contact with hostile states”—charges that the Islamic Republic routinely levels against Baháʼí citizens in Iran.
The Global Baháʼí Community has repeatedly emphasized that the security charges brought against Baháʼí citizens in Iran are entirely “baseless” and that the only reason for the arrests of Baháʼís by Islamic Republic security agencies is their religious beliefs and religious activities.
According to reports received by Radio Farda, the names of these 26 Baháʼí citizens, most of whom are from Shiraz, are as follows: Parisa Rohani-zadegan, Ismail Rousta, Bahareh Norouzi, Behnam Azizpour, Samrah Ashnai, Ramin Shervani, Rezvan Yazdani, Sarush Eghani Saghadi, Saeed Hasani, Shadi Sadeghasghad, Shamim Ekhlaghi, Sahba Farah Bakhsh, Sahba Moslahi, Ahdiyeh Enayati, Farbod Shadman, Farzad Shadman, Lala Salehi, Maryam Ghlampur Saedi, Marjan Ghlampur, Maryam Islami Mehdiaabadi, Mehyar Sepidi Miandoab, Nabil Tahzib, Nasim Kashani-Nejad, Noushin Zanhary, Varqa Kaviany, and Yekta Fahandej Saedi.
The trial of these citizens is being held amid reports from the Global Baháʼí Community to the United Nations stating that a judicial official in a court in Shiraz has “threatened to eradicate the Baháʼí community of Shiraz.”
In the most recent case of Baháʼí arrests in Iran, Saedeh Khazouei was summoned in late March of this year to the prosecutor’s office at Evin to defend against charges, was arrested, and remains in an unknown situation.
The Islamic Republic of Iran does not formally recognize the Baháʼí religion, and its followers have faced significant pressures and widespread discrimination in the country for decades.
Over the past four decades, multiple reports have been published about the arrests, executions, and deprivation of Baháʼís from university education and the right to earn a livelihood in Iran.
Source: Radio Farda
