Shiva Khalili, Bahai Citizen, Transferred to Babol Prison
Shiva Khalili, a Bahai citizen, has been transferred to Babol Prison to serve her one-year prison sentence.
Shiva Khalili was arrested on November 15, 1400 (November 2021) after being summoned to the first branch of the public prosecutor’s office and revolutionary court in Babol, and was released a day later after posting bail. One month later, in December 1400 (December 2021), she was sentenced by the first branch of the revolutionary court in Babol to one year of punitive imprisonment on charges of “propaganda against the system,” and her mobile phone was also confiscated as evidence of the crime. Ms. Khalili’s one-year prison sentence was reconfirmed in late 1400 (late 2021) by the second branch of the appeals court of Mazandaran Province.
Today, Wednesday, December 20, 1402 (December 11, 2023), Shiva Khalili reported to the enforcement branch of the Babol prosecutor’s office and was subsequently arrested and transferred to Babol Prison to serve her sentence.
Religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, who are even recognized by Iran’s constitution, have been deprived of their freedom of belief and religious faith since the past until now, and in many cases have even been subjected to harassment, persecution, and torture. Although according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, every person has the right to freedom of religion, change of religion, and freedom of expression and belief, the Islamic Republic regime not only harasses members of minorities whose religions it recognizes and deprives them of their civil rights, but also persecutes Bahai citizens, whose religion it does not recognize, with greater severity, depriving them in most cases of their civil rights and denying them freedom of expression, belief, education, employment, and so forth.
Additionally, every year as Christmas approaches and the new Gregorian year begins, raids by regime forces on the homes of religious minorities, particularly Christians and Jews, intensify, and the aforementioned citizens are arrested on frivolous charges of “propaganda against the system” and “teachings contrary to Islamic Sharia” and are sent to prison.
