Three Bahai Citizens Arrested and Transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to Serve Their Sentences
Hrana News Agency – Sediqa Aqdasi, Behrouz Farzandi, and Ghasem Massoumi, Bahai citizens residing in Shiraz, were arrested today, Monday, March 7, 2022, and transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to serve their sentences. The arrest of these citizens occurred after they were summoned to the Revolutionary Court under the pretext of providing some clarifications and without notification of the execution of their sentences. These citizens were initially sentenced by the Shiraz Revolutionary Court to 39 months of imprisonment each. Mr. Farzandi and Massoumi’s sentences were confirmed on appeal, and 25 months of Ms. Aqdasi’s sentence were suspended.
According to Hrana News Agency, the news outlet of the Human Rights Activists Organization in Iran, today, Monday, March 7, 2022, Sediqa Aqdasi, Behrouz Farzandi, and Ghasem Massoumi, Bahai citizens residing in Shiraz, were arrested and transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to serve their sentences.
The arrest of these citizens occurred following their summons to Branch 14 of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court under the pretext of providing some clarifications and without notification of the execution of their sentences.
According to a source close to these Bahai citizens, the three individuals were transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz through the back door of the court without informing their companions after their appearance at the Revolutionary Court.
These citizens were arrested on April 6, 2021, along with Aliyeh Forutan, Siamak Hanarvand, and Saeed Etehad by security forces and transferred to solitary cells at police detention centers under the supervision of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Shiraz. They were eventually released on bail in May 2021, temporarily and until the end of legal proceedings.
These individuals were convicted in November 2021 by the First Branch of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court to 7 months and 16 days of imprisonment each for the charge of propaganda activities against the system, and to 31 months and 16 days of imprisonment for the charge of membership in groups opposed to the system. Mr. Farzandi and Massoumi’s convictions were confirmed on appeal, and 25 months of Ms. Aqdasi and Ms. Forutan’s sentences were suspended.
Skyler Thompson, Director of Foreign Relations of the Human Rights Activists Organization in Iran, said regarding this news: This organization strongly condemns discriminatory actions against religious minorities in Iran. We call on Iran to take concrete steps to ensure that Iranians, particularly Bahai citizens, can enjoy freedoms related to religion, including the free exercise of their religious practices.
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 thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to change religion or belief, and the freedom to manifest religion or belief, individually or in community with others, in public or in private.
Based on unofficial sources in Iran, there are over 300,000 Bahai citizens, but Iran’s Constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as official religions and does not recognize the Bahai faith. For this reason, the rights of Bahai citizens in Iran have been systematically violated over the years.
Source: Hrana
