Five Baha'i citizens arrested in Iran in one week, homes of two others searched
Last week, five Baha'i citizens were arrested and the homes of two other Baha'i citizens were searched.
An informed source told VOA that on Sunday, August 10, a Baha'i citizen living in Shiraz named "Soheila Haghighat" was arrested by IRGC intelligence agents and taken to an unknown location.
On the other hand, three Baha'i citizens living in Tehran, named "Monireh Bavil-Saflaei", "Mino Zamanipour", and "Gholam-Hossein Mazloumi", have been arrested by intelligence agents in Tehran and transferred to Evin Prison.
According to this informed person, at the time of the arrest of "Monireh Bavil-Saflai," security agents announced that she had been arrested in connection with the investigation into the exhumation of a Baha'i citizen in Gilavand.
On Sunday, August 10, the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners reported that Ms. Soheila Haghighat was arrested in her home by seven security officers who covered their faces with masks on charges of "organizing a meeting against national security." Before transferring this Baha'i citizen to an unknown location, the officers searched her home and confiscated a number of Ms. Haghighat's personal belongings and took them away.
According to this informed person, on Friday, August 8, agents from the Tehran Ministry of Intelligence visited the home of Jamal al-Din Khanjani, the former representative of the Baha'i community in Iran, and searched the home of this Baha'i citizen. After a lengthy interrogation of him and another member of his family, they confiscated a number of personal belongings, all books, and cash and took them away.
Mr. Khanjani was released from Rajai Shahr Prison in late March 2017 after serving ten years of his sentence without even being allowed a single day's leave.
This informed source told VOA that on Monday, August 4, the home of Baha'i researcher and historian Touraj Amini was also searched by IRGC intelligence agents in Karaj, and a number of the Baha'i citizen's personal belongings and religious books were confiscated, and he was told that he would soon be summoned for questioning.
Another Baha'i citizen, Farid Moghadam Zirkani, was arrested by Birjand security officers on Saturday, August 3, and taken to an unknown location. More than a week later, the reason for the arrest and whereabouts of this Baha'i citizen are still unknown.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke during the unveiling of the annual religious freedom report and said that in Iran, the repression of Baha'is, Christians, and others continues to affect consciences.
International human rights organizations and the United States government have repeatedly condemned the persecution and imprisonment of followers of religious minorities in Iran.
Source: Voice of America
