Saeedeh Khazu'i, a Baha'i citizen, was released on bail.
HRANA News Agency – Saeideh Khozoui, a Baha’i citizen, was temporarily released on bail today, Tuesday, June 23, pending the completion of the trial. Ms. Khozoui was arrested on April 12, after appearing at Evin District Court.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, today, Tuesday, June 23, 2022, Saeideh Khozoui, a Baha'i citizen, was released from Evin Prison.
Ms. Khazoui was released after 43 days of detention, after posting a bail of 2 billion Tomans and pending the completion of the trial.
Ms. Khozoui was arrested on April 12 after appearing at the Evin Courthouse. On Thursday, April 19, she had informed her family in a phone call that she was continuing to be detained in the A-1 detention center of the IRGC Intelligence. She was finally transferred from this detention center to Evin Prison this week.
Previously, despite repeated requests from the family, Evin Prosecutor's Office officials refused to provide any information regarding Ms. Khazoui's whereabouts and the charges brought against her.
Saeideh Khozooi, the mother of Arsalan Yazdani, is a Baha’i citizen who was arrested by security forces in Tehran on September 10, 2017, and transferred to a security detention center in Evin Prison. During her arrest, the security forces searched her home and confiscated a number of her personal belongings. She was eventually released on bail on October 15, 2017.
Saeideh Khazoui's home was searched by security forces on October 28, 2021, and a number of her personal belongings, including her laptop, cell phone, electronic devices, photos, and documents, were confiscated.
Skylar Thompson, external relations officer for the Human Rights Activists in Iran, said in response to the news: "The organization strongly condemns discriminatory practices against religious minorities in Iran. We call on Iran to take concrete steps to ensure that Iranians, especially Baha'i citizens, can enjoy religious freedoms, including the free exercise of their religious beliefs."
Baha'i citizens in Iran are deprived of freedoms related to religious beliefs. This systematic deprivation occurs despite the fact that, according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion and to change their religion with conviction, as well as the freedom to manifest it, either individually or in community with others and in public or in private.
According to unofficial sources, there are more than 300,000 Baha'i citizens in Iran, but the Iranian constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not recognize the Baha'i religion. For this reason, the rights of Baha'is in Iran have been systematically violated over the past years.
Source: HRANA
