Shahnaz Sabet, a Baha'i citizen, was transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to serve her sentence.
Shahnaz Sabet, a Baha'i citizen living in Shiraz, was arrested this morning, Monday, October 11, and transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to serve her sentence. Ms. Sabet was previously sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, and this sentence was reduced to 2 years in prison on appeal.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, this morning, Monday, October 11, 2020, Shahnaz Sabet, a Baha'i citizen living in Shiraz, was arrested and transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to serve her sentence.
Shahnaz Sabet was arrested by security forces at her home in Shiraz on September 1, 2019, and was released on bail pending the outcome of the trial. Before the arrest, the officers searched her home and confiscated a number of her personal belongings and took them away.
The court hearing to hear Ms. Sabet's charges, along with several other Baha'i citizens, was held on Sunday, May 12, 2020. Ms. Sabet was ultimately sentenced to 6 years in prison in late May of this year by the First Branch of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Seyyed Mahmoud Sadati, on charges of propaganda activities against the regime and membership in groups opposed to the regime.
After appealing the ruling, Ms. Sabet's case was referred to the Court of Appeals, and in late July of this year, the Fars Provincial Court of Appeals sentenced her to 2 years in prison.
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'is 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
