Baha'i citizen Shiva Khalili transferred to Babol prison

Shiva Khalili, a Baha'i citizen, was transferred to Babol Prison to serve a one-year prison sentence.

Shiva Khalili was arrested on November 15, 1401, after being summoned to Branch 1 of the Babol General and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office and released on bail the next day. A month later, in December 1401, she was sentenced to one year in prison by Branch 1 of the Babol Revolutionary Court on charges of "propaganda against the regime," and her cell phone was confiscated as a tool of the crime. Ms. Khalili's one-year prison sentence was upheld by Branch 2 of the Mazandan Provincial Court of Appeal in late 1401.

Today, Wednesday, December 19, 1402, Shiva Khalili went to the Babol Courthouse's Enforcement Branch and was then arrested and transferred to Babol Prison to serve her sentence.

Religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, who are even recognized by the Iranian Constitution, have been deprived of their freedom of thought and religious beliefs in the past and have even been harassed, persecuted, and tortured in many cases. Considering that according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion, change of religion, freedom of expression, and belief, the Islamic Republic regime has not only harassed and deprived minority individuals whose religion it recognizes and deprived them of their citizenship rights, but has also subjected Baha'i citizens, whom it does not recognize, to greater severity and in most cases deprived them of their citizenship rights, and has denied them the right to freedom of expression, belief, education, employment, and so on.

Also, every year, as Christmas approaches and the start of the New Year, regime agents' raids on the homes of religious minorities, especially Christians and Jews, become more intense, arresting and sending these citizens to prison on false charges of "propaganda against the regime" and "teachings contrary to Islamic law."