Nine Baha'i citizens sentenced to over 51 years in prison

Nine Baha'i citizens living in Birjand have been sentenced to a total of 51 years and 8 months in prison by the city's Revolutionary Court.

According to the Human Rights in Iran website, these Baha'i citizens, named Roya Malaki, Ataollah Malaki, Saeed Malaki, Arezo Mohammadi, Rahmatollah Deimi, Farzaneh Deimi, Nasrin Ghadiri, Banafsheh Mokhtari, and Atiyeh Salehi, were issued on Tuesday, May 2, by Branch 2 of the Birjand Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Hojjat Nabavi, on charges such as membership in the Baha'i sect and propaganda in favor of Baha'i organizations, and were notified of their arrest on Wednesday, May 2, through the Judiciary's information and notification system.

According to available information and according to an informed source, the hearing of the case of these Baha'i citizens was held on May 1, and according to the issued verdict, eight of these citizens were sentenced to 6 years in prison. Rahmatullah Deimi was also sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in prison due to his advanced age.

According to this report, these Baha'i citizens were arrested on October 19, 2017, during the ceremony of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Prophet of the Baha'i Faith, by officers of the Intelligence Department of Birjand city, South Khorasan province, after searching their homes and confiscating a number of personal belongings. After a while, they were temporarily released after posting bail orders and pending the completion of the proceedings.

This sentence is being issued to these Baha'i citizens at a time when, with the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Iranian prisons, around 50 to 100 Baha'i citizens are still imprisoned in Iran's overcrowded and unsanitary prisons, according to Bonnie Dugal, the senior representative of the Baha'i community to the United Nations in New York.

According to this representative of the Baha'i community at the United Nations, Baha'i citizens of Iran are more vulnerable than others because their rights have already been violated in many ways.

Source: Voice of America