Another arrest and two more prison sentences in continuing security clashes with Baha'i citizens
Some reports indicate that, in the continuation of the wave of attacks on Baha'is in Iran, one Baha'i citizen was arrested in Tehran and another was sentenced to prison in Ahvaz.
According to these reports, on the morning of Tuesday, November 10, security agents arrested Sepideh Keshavarz, a Baha'i citizen living in Tehran, at her home and took her to an unknown location.
The officers searched his home and took away his personal belongings, including his cell phone and a number of his books.
Another report indicates that Metira Badrnejad and Farajollah Bangale, Baha'i citizens living in Ahvaz, were each sentenced to 5 years in prison.
The HRANA news website, which publishes human rights news in Iran, wrote that the two Baha'i citizens were arrested last March and released on bail in May of this year. Their court verdict is subject to appeal.
On Sunday, some news websites reported in separate news stories that three Baha'i citizens in Iran had been arrested and three other citizens had been sentenced to prison.
According to these reports, on Saturday night, three Baha'i citizens in Tabriz, named Kambiz Misaghi, Shahriar Khodapanah, and Farzad Bahadori, were arrested by security forces and taken to an unknown location.
Among these individuals, Farzad Bahadori was arrested and tried four years ago.
At the same time, three other Baha'i citizens, Naser Bagheri, Faez Bagheri, and Rouha Imani, were sentenced to prison by a court in the city of Yazd.
These sentences were echoed in cyberspace. It is said that Nasser Bagheri and his son Faez Bagheri, Baha'i citizens living in Yazd, were sentenced to 9 months and 3 years in prison, respectively. Rooha Imani, a Baha'i citizen from Kerman who was arrested in Yazd in May 2015, was also sentenced to 9 months in prison.
In late October of this year, following widespread arrests of Baha'is in various regions of Iran, Human Rights Watch wrote in a report titled "Harassment and Arrest of Baha'is in Iran" that in recent months, the arrests of Baha'i Iranians had increased, and in just two months, more than 20 Baha'i citizens were arrested in the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan, and Karaj.
This summer, dozens of Baha'i citizens were also denied access to university education.
The US State Department has repeatedly condemned the violation of the rights of religious minorities and the persecution of their followers in Iran.
In a speech last October, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the Iranian government an example of violating the rights of religious minorities.
The US State Department also noted violations of religious freedom and human rights in Iran in June of this year in its annual report on religious freedom.
Source: Voice of America
