During the first 10 days of February, the 7 Baha’I leaders appeared before the court for the second time and many were arrested during midnight raids.

Source:

February 12, 2010

RAHANA Religious Minorities – The following reports contains some of the cases pertaining to Baha’i rights abuses in the first ten days of February 2010.

February 3rd

1- Farideh Reazee was released on bail. She had been arrested on January 16th, 2010.

2- The arrest of 2 Baha’i residents of Mashad was confirmed. Vesal Mohammadi was arrested on January 6th, 2010 at his workplace in Mashad. Bahman Yazdani was arrested the same day after his home was raided. Both men were arrested by agents from the intelligence Ministry for their religious beliefs.

3- Ali-Askar Ravanbakhsh and his wife Zoleikh were respectively granted 5days and 10 day prison leaves. Rouhiyah Yazdani(Baghaee) was also granted 5 day prison leave. All 3 were arrested on October 26th, 2008 in Yasuj and are currently serving 2-year jail terms which will be followed by 5 years of suspended term. They had been initially sentenced to 3 years for undertaking propaganda activities against the regime and one year for membership in banned groups.

4- Shahram Afshar and Payman Nakhli, 2 business owners in the southern city of Mahshahr were told by city’s municipal authorities to close down their businesses where they sold food and cosmetics.

5- On February 1st, 2010, the residence of Payam Vali was raided in Nazarabad Karaj by agents from the Intelligence Ministry. The agents, who were in possession of a warrant, seized material related to Baha’I faith after searching the house. Vali, who was not at home during the house search, was summoned the Intelligence Ministry’s local office the next day. He was arrested upon appearing.

February 7th

1- On January 29th, 2010, Shahram Safajoo, a Karaj resident, was served with a notice of appearance (issued on January 17th) before the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court, the same day the 7 Baha’I leaders were scheduled to appear before the court. Safajoo had been arrested once, back on April 26th, 2009 but was released on bail on May 18th, 2009.

2- The 7 Baha’I leaders, who remain in arbitrary detention for almost 2 years, appeared before a closed door court hearing. The families were not allowed to attend the hearing and there is no word on when the next hearing will take place.

February 8th

1- The legal situation of the Baha’is arrested after the Ashura protests remains under a cloud of uncertainty. Meanwhile many people fear the worst for them after the state television aired a program of their forced confessions.

The fact that Baha’I faith prohibits its followers from involvement in political activities is an irrefutable proof of their innocence and shows their detention was only done to score political points by the Islamic Republic.

2- Vahid Esmailzadeh a Baha’i resident of the northern city of Sari was released on bail. He had been arrested on November 21st, 2009.

February 10th

Behnam Rohanifard and his brother Sohail were sentenced to 9 months in prison each. It is not clear when their trials took place. The time already spent in prison will be counted in their jail terms. The 2 bothers were arrested in October 2009. Their lawyer was verbally notified of the court’s decision.

Sohail Rohanifar was arrested on October 9th, 2009; one week after his house had been searched by agents from the Intelligence Ministry.

Behnam Rohanifar’s house was searched by 3 agents from the Intelligence Ministry back on March 30th, 2009. The 3 agents were in possession of a search warrant as well as a previous court ruling which had sentenced Rohanifar to 4 years suspended jail term.

February 10th

1- At 2:30 am, agents from the Intelligence Ministry raided the home of Allaeddin Khanjani and arrested him after searching the house. Khanjani’s father, Jamaleddin, is one of the 7 Baha’i leaders who have been detained since 2 years ago. Khanjani’s daughter, Lava was arrested on January 3rd, 2010, along with 12 other Baha’is.
Immediately after Khanjani’s arrest the following people were arrested during midnight raids:

1- Ashkan Basri
2- Maria Jafari (Ehsani)
3- Bashir Ehsani
4- Roumina Zabihian
5- Houtan Sistani

All 6 were arrested for their alleged roles in the recent riots.

2- The state television broadcasted a program called the Constitutional Monarchy Years, dedicated to insulting the Baha’i faith and tampering with its history. In the past 31 years, the state media has never stopped its propaganda campaign against the Baha’i faith.