January 6, 2010

Source:

As security and military agents in the Iranian regime search for proof and clues that foreigners were behind the spontaneous anti regime demonstrations on Ashura, Raja News website which is closely linked to Ahmadinejad’s administration reported that a number of Bahais had been arrested after Ashura. Reports on the number of individuals arrested have varied but at least seven have been confirmed by the representative of the Bahai community at the UN in Geneva. The Bahais are not officially recognized by the Iranian regime and are regularly harassed.

The report published in Raja News claims that the “leaders of the Bahai community have launched  a campaign so that Western countries and Israel take postures against the Islamic regime” and wrote, “In the recent elections, some followers of the Bahai sect supported Mr. Mousavi and Karoubi along with members of the hypocrites and royalists.” Hypocrites is the name the Iranian regime uses to identify members of the Mojahedin Khalq organization of Iran.

Diane Alai, the Bahai international community’s representative at the UN in Geneva told radio Farda, “In the course of the recent arrests which began in the early hours of last Sunday, first Babak Mobasher, Negar Sabet, Jhinoos Sobhani, Artin Gavamfar, Farid Rowhani, Mehran Rowhani, Nasim Biglari and Payam Fanaian were arrested. Then as Lava Khanjani, the wife of Babak Mobasher went to the ministry of intelligence to enquire about the whereabouts of her husband, she too was arrested on the spot.”

Jhinoos Sobhani, a secretary at the Center for the Defense of Human Rights had been earlier arrested in 2008 and had spent some time in prison. She was released last February after providing a bail of about $70,000. According to Diane Alai, two of the recent arrestees were relatives of the seven leaders who had been arrested in 2008 and who continue to be held behind bars.

The government’s drives to link the current protestors to the Bahais or other minority groups takes place when it is abundantly clear that the protestors in the current events in Iran were from all backgrounds and not any specific group, while Bahais do not participate in any political events or activities because their religion is officially banned in Iran.

Seven of the leaders of Iran’s Bahai community have been in prison for almost 2 years now while none have been tried and their hearings have been repeatedly postponed on various excuses. It had also been announced earlier that the seven detainees would be tried on charges of “spreading corruption on earth,” “espionage for Israel”, “insulting the sanctity of Islam,” and “propaganda against the regime.” Under the Islamic criminal code, these crimes are punishable by death.