Source: www.hra-news.org
Translation by Iran Press Watch
According to the HRANA, the news arm of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, Touraj Amini, a Baha’i researcher and author living in Karaj, was sentenced by the Karaj Revolutionary Court to one year imprisonment and two years in exile.
HRANA News Agency – Touraj Amini, a Baha’i researcher and author living in Karaj, was sentenced by the Karaj Revolutionary Court to one year imprisonment and two years in exile. Mr. Amini’s home was searched by the security forces last summer during which a number of his personal belongings, including Mr. Amini’s books and notes and his personal laptop, were confiscated and taken away.
According to the verdict issued by the Karaj Revolutionary Court, Mr. Amini was sentenced to one year in prison and two years in exile on charges of “propaganda against the regime.”
A source close to the Baha’i family told HRANA: “Mr. Amini has been charged with “propaganda against the regime”, while his published books and historical articles are about the Qajar and Pahlavi eras.
Mr. Amini’s home was searched by the security forces on August 5, 2019, during which a number of his personal belongings, including Mr. Amini’s books and notes and his personal laptop, were confiscated and taken away. Following this action, the officers told Mr. Amini that he would be summoned to the Karaj Intelligence Office in the coming days.
The Baha’i citizen is said to have also been detained for some time, previously in March of 2008, by the security forces.
Among Touraj Amini’s works are the books “Interaction of Religious Minorities and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution”, “Iranian Baha’i Documents” (5 volumes), “Documents from Contemporary Iranian Zoroastrians” and “Hidden Resurrection: Reopening towards the Babi and Baha’i Religions and their relationship with the Intellectual Movement in Iran”.
Baha’i citizens in Iran are deprived of liberties of practicing their religious beliefs. This systematic deprivation of liberty occurs while Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights entitle any individual to freedom of religion and belief and also freedom to express it individually or collectively and in public or in private.
According to unofficial sources, there are more than 300,000 Baha’is in Iran, but Iran’s constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism and does not recognize the Baha’i faith. For this reason, the rights of Baha’is in Iran have been systematically violated over past years.
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