Source: iranwire.com
Translation by Iran Press Watch
The 37th branch of the Court of Appeal of Fars province, headed by Saeed Bolandzadeh and the branch’s advisor, Kamran Zare, announced the appeal decision of 26 Baha’i citizens in Shiraz. This decision upheld the convictions on charges of gathering and collusion with the intention of disrupting internal and external security. The court cited a list of meetings, teaching and educational classes (sometimes with the presence of Muslim people), and the promotion of Baha’i beliefs, as part of the evidence supporting the issued verdict.
The appellate decision read, “While removing the additional punishment of exile and forced residence in other cities in order to create hardship and embarrassment among these families and reducing the punishment of gentlemen, 1- Soroush Ighani 2- Esmail Roosta and ladies 3- Noushin Zenhari 4- Nasim Kashani, to six months of imprisonment,” the court otherwise rejected the appeal.
The issued decision handed down the following sentences:
The ladies (Lala Salehi, Rezvan Yazdani, Mojgan Gholampour, Bahare Noroozi, and Yekta Fahandej Saadi) were each sentenced to five years of imprisonment and banned from leaving the country for two years with the cancellation of their passports and requirement of daily reporting to the Provincial Intelligence Offices for two years.
Mr. Nabil Tahzeeb, Behnam Azizpour, Sahba Moslehi, Ramin Shirvani and Saeed Hosni were each sentenced to five years of imprisonment and were banned from leaving the country with cancellation of their passports.
Ladies Shadi Sadeq Aghdam Seyson, Parisa Rouhizadgan, Sahba Farahbakhsh, Maryam Eslami, Marjan Gholampour, Ahdieh Enayati and Samareh Ashnaie each were sentenced to two years of imprisonment and banned from leaving the country for two years with the cancellation of their passports and requirement of daily reporting to the Provincial Intelligence Offices for two years.
Mr. Mahyar Sefidi Miandoob, Shamim Akhlaghi, Varga Kaviani, Farzad Shadman and Farbod Shadman were each sentenced to two years of imprisonment and banned from leaving the country for two years with the cancellation of their passports.
Soroush Ighani, Esmail Roosta and Noushin Zenhari, and Nasim Kashani were each sentenced to six months of imprisonment.”
The Court of Appeals rejected the defendants’ defense that Baha’is do not get involved in political work, citing a statement by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1962, which said that the Baha’i sect is not a religion, but a political party, and declared them as outcasts.
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