No information regarding the Status of Nika Kholousi, an Iranian Baha’i Prisoner

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[HRANA, Wednesday, April 9, 2014]

HRA NEWS

For the last ten days, there has been no sign of whereabouts of Nika Kholousi, a Baha’i citizen of Iran.

According to Human Right Activists News Agency (HRANA), there has been no news of the whereabouts of Nika Khalousi, a Baha’i citizen residing in Mashhad, Iran, ten days after she was arrested in Babolsar, Iran.

kholousi“On Sunday March 30,2014,the security forces of city of Babolsar showed up at the residence of one of the close relatives of Nika where she and her family were visiting during their Nawruz holidays and arrested her.”, a relative of Nika told a HRANA reporter. “They even searched the home of the relative without a search warrant and confiscated laptops and Baha’i books.”, he continued. “At first, Nika was taken to prison in Sari, a city close to Babolsar, with the intention of flying her back to Mashhad, where she initially received her sentence. However, a day after the flight was canceled; her family was informed that she was being held in yet in another prison in Babol, a neighboring city to Babolsar, and that she would be sent to Mashhad after the holidays were over. During the next 5 days, Nika managed to make phone calls to her family; however, she was not heard from for two days afterwards, and authorities refused to acknowledge her whereabouts. Finally on Monday April 7 she briefly contacted her family to tell them she was in Sari prison again. However, on the following day, Nika’s family received an anonymous call from a woman claiming Nika was in Mashhad prison.”

“Nava Khalousi, Nika’s sister who is serving her sentence in Mashhad prison, has not seen Nika in that prison, which raises concerns about Nika’s whereabouts after she had been arrested ten days earlier. Unfortunately, the authorities have refrained from providing information on her status”, this informed source stated, and concluded by saying “since a Revolutionary Court in Mashhad has sentenced her, her imprisonment should be carried out in that city, and they should no longer keep her in solitary confinement somewhere else.”

Nika has been sentenced to 6 years in prison, and her sister, Nava, to 4 years and 6 months imprisonment*. The latter has been in the notorious Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad since March 30, 2014.

*See reference on pp. 2-3 of the following report: http://migs.concordia.ca/Media_Monitoring/documents/Iran_Domestic_Media_Monitoring_24_Feb-2_March_2014.pdf

Translation by Iran Press Watch

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