Source: www.hra-news.org
Translation by Iran Press Watch
HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency)- Indifferent to a recent verdict of the Administrative Bureau of Justice, the shops and businesses of at least 11 Baha’is who closed their businesses in observance of a religious holiday (between the 8th and 10th of July) were closed and sealed by authorities in the city of Ahvaz. According to the law, citizens are permitted to close their place of business for up to 15 days a year without any particular or specified reason. However this law doesn’t seem to apply to Baha’i citizens. Whenever Baha’is close their businesses in observance of their religious holidays in which work should be suspended, authorities are quick to move in and seal the businesses.
Rostam Derakhshan, Sam Derakhshan, Sohrab Firouzmandi, Khosrou Zohdi, Vargha Derakhshan, Sohrab Derakhshan, Farzad Afshar, Farshid Afshar, Jamshid Najafi, Feyzollah Ghanvatiyan and Kianoush Afshar were among the citizens whose businesses were sealed.
According to an informed source, the official Closure Notification stated that “this closure has been ordered by the Judicial Authority (deputy prosecutor’s office), and will be carried out by security forces”.
The law states that a business owner is allowed to closed their business for up to 15 days a year without any particular or specified reason.
Recently the Administrative Bureau of Justice issued a verdict in favor of the Baha’i citizens of Mazandaran, whose businesses had been closed in similar manner, stating that the legal right of these citizens to close their business for up to 15 days a year without any specific reason had been ignored.
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