Editor’s Note: Iran VNC has reported on the release of Ms. Jinous Sobhani, a Baha’i who had worked at the Tehran office of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, run by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Washington, 12 March (IranVNC)—Iranian authorities have released on bail a human rights defender, who had worked at the Tehran office of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, run by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, the BBC Persian Service reports today.
Jinous Sobhani, who is reportedly a member of the banned Baha’i faith, was arrested by Iranian security forces on 14 January in Tehran. Her arrest, which came just weeks after Iranian authorities raided and shut down the human rights defenders’ office, was seen as a sign of Iran’s recent crackdown on both the Baha’i faith and human rights activists in general and specifically Ebadi’s group.
Abdulfatah Soltani, a member of the Center, told BBC Persian Service that Sobhani was released from Tehran’s Evin Prison on Wednesday, after posting a 70 million toman [about 70,000 dollar] bail.
“In all probability, the reason for her arrest was her work with the Center for the Defense of Human Rights and also because she is a Baha’i, although neither of these is a crime, and no other charge [against her] has yet been announced,” Soltani told the BBC.
According to the BBC, Sobhani has not yet been indicted, and no date has been set for a possible court hearing.
Court officials have not yet accepted legal representation for Sobhani, nor have they allowed her lawyers access to her file, said Soltani.
Source: BBC Persian Service through IranVNC at http://www.iranvnc.com/floater_article1.aspx?lang=en&t=1&id=8471. Those wishing to read more about this story can consult: http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/03/090312_op_sobhani_release.shtml
March 13, 2009 4:13 pm
Thank you Ms. Sobhani, for your courage and selflessness in the cause of justice.
March 14, 2009 12:18 pm
Could the Iranian authorities tell us why none of the arrested bahai’s have been given access to their lawyers nor the lawyers have been given permission to look at their files? Of course it’s because they have no case against them. I have never seen any evidence from the Iranian authorities that Bahais are engaged in any sort of anti-Iran activity just talk and lies…
March 14, 2009 1:03 pm
The “evidence”?
These 7th century Mollahs make them up as they go. Then they reference their own work as proof. They are the Madoffs of Iran. They persecute and kill anyone who is smarter than they are or leaves their mosque. And it doesn’t matter if someone leaves the mollahs to become a Baha’i, Christian, Buddist, Sunni or Sufi . Anyone that leaves them is subject to beheading and all their belonging goes to the mullah that issued the fatwa and his gang. As they say, no one gets out of hell alive.