Source: iranwire.com
Kian Sabeti
After the inspections, neighbors of Shahzad Hosseini’s place of business called him, saying that the alarm of his carpentry workshop had been tripped. Shahzad and his son Shayan went to the workshop to find that the locks broken – though no one had been able to open the doors. The neighbors said that unidentified individuals climbed the wall of the workshop, smashed the interior doors and locks, and removed the workshop tools.
Another source person close to Hosseini’s family said that, on the same night, Shahzad reported the break-in and theft to the police, where officers took notes and used the footage from the workshop security cameras to identify the car registration and to issued an arrest warrant for the suspected perpetrators.
The next day, May 4, at around 2pm, when Shayan returned to the workshop to replace the locks, Revolutionary Guards agents raided the premises, confiscating equipment including wood logs, boards, columns, and all other articles, moving them to cars parked in front of the workshop. Shayan Hosseini was then arrested and transferred to an unknown location. Shayan’s car was also confiscated by the agents.
According to a close relative of Shayan, during the raids of each home and the workshop, agents were looking for small wooden boxes that the Hosseini used to store prayer books. During the inspection of Shayan’s house, agents found two or three small boxes, and then threatened Shayan to force him to hand over other boxes.
During the past two weeks, pressure on Baha’i citizens has increased significantly in Iran. The trial of fourteen Baha’is was held in the cities of Birjand and Mashhad. Four Baha’is living in Karaj were sentenced to prison. A number of Baha’i prisoners are still denied leave from prison, as part of the temporary releases resulting from the coronavirus epidemic, and are at risk of contracting the virus.
“The Baha’i International Community urges Iran to immediately release the remaining Baha’is in prison,” said Bani Dugal, a senior representative of the Baha’i International Community at the United Nations, in recent remarks. “These people are innocent and should never have been imprisoned. Their current imprisonment is not only unfair, it has put their lives in serious danger.” Dugal insisted that “all prisoners of conscience should be released now.”
May 10, 2020 1:55 pm
Is there anyone among the judiciary, the arresting agents or anyone anywhere who does not see clearly that this harassment is criminal, that it is outside the bounds of every religion and code of common decency? This mistreatment of Baha’is is not new, but it is glaringly alike to the brutal treatment meted out to Baha’is in the 19th century when Iran was at its darkest, where elsewhere the light of kindness was beginning to dawn. We all have a long way to go, but in some respects the progress of humanity so far illuminates more brightly the shadowy systems such as that which we are all witnessing in its senseless acts against the Baha’is of Iran.