Iran Issues More Jail Terms Against Baha’is in Iran – Including a Third Former Leader

Source: www.bic.org

GENEVA—22 February 2023—This week, two Baha’i women in Iran, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, have entered the fourth month of unjust 10-year jail terms in Evin Prison. Together with five others, they were members of an informal leadership group of the Baha’i community in Iran until 2008, when the group was disbanded, all seven were arrested, and imprisoned for 10 years.

Now a third member of the group, Afif Naimi, who like Mrs Sabet and Mrs Kamalabadi was arrested again in July 2022, was sentenced on 10 February to seven years in prison.

Several other Baha’is were also sentenced alongside Mr Naimi.

The latest developments come after months of intensified persecution of the Baha’i community in Iran and amidst the country’s wider human rights situation – both of which have gained worldwide attention.

The Baha’i International Community calls for the immediate release of all imprisoned Baha’is, for an end to the persecution of the Baha’i community by Iran’s government, and for the government to respect the human rights of all its citizens.

Background

On 10 February 2023, the Karaj Revolutionary Court, in a jointly heard case, sentenced Afif Naimi and 11 others Baha’is in Alborz province to between two and seven years in prison, monetary fines, bans on residing in Alborz, bans on leaving the country, bans on educational and cultural activities, deprivation of social rights and other punishments.

Those sentenced were Afif Naimi, Mahsa Tirgar, Kamyar Habibi, Rameleh Tirgrenjad, Sabin Adeyani Yazdani, Elham Shareghi Arani, Nakisa Sadeghi, Sadaf Sheikhzadeh, Shahrazad Mastouri, Negin Rezaie and Saman Ostovar.