Source: www.radiofarda.com
Translation by Iran Press Watch
Of the six detained women, Neda Mohebi has three children, ages three, six and 11, and Atefeh Zahedi has two daughters.
Radio Farda has been informed that more than 26 days since the six Baha’i women were detained in Hamedan, they “continue to be detained in solitary confinement” and are being subjected to interrogations on the issues of “propaganda against the regime” and “forming an illegal Baha’i class and group”.
Informed sources also told Radio Farda that the six detained Baha’is are still “deprived of in-person visitation” and the families “have no news of the state of health of these Baha’i citizens.”
According to these sources, the detained women are only entitled to phone calls “within the 30-second limit, and the interrogator and prison officials will cut them off if they feel these people are being given the slightest shred of strength of spirit”.
On 11 November 2023, Radio Farda reported that in an extensive wave of detentions, the homes of 34 Bahá’í citizens were raided, and six citizens were detained in Hamedan on 7 November.
Atefeh Zahedi, Neda Mohebi, Zarrin Ahadzadeh, Jaleh Rezaei Samud, Noora Ayoubi and Farideh Ayoubi were arrested in these raids. Other Baha’i citizens whose houses were searched have been summoned to the News Command of Hamedan Ministry of Intelligence.
Amongst those detained, Ms. Mohebi has three children, ages three, six and 11, and Ms. Zahedi has two daughters.
Informed sources had earlier told Radio Farda that the summoned citizens are facing “prolonged persecution, instilling uncertainty and deprivation and lack of security and peace of mind” at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s security and judiciary institutions.
According to the sources, security and judicial agencies have used “prolonged temporary detention, denial of bail, and failure to state their charges” with the intention to “exerting pressure on the Baha’is”. Also, the investigators and judges involved in these cases do not have “independence” of opinion.
Meanwhile, after the widespread detention of Baha’i citizens in Isfahan, Karaj and Hamedan last November, six Baha’i citizens arrested in Karaj and five Baha’i women detained in Isfahan continue to remain in “(an) inappropriate situation and in an environment without any respect for their civil rights”.
The Baha’i International Community announced in November 2023, that the increasing wave of harassment of this religious minority in Iran included 36 attacks on Baha’i Citizens in the cities of Isfahan and Yazd. An additional 26 Baha’is, 16 of whom are females, have been sentenced to a collective 126 years of imprisonment.
The systematic pressure security agencies are exerting on the Baha’is has increased greatly since the start of the “Woman Life Freedom” protests in Iran. News of security institutions shutting down Baha’i businesses has also increase over the past year.
The Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognize the Baha’i Faith, and the judicial authorities have repeatedly called the Baha’is “spies and enemies”. Over the years the Regime has subjected Baha’i citizens to execution, detention, imprisonment, denial of access to higher education, and exerted extreme economic pressure by shutting Baha’i businesses and denying access to various forms of employment.
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