Azita Foroughi Went to Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad to Serve Her Sentence

Source: www.hra-news.org

Translation by Iran Press Watch

HRANA News Agency – Today, Saturday the 27th of January, Azita Foroughi Motlagh, a Baha’i citizen living in city of Mashhad, went to Vakil Abad prison in this city to serve her sentence.

According to HRANA news agency, the news organ of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, Azita Foroughi Motlagh went to Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad to endure imprisonment.

Earlier, she was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison by Branch One of Mashhad Revolutionary Court. This verdict was finally confirmed in the thirty-fifth branch of the Court of Appeals of Khorasan Razavi province.

In August of this year, this Baha’i citizen faced the opening of a judicial case against her in the Mashhad Prosecutor’s Office and was summoned to Branch 903 of the District 9 Prosecutor’s Office of Mashhad.

Baha’is in Iran are systematically deprived of freedoms related to religious beliefs. This systematic deprivation is in direct contradiction to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both of which Iran is signatory: “All persons have the right to religious freedom, the right to change their religion or belief, and the freedom to express their belief individually or collectively in public or private.”

According to unofficial sources in Iran there are more than 300,000 Baha’is living in Iran, but the Iranian constitution recognizes only the religions of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrian, and does not recognize The Baha’i religion. This is why over the past years; Baha’is’ rights have been systematically violated in Iran.