Source: iranbahaipersecution.bic.org
News Bulletin #33-24
Iran
15 NOVEMBER – 29 NOVEMBER 2024
[This bulletin documents only the most significant acts of persecution and human rights abuses which the BIC has noted during the reporting period. It does not include those routine acts of discrimination to which Bahá’ís in Iran, whether as individuals or as a community, are subjected on a daily basis. The information presented in each bulletin is based on information available at the time of writing and may have changed subsequently.]
1. ARRESTS/IMPRISONMENTS
Releases
1.1: Supreme Court Accepts Retrial Request; Three Baha’i Women Released on Bail in Mashhad
KHORASAN RAZAVI PROVINCE: It was learned on 17 November 2024 that Mrs. Roya Malakouti, Mrs. Azita Foroughi Motlagh, and Ms. Nasim Sabeti, three Baha’i women from Mashhad, have been released from Vakilabad Prison on bail following acceptance by the Supreme Court of their request for a retrial, temporarily halting their prison sentences.
Branch 39 of the Supreme Court approved their request for a retrial and referred the case to Branch 5 of the Court of Appeal for Khorasan Razavi Province. Following this decision, the execution of their sentences was suspended, and they were released after posting bail of 1 billion tomans each.
In August 2023, these three women, along with six other Baha’i women, were summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office in Mashhad. Mrs. Malakouti was arrested and detained immediately following her court appearance. Subsequent court proceedings resulted in Mrs. Malakouti being sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, while Mrs. Foroughi Motlagh, Ms. Sabeti, and two others, Mrs. Roya Ghane Ezzabadi and Mrs. Soheila Ahmadi (Foroughi) each received sentences of three years and eight months.
Mrs. Foroughi Motlagh began serving her sentence in February 2024, and Ms. Sabeti followed in May 2024 after being summoned by Mashhad’s enforcement branch. Both were incarcerated at Vakilabad Prison until their recent release.
2. COURT APPEARANCES
2.1: Court Hearing Held for Mojgan Salmanzadeh in Maku
WEST AZERBAIJAN PROVINCE: On 26 October 2024 a court hearing for Mojgan Salmanzadeh, a Baha’i residing in Tehran was held at Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Maku. Ms. Salmanzadeh, a researcher specializing in physiological psychology, defended herself against charges laid under Clause 2 of Article 500 Bis of the Islamic Penal Code, which accuses her of engaging in “educational or promotional activities deemed deviant or disruptive to the sacred Islamic law.” The court has not yet handed down its judgement.
Ms. Salmanzadeh was arrested by security agents in Maku on 4 July 2024 and transferred to Urmia Prison. She was subsequently released on bail on 5 October 2024.
2.2: Prison Sentence of Baha’i Artist Behrad Azargan Reduced to 7 Years on Appeal
TEHRAN PROVINCE: It was learned on 22 November 2024 that the prison sentence for Behrad Azargan a Baha’i musician based in Tehran, has been reduced to seven years in a ruling by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals. Mr. Azargan had previously been sentenced in the preliminary court to 11 years in prison, confiscation of seized assets, and a two-year ban on online activity and international travel.
The Court of Appeal delivered the updated verdict, sentencing Mr. Azargan to five years in prison for “Deviant educational or propaganda activity contrary to or disruptive to the holy law of Islam in the form of a sect, group, community, or the like” and a further two years for “spreading falsehoods.”
2.3: Agah Sadeghi from Bukan Summoned to Court
WEST AZERBAIJAN PROVINCE: It was learned on 26 November 2024 that Mr. Agah Sadeghi, a resident of Bukan, was summoned to court to present his defence. Mr. Sadeghi was apprehended in early May 2024 by security agents following a search his home and confiscation a number of personal items belonging to both him and his family. He was released from detention on bail on 10 June 2024.
3. ECONOMIC PRESSURES/DENIAL OF OWNERSHIP RIGHTS
3.1: Baha’i Mechanic in Mazandaran Faces Business Closure for Observing Holy Day
MAZANDARAN PROVINCE: On 3 November 2024, agents from the Public Places Supervision Office (Amaken) in Chalus, Mazandaran Province moved to close the business operations of Mr. Arash Derakhshanian after he closed his curbside business for one day in order to observe a Baha’i Holy Day celebration. Mr. Derakhshanian’s full workshop and business premises in the neighboring city of Nowshahr had previously been sealed by the authorities in November 2016 along with over 100 other Baha’i-owned businesses as a result of 1-2 day shop closures for the owners to celebrate Baha’i holy days. His business premises has remained sealed since then with many others despite repeated appeals to the authorities to allow them to re-open. As a result, he had been forced to become a curbside motor vehicle repair mechanic in order to sustain his livelihood. A friendly shop owner in the vicinity of his curb-side operation had allowed Mr. Derakhshanian to operate his credit card terminal from inside the store in order for Mr. Derakhshanian to receive payments. The agents confiscated this terminal and also temporarily sealed the shop of the other business owner who was not a Baha’i.
Leave a Reply