Arrest of Four Baha’i Women in Northern Iran

Washington, 23 Dec. (Television Washington) – Last week, in continuation of widespread pressure on the Baha’is in Iran and repeated arrests in various locations of the country, four Baha’i women were arrested in the city of Sari, near the Caspian Sea, capital of the province of Mazandaran.

According to a report from the Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran, last week on Tuesday [15 Dec. 2009], Mrs. Samira Samiee [1] and on Saturday [19 Dec. 2009] Mrs. Sepideh Masumi, Mrs. Sepideh Zamani, and Saha Zamani – four Baha’is living in that city [Sari] were arrested.

According to the same report, on Tuesday morning security agents arrived at the home of Mrs. Samira Samiee and her husband Mr. Fardin Yousefi, searched the house, tore apart Baha’i pictures, confiscated some personal belongings, arrested Samira, and “beat, insulted and threatened with pepper spray” her husband, who was protesting the arrest of his wife.

According to the same report, at the same time, about 15 other security agents arrived at the home of Mrs. Sepideh Masumi; since she was not at home, they searched her house and insulted her father, who is an elder man, with vulgar language (such as religiously “untouchable”). The agents put Sepideh’s mother under pressure and made her to promise that Sepideh would present herself [to the agents] on Saturday.

Consequently, Mrs. Sepideh Masumi along with Sepideh & Saha Zamani, who were also asked to present themselves to the Court, arrived at the court. After many hours of interrogation, on leaving the court they were arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and transferred to a holding cell.

Last week, two more Baha’is in Semnan and Sari were also arrested. Also, the Islamic Revolutionary Court issues sentences of imprisonment and exile for another three Baha’is in Yasuj.

In this connection, yesterday the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre [IHRDC], located in the United States, published a number of reports with regard to the situation of the Baha’is in Iran: “Prohibition of religious belief, persecution and prosecution of the Baha’is in Iran,” “Crime against humanity: the attack of the Islamic Republic on the Baha’is,” and “A community under oppression: the record of the suffering of the Baha’is of Shiraz.” The IHRDC accused the Islamic Republic and its authorities of “extermination of the Baha’i Faith” through arrest and oppression of its followers.

The followers [of the Baha’i Faith] suffer from many limitations under the Islamic Republic, including education, travel, residence, employment, religious observations and even burial of their dead.

Editor’s Notes:

[1] IPW reported Mrs. Samira Samiee’s arrest earlier. See http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/5373

[2] Iran Human Rights Documentation Center: http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/homepage.htm

[Source: Television Washington, http://www.televisionwashington.com/floater_article1.aspx?lang=fa&t=1&id=16725&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter]