Let’s Listen to the Call of our Bahá’í Countrymen

Let’s Listen to the Call of our Bahá’í Countrymen

The letter below is about the arrest and imprisonment of 20 of our Bahá’í countrymen, written and published by Mr. Shahram Fallah*, one of the innocent sentenced Bahá’ís through Yazd Court of Justice. In the hope of freedom for all of the imprisoned Baha’is in Iran.

Allah’u’Abha! On April 16, 2014, the honorable chief of Yazd Court of Justice prevented the formation of the appeals court for 20 of the Bahá’ís of Yazd, Isfahan, Arak, and Kerman through a completely illegal and unusual measure. He directly confirmed the order of the primary court for the defendants and sent the order for enforcement to the executive branch of the Yazd Court of Justice. He sealed the approval of the order, in consultation with his deputy, without informing the defendants and their lawyers, and he hindered the formation of the appeals court.

Now, the 20 of us are joining the group of estimated 100 imprisoned Bahá’ís in this holy country. Maybe the insensible conscience of this honorable chief will awaken from lethargy and ignorance, and the day will come when the mask of unfortunate injustice, discrimination and prejudice will be removed from the face of Iranian governmental authorities. One of the unjust judges of the Yazd judicial system mentions “If I were to be the decision maker, none of you even would have the right to live.” In reality, this judge is sorry that he is not a decision maker and responsible for the Bahá’ís; he also said “my conscience is in complete peace and tranquility about the issuance of this verdict, and I have no doubts about it.” This is an example of the views of government authorities in this holy country. The names of the defendants that were charged with spreading propaganda against the regime and disturbing national security, like other Bahá’ís, are the following:

Saba Golshan (Isfahan) to a 4-year prison sentence and a 1-year suspended sentence; Sharam Eshraghi (Isfahan), Shahram Fallah (Kerman), Khosro Dehghani (Isfahan), Iman Rashidi (Yazd), and Navid Haghighi (Arak) to a 3-year prison sentence and a 1-year suspended sentence; Fariborz Baghi (Yazd), Nategheh Naemi (Yazd), Shabnam Mottahed (Yazd), Fariba Ashtari (Yazd), Naghmeh Farabi (Isfahan) to a 2-year prison sentence and a 1-year suspended sentence; Farah Baghi (Yazd), Mehran Islami (Yazd), Azam Motihari (Yazd), Farahnaz Misaghian (Yazd), Sohrab Naghipour (Isfahan), Azar Pourkhorsand (Isfahan), Sasan Haghiri (Isfahan), Tahirih Rahmani (Isfahan), Vida Haghighi (Isfahan) to a 1-year prison sentence and a 1-year suspended sentence.

The 20 of us ask all friends and beloved ones inside and outside of Iran to spread this news and inform global international and judicial associations about this evident cruelty and injustice. Even though enduring imprisonment and affliction in the path of Blessed Beauty and for the sake of distinction and glory of dear Iran in the future is a magnificent gift and honor for every single of us, not only can we not, but also we don’t want to put the seal on such injustices and accept them with our silence. Our goal in spreading this news is to reduce oppression and turn off the fire of ignorance and prejudice from the hearts of this land’s oppressors and tyrants. We seek the companionship and assistance of all dear friends throughout the world.

* Shahram Fallah is one of the “Khadimeen” (Servants), or local unofficial Bahá’í leaders, of Kerman. See “From Kerman to the Attorney General of Iran” in the following:  http://bahaisiranpersecutions.blogspot.com/2009/03/moving-resignation-letter-from-bahai.html

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Translation by Iran Press Watch