An Iranian woman was summoned to the Kerman city Revolutionary Court, in Southeastern Iran, to serve her seven-month prison term for following the Bahai faith. According to the Human Rights News Agency, the Bahai citizen, identified as Vahda Seilani, was detained and transferred to the Kerman Prison on December 13.
Based on the report, Vahda Seilani’s home was raided and her belongings were confiscated on December 29 last year, when she was detained and taken to Kerman Prison. She was released on bail on January 15.
Vahda Seilani was sentenced to seven months of prison for “spreading propaganda against the regime” by being a follower of the Bahai faith.
Baha’i citizens in Iran are deprived of the freedoms associated with their religious beliefs, a systematic deprivation that, according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion and belief; Express it individually or collectively and in public or in private.
According to unofficial sources, there are more than 300,000 Baha’is in Iran, but the Iranian regime does not recognize the Baha’i faith. For this reason, the rights of Baha’is in Iran have always been systematically violated and they have been persecuted as a matter of state policy since the revolution in 1979. During the first decade after the revolution of this persecution, more than 200 of Iran’s Bahais were killed or executed. Hundreds more were tortured or imprisoned, and tens of thousands lost jobs, access to education, and other rights – all solely because of their religious belief.
For example On October 19 the 3rd Branch of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced Nika Pakzadan, Faraneh Daneshgari, Sanaz Eshaghi, Nekisa Hajipour, and Naghmeh Zabihian to one year of prison each for “spreading propaganda against the state by being Bahai”.
Source » irannewswire