Third court session held for Baha'i leaders in Iran [BWNS]

GENEVA — The seven imprisoned Iranian Baha'i leaders were called to court today in Tehran for a third session in their trial. The hearing was again closed, and no details are available.

"We know that a session did take place, but we do not have any specific information from reliable sources," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"These seven innocent Baha'is will soon enter their third year of imprisonment," she said. "At the very least, they should have been released on bail pending the outcome of the tortuous judicial process they have been subjected to. This is unacceptable in light of international human rights law."

The seven have been held in Tehran's Evin prison since they were arrested in 2008. No court hearing was held until 12 January this year when they appeared in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court and charges were read.
Accusations include espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, and "corruption on earth."

A second court session on 7 February was largely procedural.
The seven defendants are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 and the others on 14 May 2008.

They have categorically denied all the charges.

Source @ news.bahai.org

British Baha'is meet with Prime Minister Brown on Iran concerns

LONDON — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met this week with members of the U.K. Baha'i community and underlined his government's concern over the seven Baha'i leaders being detained in Iran.

Mr. Lembit Opik, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Baha'is group, accompanied three Baha'i representatives to the meeting, held yesterday at the prime minister's office in the Houses of Parliament.

One of the Baha'is, Mrs. Bahar Tahzib - originally from Iran but now living in England - shared with Mr. Brown her first-hand experience of religious persecution. Her father was executed in Iran in June 1980 for being a Baha'i, and her uncle, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, is one the seven Baha'i leaders arrested in the spring of 2008 and jailed since then in Evin prison in Tehran.

Charges against the seven have been reported in government-controlled mass media as "espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic" - accusations the Baha'i International Community categorically denies. No formal charges have been filed, however, and the seven Baha'is have had no access to attorneys.

Families of the prisoners had been informed that there would be a trial this past week, but now the families reportedly have been told there is a delay. No new trial date has been given.

Before their arrest, the prisoners were members of an informal committee looking after the affairs of Iran's 300,000-member Baha'i community, the country's largest non-Muslim religious minority. At least 30 Baha'is are currently being held in Iranian prisons because of their religion.

"I was very touched by the prime minister's genuine expressions of sympathy and concern," Mrs. Tahzib said after yesterday's meeting with Mr. Brown.

"My uncle is 75 years old, and he is being kept in unsuitable conditions for more than a year," Mrs. Tahzib said she told the prime minister. "This is clearly a cause of great concern for the family, and their wish is for a fair trial."

Mr. Opik noted that recent events in Iran have shown the world the methods - including manipulating the judiciary process - that the Iranian government uses to impose its will.

"The examples of the case of Roxana Saberi, the protesters picked up on the streets, in their homes and hospital beds, and the arrests of foreign and domestic journalists, among others, illustrate a pattern of arbitrary arrest, coercion, false confessions, baseless charges, and summary judgments," he said.

The other Baha'is who met with Prime Minister Brown were Dr. Kishan Manocha, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United Kingdom, and Mr. Barney Leith, director of diplomatic relations for the U.K. Baha'i community.

From: http://news.bahai.org/story/724 dated 16 july 2009

Trial for seven Baha'i leaders reportedly delayed

GENEVA — Iranian officials have reportedly told families of the seven Baha'i leaders currently held in Evin prison in Tehran that their trial has been delayed. No new trial date was given.

Held for more than a year, the seven were reportedly to have been tried on Saturday, although this information, too, was based on oral reports from officials, and such reports have often been unreliable in the past.

The seven were arrested in the spring of 2008 and have been held more than a year without formal charges or access to their attorneys. Official Iranian news reports have said the Baha'is will be accused of "espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic."

The seven are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad.

The Baha'i International Community has repeatedly said that the seven are being held solely because of their religious beliefs, calling for their immediate release.

Such appeals for the release of the seven have been echoed by governments and human rights groups around the world. On Friday, Amnesty International issued a press release calling on Iranian authorities to release the seven. On Thursday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, responding to a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who spent almost four months in an Iranian cell, likewise urged the release of the seven. Also on Thursday, European Parliament member Angelika Beer, speaking on behalf of the Parliament's delegation for Iran, called for the release of the seven, or, at the least, urged that any trial be free, fair and open.

From: http://news.bahai.org/story/723 dated 13th july 2009