Seven Baha'is to appear in court

Seven arrested Bahai's ( Pasadena Baha'i Community Blog)

Seven Baha'i Leaders, who have been imprisoned since May 2008, are to appear in court on August 19 in Tehran. The court order was sent to the office of Abdolfatah Soltani, one of their defense lawyers, who is himself currently under arrest. The International Baha'i Community in Geneva announced that since Mr. Soltani is unavailable and Shirin Ebadi, the other defense lawyer in this case, is out of the country, a trial at this time will infringe on the right of these defendants to a fair hearing. They add that since the investigations and questionings were wrapped up months ago, it was highly irregular that the defendants had not been given visiting privileges by their lawyers and family or that no bail had been set for them.

Diane Ala'i, the International representative of Baha'is in UN condemned setting the trial date for the seven arrested Baha'is in this situation. She insisted that the only crime of these people was their religious beliefs and expressed concern over possible harsh sentencing of the court. Iranian authorities have accused the seven of “engaging in espionage for Israel, desecration of the sacred and propaganda against the regime.”

Amnesty International has cautioned that the group of seven Baha'is could be sentenced to death. 25 years ago groups of Baha'is were executed by the state in Iran. The seven arrested Baha'is are members of a committee that administers primary concerns of the Iranian Baha'i community.

Baha'ism was founded 150 year ago in Iran and currently 300 thousand Baha'is live in Iran. However, the Baha'i religion is banned in Iran and Baha'is are considered heretics by the Islamic Republic. Currently 40 Baha'is are in imprisoned in Iran.