The Australian Baha’i Community has expressed its fears that three Baha’is now imprisoned in Yemen could be deported to Iran, where they could be imprisoned and tortured.
“These Baha’is are being held without charge in Yemen in circumstances that clearly amount to religious persecution,” said a spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community, Natalie Mobini.
Dr Mobini said the Australian Baha’i Community called for their immediate release and especially that they not be deported to Iran, where Baha’is are being systematically persecuted.
The principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, Bani Dugal, said that although the three have lived in Yemen for more than 25 years, they hold Iranian passports.
“We have come to believe that the Yemeni government may be planning to deport them to Iran, where the government is waging a systematic campaign against Baha’is,” Ms Dugal said.
“While calling for their immediate release, our primary concern today is to ask that the Yemeni government resist any impulse to deport these three Baha’is to Iran – or to any other country,” she said.
“Deportation to any country for three individuals with well established businesses and families for their religious beliefs would be grossly unjust, but deportation to Iran, where they face the possibility of torture, would be a clear violation of international human rights law,” she said.
The three Baha’is were arrested in June, along with a Baha’i of Iraqi origin, apparently in relation to their belief in and practice of the Baha’i Faith.
The three Baha’is of Iranian origin who were arrested are Mr Zia’u’llah Pourahmari, Mr Keyvan Qadari, and Mr Behrooz Rohani. A fourth Baha’i, Mr Sayfi Ibrahim Sayfi, was also arrested and faces the possibility of deportation to Iraq.
The three Baha’is of Iranian background all have successful businesses in Yemen, and their families are well established there.
The arrests occurred in the capital, Sana’a, on the night of 20 June 2008, when some 20 armed security officers carried out raids at several Baha’i homes. During the raids, papers, CDs, photographs and a computer were also confiscated.
Although no formal charges have been filed, government officials have indicated that the Baha’is were arrested on the suspicion of “proselytising” in a manner against Yemeni law, which the Baha’is deny.
There are approximately 250 registered Baha’is in Yemen, and the community has enjoyed relative freedom for its members to quietly practice their faith.
Read the report from the Baha’i World News Service