The Australian Baha’i Community has welcomed calls by the US State Department and Amnesty International for the release of three Baha’i prisoners sentenced to four years imprisonment in Iran.
Haleh Rouhi, 29, Raha Sabet, 33, and Sasan Taqva, 32, have been incarcerated since 19 November 2007. They were among 54 Baha’is initially arrested in May 2006 as they took part in an effort to educate underprivileged children in Shiraz.
Those arrested were initially released after being detained for up to one month. They were notified in August 2007 that they were accused of “offenses relating to state security.”
Ms Rouhi, Ms Sabet and Mr Taqva were subsequently sentenced to four years in prison, a sentence confirmed only this week by an Iranian official.
Gravely concerned
A spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community, Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, said Australian Baha’is are gravely concerned for the welfare of the three prisoners.
“We hope the international appeals will end their unjust detention,” Dr Mobini-Kesheh said.
She said charges against the three, rather than involving any legitimate concern over “state security”, stem entirely from wrongful accusations in the court that they had been involved in “indirect teaching” of the Baha’i Faith.
“In fact they were engaged in an effort to help underprivileged children in their city, through a program of training that emphasises moral virtues,” she said.
“It is mind-boggling that the government of Iran would consider such efforts to be any type of threat, and it is wholly unwarranted that such activities should result in a lengthy prison sentence.”
Call not to torture
A spokesman for the US State Department, Sean McCormack, called on the Iranian Government to free the three Baha’is.
“We urge the regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the three young Baha’i teachers being held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz,” Mr McCormack said.
Amnesty International has issued an “urgent action” appeal on behalf of the three prisoners. It calls for human rights activists around the world to write directly to Iranian government officials on behalf of the Baha’i prisoners, asking why they have been detained and calling on authorities not to ill-treat or torture them.
Amnesty International Australia’s National Director Claire Mallinson said: “The three Baha’i teachers appear to be held unjustly without due process or a fair trial. They are considered by Amnesty International to be possible prisoners of conscience. They must be released.”
Read a full report from the Baha’i World News Service
Above: Sasan Taqva
Below: Raha Sabet