Seven Baha’i leaders who have been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year may face trial on 11 July 2009.
Officials at Evin Prison have given this date to family members of the Baha’is, a spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community, Tessa Scrine, said today.
“The information has been conveyed orally but because such advice has proved unreliable in the past it is possible the date could change,” Ms Scrine said.
“Like about 30 other Baha’is currently in prison in Iran, they are innocent of any offence and are being held solely because of their religious beliefs,” she said.
“Baha’is adhere to the teachings of their Faith, which requires obedience to the law of the land and non-participation in partisan political activity,” she said.
The Parliamentary motion followed a series of statements by Australian Government representatives expressing concern about the treatment of the Baha’is.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, reportedly raised the situation of the Baha’i leaders directly with his Iranian counterpart while in Tokyo in April.
Ms Scrine said the Australian Baha’i Community was also grateful that on 24 June 2009, there was a call in the State Parliament of Victoria for the release of the seven Baha’i detainees “without delay”.
The member for Albert Park, Martin Foley MP, told the Parliament that he was adding his voice to others, including members of the federal Parliament who had passed a resolution on this issue.
“Latest reports indicate that a trial of some of the leaders is scheduled for early July,” Mr Foley said.
“These Baha’i community leaders have been subject to official patterns of discrimination and victimisation in Iran over many years,” he said.
“I look forward to the day when this Parliament can welcome the release of these seven Baha’i leaders.”
In the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory on 24 June 2009, the member for Brindabella, Amanda Bresnan MLA, spoke about the seven Baha’i leaders and “the general denial of rights to the Baha’i community in Iran in many areas of society”.
“Given the current political situation in Iran, it is even more important that we bring to the attention of the world the plight of the Baha’i and raise concerns with Iranian representatives here in Australia so that Iran know the world is watching how they respond to their current political crisis and existing situations of human rights abuses in their country,” Ms Bresnan said.
The seven, arrested in March and May 2008, have been held without formal charges or access to their lawyers.
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 trial of the Baha’is is apparently scheduled to be held at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court where American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was recently convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
Ms Saberi was eventually released, but only after an international outcry at the politicisation of the case and trial procedures.
Read a report on the Baha’i World News Service
Story updated 2 July 2009
Concern has also been expressed by the European Union and by the governments of Canada, the United States and other countries.
“Three of the imprisoned leaders have close relatives in Australia,” she said.
“We are grateful to the Australian Parliament for last month’s notice of motion calling on Iran to release the seven Baha’i leaders without delay”.