Baha’is throughout Australia will hold public devotional gatherings this Sunday, 7 February 2010, to pray for seven long-imprisoned Baha’i leaders whose trial is scheduled to resume in Iran on that day.
“The Australian Baha’i Community has grave fears for the safety of the seven”, said spokesperson Tessa Scrine.
“These innocent Baha’is have been in jail for nearly two years and are facing numerous false charges, including espionage and conspiracy,” Ms Scrine said.
“Close relatives of four of the accused live in Australia, and they are understandably very anxious about the outcome of the trial,” Ms Scrine said.
Three of those relatives will address a public inter-faith prayer gathering for the seven at the NSW State Parliament at 11am on Tuesday, 9 February 2010. Guest speaker will be the president of the International Commission of Jurists Australia, the Hon. John Dowd AO QC.
Ms Scrine said the seven Baha’i leaders have committed no crime but are suffering blatant religious persecution.
“All those who know Baha’is throughout the world, including the Iranian authorities, are well aware that we are called upon by our Faith to be law-abiding and not to engage in partisan politics,” she said.
False evidence
Ms Scrine said Baha’is are worried that charges against 10 other Baha’is arrested earlier this month in Iran will be used to create false evidence against the seven.
One of the ten was among 16 individuals who faced trial on 30 January, apparently accused of participating in the Ashura demonstrations on 27 December.
“That trial was a violation of all internationally accepted standards of legal due process,” said Ms Scrine
(For a report on that trial, visit the Baha’i World News Service).
Australian Government
Ms Scrine said Australian Baha’is welcome the support of the Australian Government and Federal and State Parliaments, which have joined with their counterparts in many other countries in calling for Iran to abide by its human rights obligations and to release the seven Baha’i leaders.
Last month, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: “We urge the Iranian Government (to ensure) that any trial be fair and transparent and conducted in accordance with Iran’s international obligations.”
First session
The first session of the trial of the seven was held on 12 January 2010 and was adjourned after charges were read.
“The exclusion of family members and neutral observers as well as the obstruction of defence lawyers on 12 January breached internationally-accepted legal standards,” Ms Scrine said.
According to reports in government-sponsored news media, the seven have been charged with: espionage, propaganda activities against the Islamic order, the establishment of an illegal administration, cooperation with Israel, sending secret documents outside the country, acting against the security of the country, and corruption on earth.
In court, the defendants explicitly denied all of these charges.
The seven leaders are Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naeimi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr Vahid Tizfahm.