Iranian officials have reportedly told families of the seven detained Baha’i leaders in Iran that their trial has been delayed, but they have not provided a new date.
Held for more than a year and without access to their lawyers, the seven were reportedly to have been tried on 11 July.
A spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community, Tessa Scrine, said today that the information on the trial date was based on oral reports from officials.
“Such reports have often been unreliable in the past and have proven to be on this occasion too,” Ms Scrine said.
“Three of the seven have close relatives in Australia who are understandably very worried about their family members,” Ms Scrine said.
“The seven are being held solely because of their religious beliefs and we call for their immediate release,” she said.
“We are grateful to the Australian Government for its public statements on this matter and for supporting a resolution in the General Assembly and at other UN meetings,” she said.
“It was particularly encouraging in May when the Parliament of Australia called for the immediate release of the seven.”
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.”
Last week there were calls from around the world for justice for the Baha’is.
Amnesty International issued a press release calling on Iranian authorities to release the seven.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, responding to a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who spent almost four months in an Iranian cell, likewise urged the release of the seven.
And in an article in The Times of London, Cherie Blair QC, a human rights lawyer and the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, called for international pressure on the Iranian Government to give the leaders of the Baha’i community a fair trial and to allow independent observers access to ensure that this happens.
Read a report from the Baha’i World News Service