A sister of a Melbourne woman has been moved from a prison outside Tehran into a notorious jail inside the Iranian capital.
Fariba Kamalabadi, a sister of Roya Kamalabadi of Melbourne, is one of two female Baha’i leaders jailed in Iran because of their religion, the Baha’i Faith.
Mrs Kamalabadi and Mrs Mahvash Sabet were members of a national level ad hoc group that helped attend to the needs of Iran’s persecuted Baha’is, the biggest non-Muslim religious minority in the country.
Along with five male colleagues the women were illegally incarcerated, tried in a closed court on charges widely recognised as trumped up, and sentenced to 20 years jail.
The women were recently placed in reportedly appalling and potentially life-threatening conditions in Qarchak prison, 45 kilometres outside Tehran. This week they were removed and placed in Tehran’s Evin prison, which also has a fearsome reputation for the perpetration of human rights abuses.
On 15 May, Roya Kamalabadi warned in a public statement read out at a reception in the grounds of the Sydney Temple that her sister and Mrs Sabet were in danger of an “undignified imminent death” and she called upon the international community to speak out about this gross abuse of religious freedom and human rights.
Mrs Kamalabadi called for the release of all seven members of the leadership group, a statement echoed by media, governments, human rights NGOs and interfaith groups worldwide.
“These seven selfless individuals are the most pure, the most innocent, and truly godly and saintly human beings who have devoted their entire life, on a purely voluntary basis, to the service of their fellow countrymen, homeland and government,” Mrs Kamalabadi said.
“In return for these unselfish and noble acts, they are withering in captivity.”