The trial of seven imprisoned Iranian Baha’i leaders scheduled for today has been postponed until 18 October.
“We hope that these seven innocent people will now be released on bail,” said Tessa Scrine, a spokesperson for the Australian Baha’i Community.
Three of the accused have close family members in Australia, where the Government and the Federal Parliament have publicly called for the release of the seven leaders and expressed their serious concerns about the situation of the Baha’is in Iran.
The postponement of the trial came after an application by Mr Hadi Esmaielzadeh and Ms Mahnaz Parakand who are lawyers from the Defenders of Human Rights Centre which is representing the seven Baha’is.
Two senior members of the legal team, Nobel laureate Mrs Shirin Ebadi and Mr Abdolfattah Soltani, were unable to attend the hearing. Mrs Ebadi is out of the country and Mr Soltani is in prison, having been detained on 16 June 2009 in the wake of the civil unrest following the presidential election in Iran.
The seven Baha’i leaders have been held at Tehran’s Evin prison without formal charges or access to their lawyers since March and May 2008.
Official Iranian news accounts have said the seven are to be accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.”
The Baha’i International Community categorically rejects all charges against the seven, stating that they are held solely because of religious persecution.
For more information, visit the Baha’i World News Service