{"id":1151,"date":"2008-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/relatives-of-detained-bahais-speak-at-temple\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:52:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:52:08","slug":"relatives-of-detained-bahais-speak-at-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/relatives-of-detained-bahais-speak-at-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"Relatives of detained Baha'is speak at Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Relatives
Seated from left: Behrouz Tavakkoli, Saeid Rezaie Standing from left: Fariba Kamalabadi, Vahid Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Mahvash Sabet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Relatives and friends of Baha\u2019i leaders imprisoned without charge in Iran spoke movingly at a National Refugee Week event at the Baha\u2019i national centre at Ingleside, Sydney, on Sunday, 22 June.<\/p>\n

The event coincided with gatherings throughout Australia to say prayers and express support for the seven members of the co-ordinating committee of the Baha\u2019i community of Iran.<\/p>\n

The arrested leaders are being held without charges or access to legal representation, and have been allowed only a brief telephone call to their families.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the reception, Sydney filmmaker Mehrzad Mumtahan said he was very worried for his uncle, Saeid Rezaie, who is one of the seven arrested.<\/p>\n

Mr Mumtahan said his own family home in Iran was attacked and looted by a mob when he was 10 years old because his family were Baha’is.<\/p>\n

He said that his parents’ small businesses were also targeted and closed down for the same reason.<\/p>\n

Mr Mumtahan said the international community should raise its concern for the prisoners with the Iranian government and the United Nations.<\/p>\n

An aunt of Mahvash Sabet, another of the prisoners, also spoke at the reception.<\/p>\n

Ghodsi Samimi said that her niece, Mahvash Sabet, had been detained since 5 March, 2008.<\/p>\n

“For months no-one knew about her whereabouts or wellbeing,” Mrs Samimi said.<\/p>\n

“In three months she has been allowed only one short phone call to her husband.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Samimi said her niece had previously been arrested in May 2005 due to her membership of the Baha’i Faith, and was held in jail for six weeks.<\/p>\n

“It was no coincidence that she was arrested on her daughter’s wedding day,” she said.<\/p>\n

“A family’s happy day changed to a day of sadness and fear.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Samimi said she was praying for the safe return of Mahvash and the other prisoners.<\/p>\n

The third speaker at the reception was Hornsby resident Melody Tajali, who spoke about her friend, Vahid Tizfahm, also among those arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Vahid\u2019s wife and kids are thinking about him and missing him every night,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he is scared, not for himself, but for his family if anything should happen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Tajali said that when Mr Tizfahm was a child, he lived in the apartment downstairs from her family in Tehran.<\/p>\n

He would go to prison every week to visit his father, who had also been arrested due to his faith, and was eventually executed, she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the seven committee members imprisoned in Tehran, about 15 other Baha’is are currently detained in Iran, some incommunicado and most with no formal charges.<\/p>\n

Please visit the Iran update<\/a> for regularly updated information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relatives and friends of Baha\u2019i leaders imprisoned without charge in Iran spoke movingly at a National Refugee Week event at the Baha\u2019i national centre at Ingleside, Sydney, on Sunday, 22 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nRelatives of detained Baha&apos;is speak at Temple - Australian Baha'i Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/relatives-of-detained-bahais-speak-at-temple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Relatives of detained Baha&apos;is speak at Temple - 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