{"id":1159,"date":"2008-05-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/arrests-of-bahai-leaders-in-iran-alarm-family-members\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:47:21","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:47:21","slug":"arrests-of-bahai-leaders-in-iran-alarm-family-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/arrests-of-bahai-leaders-in-iran-alarm-family-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrests of Baha'i leaders in Iran alarm family members"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Arrests
The seven Baha’i leaders arrested in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sweeping arrests of Baha\u2019i leaders in Iran have caused alarm in Australia where relatives of some of those detained are living after fleeing persecution in their homeland.<\/p>\n

Roya Kamalabadi of Melbourne, who moved to Australia seven years ago, says she is very worried for her sister, Fariba.<\/p>\n

Fariba Kamalabadi was arrested last week along with five others of the seven-member national coordinating group for the 300,000 Baha\u2019is in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very concerned for Fariba\u2019s safety,\u201d said Mrs Kamalabadi, a pharmacy technician of Wantirna.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very worried and haven\u2019t been able to get to sleep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fariba Kamalabadi was arrested in the early hours of the morning on 14 May 2008 after Iranian government intelligence agents raided the homes of the six Baha\u2019is, conducting extensive searches and taking them away to the notorious Evin prison.<\/p>\n

The seventh member of the group has been in prison in Mashhad since she was arrested on 5 March 2008.<\/p>\n

Family seeks information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs Kamalabadi said that since the arrest, her sister\u2019s family had been to Evin prison to seek information about Fariba but the prison authorities did not confirm that she or the other Baha\u2019is are detained there or give them any other information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time I saw her was six years ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ominous<\/strong><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Australian Baha\u2019i Community, Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, said the arrests were ominous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are extremely concerned because such sweeping detentions of key Baha\u2019i figures in Iran have not occurred since the terrible events of the early 1980s,\u201d Dr Mobini-Kesheh said.<\/p>\n

On 21 August 1980 all nine members of the national Baha\u2019i administrative council in Iran were abducted and disappeared without a trace, and on 27 December 1981 eight of the nine members of a reconstituted council were executed by the authorities, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cScores of other Baha\u2019i leaders were summarily rounded up, tortured and executed at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Baha\u2019i community has asked the Australian Government to take steps to protest against this sinister action of the Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very grateful to the Australian Government for its efforts in the past in defence of the human rights of the unjustly treated Baha\u2019i community in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Mobini-Kesheh said the Baha\u2019i community of Iran was a demonstrably peace-loving, law abiding and non-violent community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Baha\u2019is are Iran\u2019s biggest religious minority and have now been made more vulnerable through this wholly unwarranted action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Those arrested are:<\/p>\n