{"id":1160,"date":"2008-05-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/fears-for-bahais-arrested-in-sinister-dawn-raids\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:49:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:49:27","slug":"fears-for-bahais-arrested-in-sinister-dawn-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/fears-for-bahais-arrested-in-sinister-dawn-raids\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears for Baha'is arrested in 'sinister' dawn raids"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fears
The seven Baha’i leaders arrested in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Australian Baha\u2019i community has expressed its alarm about the arrests in Iran yesterday of six key Baha\u2019is who coordinate the activities of the Baha\u2019i community in that country.<\/p>\n

The arrests are yet another indication of the Iranian government’s determination to extinguish the 300,000 strong Baha’i community there, said a spokesperson for the Australian Baha\u2019i Community, Natalie Mobini-Kesheh.<\/p>\n

Dr Mobini-Kesheh said officers of the Intelligence Ministry arrested the Baha\u2019is after conducting extensive searches of their homes in early morning raids on 14 May 2008.<\/p>\n

The officers then took the Baha\u2019is to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. The seventh member of the group has been in prison in Mashhad since she was arrested on 5 March 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are extremely concerned because such sweeping arrests 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

Abductions and executions<\/strong><\/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.<\/p>\n

On 27 December 1981 eight of the nine members of a reconstituted council were executed by the authorities.<\/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