Nine Baha'i adherents were arrested and transferred to prison to serve their sentences

Hengaw: Saturday, August 5, 2023
 

Negin Rezaei, Nakissa Sadeghi, Ramleh Tirgarnezhad, Kamyar Habibi, Mahsa Tirgar Behnmiri, Elham Sharqi Arani, Sadaf Sheikhzadeh, Shahrazad Mastori, and Saman Ostowar, nine Baha'i adherents, were arrested and transferred to Karaj Central Prison and Kachouie Prison to serve their prison sentences.

According to the report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Saturday, August 5, 2023, nine Baha'i adherents living in Karaj, after being summoned and referred to the execution branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of this city, were arrested. Also, Saman Ostowar and Kamyar Habibi were transferred to Karaj Central Prison. Negin Rezaei, Nakissa Sadeghi, Ramleh Tirgarnezhad, Mahsa Tirgar Behnmiri, Elham Sharqi Arani, Sadaf Sheikhzadeh, and Shahrazad Mastori were transferred to Kachouie Prison.
 

Recently, the 12th branch of the Alborz Provincial Court of Appeal sentenced Kamyar Habibi and Saman Ostowar to five years in prison each, Ramleh Tirgarnezhad, Elham Sharqi Arani to three years in prison, as well as Nakissa Sadeghi, Mahsa Tirgar Behnmiri, Sadaf Sheikhzadeh, Negin Rezaei, and Shahrazad Mastori were sentenced to two years and one month of imprisonment each.
 

For additional punishment, each of these citizens was sentenced to pay a fine, banned from leaving the country, and deprived of the right to join political, cultural, and social parties and groups.
 

The charges against these citizens are announced as "acting against national security through the participation and formation of a group of individuals to disrupt the country's security through promoting the Baha'i religion among children and teenagers", "propaganda against the holy Islamic law through the education", "Insult and propaganda activity against the holy law of Islam". 
 

Mahsa Tirgar, Elham Sharqi Arani, Nakissa Sadeghi, Sadaf Sheikhzadeh, Shahrazad Mastori, Negin Rezaei, and Saman Ostowar were arrested by the Iranian Intelligence forces in Alborz province in July and August 2022, and released on bail until the end of the proceedings.
 

Also, on September 10, 2022, Kamyar Habibi was arrested by the Iranian government forces and taken to Qezelhesar prison. After a while, on December 13, 2022, he was temporarily released on bail until the end of the proceedings.
 

On October 4, 2022, Ramleh Tirgarnezhad, Kamyar Habibi's wife, was summoned to the investigation branch of the General and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Alborz province, and after the charge of "propaganda against the Islamic Religion" was explained, she was temporarily released on bail until the end of the proceedings.