Free imprisoned Bahá’í immediately

Your Excellencies,

A press release of the Iranian news agency ISNA states that the sentencing of seven Bahá’í is imminent. Since ISNA is an established news agency and quotes a public prosecutor, we consider the report trustworthy and want to express our great concern.

The Bahá’í community in Germany has confirmed to the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) that the matter in the report concerns the seven leading Bahá’í, who have been held in custody in the Evin prison in Teheran since March or May 2008. The members of the governing council arrested on 14th May 2008 were Ms. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli und Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. Ms. Mahvash Sabet was arrested on 5th March 2008. The seven men and women had – always with the knowledge of the Iranian government – the task of operating a kind of "emergency administration” for the 300,000 Iranian Bahá'í.

The ISNA reports that sentence will be passed "next week” by the Iranian Revolutionary Court. It quotes the deputy public prosecutor Hasan Haddad as placing the charges of "espionage for Israel”, "insulting religious sentiments” and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic”.

The charges, which are both fateful and ungrounded, are energetically denied by the Bahá'í. These accusations forebode the worst.

For eight months no charge was made and the prisoners were forbidden contact with their lawyer, the human rights expert and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Now the charges have been made the Bahá'í are calling for access to the records and access to the prisoners for Ms. Ebadi.

The GfbV is one of the few human rights organisations which vehemently and energetically expose violations of human rights, war criminals and genocide against Moslem minorities. We have for example taken action - and continue to do so – for the Crimean Tatars in Russia, for the Moslems in Bosnia, Chechnya and Thailand.

Your Excellencies, I ask you in the name of our human rights organisation to take action to free the seven imprisoned Bahá'í.

Yours Truly

Tilman Zülch

President of the Society for Threatened Peoples International