26 Bahais from Shiraz sentenced to prison and exile

HRANA, June 12, 2022. –

A Revolutionary Court in Shiraz has sentenced 26 Bahais to prison terms of up to 5 years, as well as internal exile, a ban on leaving Iran, and requirements to report daily to the Ministry of Intelligence. The trial, by the notorious Judge Sayyid Mahmud Saadaati (قاضی محمود ساداتی) was held on May 17, and the verdict issued on May 29.

Five-year sentences were given to Yekta Fahandezh-Sa`adi (یکتا فهندژ سعدی), Laala Saalehi (لالا صالحی), Bahaareh Nowruzi (بهاره نوروزی), Rezvan Yazdani (رضوان یزدانی) and Mozhgaan Gholaampour (مژگان غلامپور). Their passports are revoked for two years — presumably after the completion of their sentences — and they are required to report daily to the Provincial office of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Five-year sentences and a two-year passport confiscation were also given to Nabil Tadhhib (نبیل تذهیب , but previously reported as Nabil Tahdhib (نبیل تهذیب), Sahba Maslahi (صهبا مصلحی), Behnaam Azizpour (بهنام عزیزپور), Esma`il Rusta (اسماعیل روستا), Ramin Shirvaani (رامین شیروانی) and Sa`id Hassani (سعید حسنی). These five were also sentenced to internal exile in other provinces: Mr. Tadhhib to Izeh, in Khuzestan Province, Sahba Maslahi to Ferdows in South Khuzestan, Behnaam Azizpour to Behdasht in Kohgiluyeh, Esma`il Rusta to Baft in Yazd Province, Ramin Shirvaani to Bagh-e Malek in Khuzestan, and Sa`id Hassani in Lordegan, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, where they would be required to report daily to the Ministry of Intelligence.

Two-year sentences with passport confiscation and daily reporting for two years were given to Maryam Eslaami-Mahdiaabaadi (مریم اسلامی مهدی آبادی), Parisa Rouhi-zaadegaan (پریسا روحی زادگان), Marjaan Gholampour (مرجان غلامپور), Shadi Sadeq-Eqdam (شادی صادق اقدم), Ahdiyyeh Enayati (عهدیه عنایتی), Thamareh Ashnaa’i(ثمره آشنایی), Nasim Kaashaani-nezhad (نسیم کاشانی نژاد), Sahba Farahbakhsh (صهبا فرحبخش), and Noushin Zanhari (نوشین زنهاری).

Another six Bahais were given the same two-year sentence plus internal exile. They are Mahyar Sefidi (مهیار سفیدی), exiled to Lamerd in Fars Province; Varqa Kaviani (ورقا کاویانی), exiled to Kashmar in Khorasan; Shamim Ekhlaqi (شمیم اخلاقی), exiled to Semirom in Isfahan Province; Farzad Shaadmaan (فرزاد شادمان), exiled to Minab in Hormozgan; Farbod Shaadmaan (فربد شادمان), previously named as Farid Shaadmaan (فرید شادمان), who is exiled to Firuzabad in Fars Province, and Soroush Eqaani (سروش ایقانی), exiled to Mehriz in Yazd Province. Shiraz itself is the capital of Fars Province, so all but two of these Bahais would be exiled to distant places, if the judgement is upheld.

The Provincial Review Court will review the sentences of the Revolutionary Court, and has in the past reduced the sentences given by Judge Mahmud Saadaati. That Judge is subject to US sanctions for his human rights abuses. He has specialized in sentencing Bahais to prison and internal exile for their Bahai beliefs, usually under the guise of “propaganda against the regime,” “membership of an illegal organisation,” or, as in this case, “collusion undermining state security” by going to city slums “under the pretext of investigating the water crisis and social ills and advocating for the environment,” and also “colluding to create intellectual and doctrinal insecurity through their deviant and dangerous thinking, particularly that Islam is superseded etc etc.. ”

A previous report on this blog gives more details of the arrest of these Bahais in 2016 and their previous trials.

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