Saha Thaabeti arrested in Sari, Bahai homes across Iran raided

HRANA, July 31, 2022. –

On July 31, the home of Saha Thaabeti-Rahmaani (سها ثابتی (رحمانی)) in Sari was raided by security agents, who seized some personal effects including her cell phone, and arrested her. It is not known where she is being detained. Other Bahai homes in Sari, belonging to Saanaaz `Alizaadeh (ساناز علیزاده), Thoraya Monuchehr-zaadeh-Mithaaqi (ثریا منوچهرزاده (میثاقی)) and Navid Mithaaqi (نوید میثاقی) were also raided. In Gonbad-e Kavus, the homes of Aazaadeh Yakini (آزاده یقینی) and Afsaaneh Tashakor (افسانه تشکر) were raided, and in Maahshahr, the home of Afnaaneh Ansaari (افنانه انصاری) was raided, and she was detained for a few hours. In Shiraz, the homes of Ehsaan Jaabri (احسان جابری) and Behaar Bengaleh (بهار بنگاله) were raided, and in Mashhad, the home of Farideh Hedaayati (فریده هدایتی). In Karaj, the home of Bita Mumtaazi-Saraaf (بیتا ممتازی (صراف)) and Puya Mumtaazi-Saraaf (پویا ممتازی (صراف)) was raided, and in Gorgan the homes of Shafaq Fahandezh (شفق فهندژ), Shakib Modi-Masumi (شکیب مودی (معصومی)), Afsun Modi-Masumi (افسون مودی (معصومی)), Shaqayeq Pourenayati (شقایق پورعنایتی) and Neda Taa`ifi (ندا طائفی) were raided.

Two homes raided in Mashhad, one in Shiraz

HRANA, July 31, 2022. –

On July 31, agents from the Ministry of Intelligence raided the homes of Shaadi Khaaseh-zadeh (شادی خاصه زاد) and Hediyeh Ghiyabi (هدیه غیابی) in Mashhad, and the home of Raaheleh Kashaani (راحله کشانی) in Shiraz. Some personal effects and family belongings were seized. The agents in Mashhad had a search warrant. Mrs Khaaseh-zadeh was not at home at the time: her husband was told that she should report to the Ministry of Intelligence when she returns. The agents who searched Mrs. Kashani’s house seized personal effects and religious books, and said that she was not arrested because of her poor health. She has recently had surgery.

Four Bahai women go to jail in Mashhad

HRANA, April 6, 2021. –

Nika Paakzaadaan (نیکا پاکزادان), Saanaaz Es-haaqi (ساناز اسحاقی), Nakisa Hajipour (نکیسا حاجی پور) and Noghmeh Dhabihayan (نغمه ذبیحیان) began their one-year sentences in Mashhad’s Vakil-Abaad prison on April 6. These four were arrested, tried and sentenced in a group of five: Faraaneh Daaneshgari (فرانه دانشگری) is not mentioned in this report. The five were arrested on November 13, 2015, at the same time as agents from the Ministry of Intelligence also arrested 15 other Bahais in Tehran and Isfahan, and Bahai-run businesses were closed down in Mazandaran Province. Judge Baagh-dehi (قاضی باغ دهی), sitting in the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad on 28 September, 2019, sentenced them to one year in prison and the Review Court for Khorasan Province confirmed the prison terms in late December.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Five Bahai women begin 1-year sentences in Mashhad

Iran Wire, February 3, 2021. (with Persian report) –

Five Bahai women from Mashhad have been summoned to the city’s Vakilabad Prison to begin serving their sentences. They are are Noghmeh Dhabihayan (نغمه ذبیحیان), Nakisa Hajipour (نکیسا حاجی پور), Nika Paakzaadaan (نیکا پاکزادان), Faraaneh Daaneshgari (فرانه دانشگری) and Saanaaz Eshaaqi (ساناز اسحاقی). Each has been give a one-year sentence on charges of “propaganda against the regime through propagation of the Bahai Faith.” The sentences were handed down in September 2019 in the Revolutionary Court by Judge Baghdehi (قاضی باغ‌دهی), who has a track record of issuing custodial sentences to Iranian Bahais for no reason other than their faith. The sentences were confirmed by the Review Court around December 25, 2020.

The summonses were issued on January 28 and each of the five women has been given 10 days to report for imprisonment. This comes at the same time as a severe outbreak of coronavirus at Vakilabad Prison, and also amid a recent wave of persecution of Bahais and members of other ethnic and religious minorities in Iran.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Sentences confirmed for five Bahais from Mashhad

HRANA, December 26, 2020. –

The Review Court for Khorasan Province has confirmed the one-year prison terms that Judge Baagh-dehi (قاضی باغ دهی), in the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, had ordered for Nika Paakzaadaan (نیکا پاکزادان), Faraaneh Daaneshgari (فرانه دانشگری), Saanaaz Eshaaqi (ساناز اسحاقی), Nakisa Hajipour (نکیسا حاجی پور) and Noghmeh Dhabihayan (نغمه ذبیحیان). The Review Court decision was announced on December 17. These five Bahai women were arrested on November 13, 2015, at the same time as agents from the Ministry of Intelligence also arrested 15 other Bahais in Tehran and Isfahan, and Bahai-run businesses were closed down in Mazandaran Province. Nakisa Hajipour was arrested at the Mashhad railway station, and the other four at their homes. The Revolutionary court trial was held on 28 September, 2019.

Noghmeh Dhabihayan-Esami was previously arrested in connection with a handcrafts exhibition in Mashhad. This HRANA report states that she was sentenced to 6 months in prison, but my own records from the time show she was acquitted.
https://iranwire.com/fa/news/kerman/44103

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Five Bahais of Mashhad given one-year sentences

HRANA, October 22, 2020. –

A Revolutionary Court in Mashhad has sentenced five Bahai women to one year in prison. They are Nika Paakzaadaan (نیکا پاکزادان), Faraaneh Daaneshgari (فرانه دانشگری), Saanaaz Eshaaqi (ساناز اسحاقی), Nakisa Hajipour (نکیسا حاجی پور) and Noghmeh Dhabihayan (نغمه ذبیحیان). They were arrested on November 13, 2015, at the same time as agents from the Ministry of Intelligence also arrested 15 other Bahais in Tehran and Isfahan, and Bahai-run businesses were closed down in Mazandaran Province. Nakisa Hajipour was arrested at the Mashhad railway station, and the other four at their homes. They were charged with propaganda against the regime through teaching the Bahai Faith. The trial was held on 28 September, 2019, but the sentences have only now been announced.

Noghmeh Dhabihayan-Esami was previously arrested in connection with a handcrafts exhibition in Mashhad. This HRANA report states that she was sentenced to 6 months in prison, but my own records from the time show she was acquitted.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Kaaviz Nouzdahi acquitted in Mashhad

HRANA, June 5, 2019. –

The Review Court has acquitted Kaaviz Nouzdahi (کاویز نوزدهی), a Bahai from Mashhad, of all the charges against him. He is at present free on bail after being sentenced by a lower court for “membership in an anti-regime organization” (i.e., membership in the Baha’i administration). The Bahai Administration in Iran dissolved itself many years ago, following the 1979 Revolution. His trial in the lower court was quite irregular, with no defence and a court clerk, Mr. Farhikhteh (آقای “فرهیخته), taking the place of the supervising judge, Judge Mansouri ( قاضی منصوری).

Mr. Nuzdehi has previously served a two-year prison sentence, from July 2010 to June 2012, on charges of propaganda against the regime, endangering national security, membership and activity in the Bahai Faith, advocating contact with foreigners after traveling outside the country, participating in illegal organisations, and producing and distributing Bahai CDs and books.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Four Bahai prisoners released in Mashhad (updated to four)

HRANA, February 19, 2019. –

Three Bahai women, Dori Amri (دری امری), Saaqi Fedaa’i (ساقی فدایی) and her mother Mey Khalusi (می خلوصی) have been granted early release from prison in Mashhad. A few hours later, Mr. Shaayaan Tafazoli (شایان تفضلی) was also released. The four were arrested in a raid on a Bahai religious meeting in Saqi Feda’i’s home on June 1, 2014. During the raid some religious books were seized. All four were charged with propaganda against the regime and sentenced to one year in prison by Judge Soltani ( قاضی سلطانی) in February 2018, and the sentenced were confirmed by the Review Court, but they did not begin their sentences until November 1 and (in the case of Shaayaan Tafazolli) November 28, 2018.

Thus far, the amnesty has brought freedom to 36 prisoners of conscience in Iran, but has not yet included any of the many prisoners of conscience held in and around Tehran.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Fataaneh Nabilzaadeh released in Mashhad

HRANA, February 17, 2019. –

On February 16, Fataaneh Nabilzaadeh (فتانه نبیل‌زاده), who began her one-year sentence on July 16, 2018, was released from prison in Mashhad under an amnesty for prisoners of conscience with short sentences. She was sentenced for her association with the Bahai University (BIHE), a distance-learning institute that offers education to Bahais, who are excluded from both state and private tertiary institutions under Iran’s form of apartheid. On August 13, 2013, as part of a series of raids on the BIHE across Iran, security forces raided her home, searched it, and arrested her, along with two students who were taking an exam: her son Peymaan Saraaf (پیمان صراف) and Daayaan Teymouri (دایان تیموری). The two students were bailed three weeks later, but Mrs. Nabilzaadeh was held for two months before being released on bail. In January 2018 she was sentenced to one year in prison for her educational activities.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Shaayaan Tafazoli begins a one-year sentence

HRANA, November 26, 2018. –

Shaayaan Tafazoli (شایان تفضلی) began his one-year sentence in Mashhad prison on November 26. He is one of four Bahais from Mashhad who were sentenced to one year in prison by Judge Soltani ( قاضی سلطانی) in February this year. They were arrested in were arrested on July 8, 2014, following a raid on a Bahai religious meeting. The other three detainees in that case are Dori Amri (دری امری), Saaqi Fedaa’i (ساقی فدایی) and her mother Mey Khalusi (می خلوصی). They were charged with propaganda against the regime. Shaayaan Tafazolli was also among the eight Bahais arrested in February 2012, in relation to a handcrafts exhibition organised by Bahai youth in Mashhad. The photograph dates from that time.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Saqi Feda’i and Mey Khalusi begin sentences in Mashhad

Campaign for prisoners of conscience, November 1, 2018.

Saqi Feda’i (ساقی فدایی) and her mother Mey Khalusi (می خلوصی) began one-year prison sentences in Mashhad on October 31. They were charged with “propaganda against the regime.” They were arrested, along with two other Bahais, in a raid on a Bahai religious meeting in Saqi Feda’i’s home on June 1, 2014. During the raid some religious books were seized.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Nika Khalusi ends her prison term

HRANA, August 5, 2018. –

Nika Khalusi (نیکا خلوصی) has been released from prison in Mashhad at the end of her 5-year term. She began her sentence on April 30, 2014. She and her sister Nava (نوا خلوصی) were sentenced for “membership of the Bahai organisation, participation in illegal Bahai activities, and propaganda in favour of the Bahais and against the regime of the Islamic Republic.” Nava Khalusi, sentenced to four and a half years, was released on September 4, 2017. Their father, Manuchher Khalusi (منوچهر خلوصی) was released on July 31, 2017, at the end of a one-year sentence.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Fataneh Nabilzadeh begins her sentence

Shahrvandyar, July 18, 2018. –

Fataneh Nabilzadeh (فتانه نبیل‌زاده), who has been sentenced to one year in prison for her association with the Bahai University (BIHE), was taken to prison in Mashhad on July 16. The BIHE is a distance-learning institute that offers education to Bahais, who are excluded from both state and private tertiary institutions under Iran’s form of apartheid. Educating Bahais is against state policies, although technically it is not against the law, since the policies are not published. On August 13, 2013, as part of a series of raids on the BIHE across Iran, security forces raided her home, searched it, and arrested her, along with two students who were taking an exam: her son Peyman Saraf (پیمان صراف) and Dayan Teymouri (دایان تیموری). The two students were bailed on September 5, but Mrs. Nabilzadeh was held for two months before being released on bail. In January 2018 she was sentenced to one year in prison for her educational activities.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Kaviz Nuzdehi free in Mashhad

Mahvash Zaeri, citing Shahrvandyar, May 27, 2018.

Kaviz Nuzdehi ( کاویز نوزدهی ), a Mashhad Bahai, was released on bail on May 27. He was arrested by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence on May 2, and has has previously served a two-year prison sentence, from July 2010 to June 2012. That time, the charges against him were propaganda against the regime, endangering national security, membership and activity in the Bahai Faith, etc. He has been the subject of speculation by Damavand News, which identified him as — probably — the unidentified Bahai whom the Deputy Prosecutor of Mashhad claimed was held for links to the Mujahedin (MKO, and organisation that has practiced and preached revolution and violence). Given that he has been released on bail after one month in detention, that identification now looks very unlikely.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Bahai in Mashhad said to be linked to Mujahedin

Damavand News, May 22, 2018.

Hasan Heidari (حسن حیدری), Deputy Prosecutor of Khorasan Razavi Province has claimed in an interview with the local website of Mashhad (capital of the Province) that an unnamed Bahai has been arrested in Mashhad by the Ministry of Intelligence, under a special judicial order referring to the “arrest of the leadership of the hypocrite terrorist organisation.” The term is usually Iranian code for the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MKO), which has advocated revolution and violence. Mr. Heidari said that the Bahai had been accused of collaborating with a political organization, and that “this individual had sought to provide broader grounds for activities to undermine security, by promulgating and misusing the demands of the industry guilds that are part of the Iranian system.” In other words, he was a worker’s rights activist. Iran has seen widespread worker protests, strikes and market shut-downs in recent weeks, and the tactic of connecting these to an external terrorist organisation and/or the Bahais may be a device to divert attention from the grievances of workers and small shop-keepers (who close their shops as a form of protest).

Damavand News, which reports this interview, expresses reservations that it has the whole picture, and the story as reported raises a number of questions. In the first place, did the Deputy Prosecutor intend to refer to the Mujahedin or is it hyperbole for the Green Movement? The accusation of “links to a political group” seems unusually mild if the Mujahedin was intended. In the second place, the only Bahai known to have been arrested in Mashhad recently is Kaviz Nuzdehi ( کاویز نوزدهی ), arrested on May 2. Damavand News cites a source saying that, given the timing, the reference can only be to Mr. Nuzdehi. But another possibility is that the Deputy Prosecutor did not have any specific Bahai in mind. Claims that a group of Bahais have been arrested for this an that – without specifics – are sometimes made by officials seeking to assure the public that they are doing their jobs by keeping the Bahais under pressure. Generally speaking, no specifics or trials follow from such claims. Reliable reports of the actual persecution of Bahais in Iran always comes from family members and associates, not from official statements, and contain names, dates and other specifics that can be checked.

Mahsa Mahdavi released from prison

Radio Zamaneh (web site), May 11, 2018.

Mahsa Mahdavi (مهسا مهدوی) was released from Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad on May 10, after serving an 8-month sentence for her Bahai beliefs. She was one of four Bahais arrested in Mashhad in September, 2012, who were sentenced in May, 2013: her sentence was the shortest. They were accused of teaching the Bahai Faith, propaganda against the regime and membership of Bahai organisations.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Kaviz Nuzdehi arrested in Mashhad (updated)

Hamid Rezatipour, May 2, 2018.

Kaviz Nuzdehi ( کاویز نوزدهی ), a Mashhad Bahai, was arrested on May 2. Agents searched his home and seized a computer, books and laptops. He has previously served a two-year prison sentence in Vakil Abad prison, from July 2010 to June 2012. That time, the charges against him were propaganda against the regime, endangering national security, membership and activity in the Bahai Faith, advocating contact with foreigners after traveling outside the country, participating in illegal organisations, and producing and distributing Bahai CDs and books.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Five Bahais sentenced in Mashhad: one year in prison

HRANA, February 28, 2018.

One-year sentences have been announced in four cases dating back to late 2014, involving Bahais in Mashhad. Dari Amri (دری امری), Shayan Tafazoli (شایان تفضلی), Saqi Feda’i (ساقی فدایی) and her mother Mey Khalusi (می خلوصی) were sentenced by Judge Soltani ( قاضی سلطانی). They were charged with propaganda against the regime. A month ago, Fataneh Nabilzadeh (فتانه نبیل‌زاده) was also sentenced to one year in prison in Mashhad: her arrest and sentencing was not previously reported on Sen’s Daily.

The four who are most recently sentenced were arrested on July 8, 2014, following a raid on a Bahai religious meeting in the home of Saqi Feda’i on June 1. They were held by the Ministry of Intelligence until early August, before being taken to prison and eventually released on bail. They were tried on December 17, 2014, but the sentences have only now been announced.

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Five years for five Tehran Bahais; good news in Mashhad

Payam News (Facebook), October 4.

Navid Aqdasi (نوید اقدسی), Yahvah Haqiqat Mehlabani ( یاور حقیقت مهلبانی), Helia Moshtaq (هلیا مشتاق), Nava Monjazeb Qamasari (نوا منجذب قمصری) and Negar Baqeri Tari’ (نگار باقری طاری ) have been sentenced to five years in prison for their Bahai beliefs. The sentence, in the “magistrate’s” court will be reviewed in the Provincial Court of Review. They were among 20 Bahais who were arrested in Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad on November 15, 2015, two of whom were released within a few hours.

Following their arrests, they were held for interrogation for over a month, and then abiled. Bail for Mrs. Monjazeb, Baqeri and Haqiqat was set at 100 million tumans (31,000 euros, $US 33,000). I do not know the bail for the other two
detainees in Tehran.

In April this year it was announced that Khoshayar and Shayan Tafazolli ( خشایار و شایان تفضلی ) and Sina Aqdas-zadeh ( سینا اقدس زاده ), Bahais from Mashhad, were sentenced by Judge Mansouri (قاضی منصوری) to one year in prison on charges of propaganda against the regime. However the latest report — probably revised following the Court of Review’s ruling, but the report says it comes from the Revolutionary (ideological crimes) Court — is that Shayan Tafazolli was acquitted, and the other two received a one-year sentence to be suspended for five years.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2YH

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Mehta Iqani free on bail

Payam News (Persian, Facebook), September 10, 2017.

Mehta Iqani (مهتا ایقانی), a Bahai from Mashhad who was arrested on September 2, has been released on bail after 9 days in detention. There is still no information about the reason for her detention.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2XS

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Nava Kholousi released from prison in Mashhad

Payam News (Persian, Facebook), September 5, 2017.

Nava Kholousi (نوا خلوصی) was released from Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad on September 4, at the end of her sentence of four and a half years for “membership of the Bahai organisation, participation in illegal Bahai activities, and propaganda in favour of the Bahais and against the regime of the Islamic Republic.” She began her sentence on March 17, 2014 along with her sister Nika Kholousi (نیکا خلوصی) who is still serving a six-year sentence [This report says, six and a half years] in Vakil Abad prison. They were first arrested on September 6, 2012, and were detained for 185 days before being released on bail. Their father (منوچهر خلوصی) (pictured) has been arrested six times because of his Bahai beliefs, and imprisoned several times. In 1999 he was sentenced to death, but the verdict was later declared invalid. He is at present free.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2XB

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

New arrest in Mashhad

Payam News (Persian, Facebook), September 2, 2017.

Mehta Iqani (مهتا ایقانی), a Bahai from Mashhad, was arrested today following a four-hour interrogation at the Police Intelligence offices there. She had responded to a summons to go to the office. She is being held in the women’s section of the police jail. She had been summoned three times in the past week, when she was in Tehran and unable to attend. The police have not explained the summons to her or her family, as they themselves have no information.

Mrs. Iqani’s husband Arman Mukhtari ( آرمان مختاری ) was one of a number of Bahai youths arrested in February 2012, for participating in a handcraft exhibition in Mashhad to raise funds for the disadvantaged. They were eventually charged with propaganda against the regime in the form of teaching the Bahai Faith, and membership of the Bahai community. Mr. Mukhtari was sentenced to 6 month in prison, and has served his sentence. On August 17 this year he was again arrested, and was freed on bail of 50 million tumans (12,000 euros ; $US15,000) four days later.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2Xh

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Neda Mokhtari released on bail

Payam News (Facebook, Persian), August 23, 2017.

Neda Mokhtari (ندا مختاری ), a 21-year-old Bahai from Mashhad, was released on August 21. Bail was set at 50 million tumans (12,800 euros ; $US 15,000). She was arrested in her home on August 17, when agents from the Intelligence branch of the Police (the NAJA) came to her home and searched it, seizing personal effects, books, mobile phones and a laptop computer.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2WE

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

One new arrest in Mashhad

Payam News (Persian, Facebook), August 17, 2017.

Neda Mokhtari (ندا مختاری ), a 21-year-old Bahai from Mashhad, was arrested in her home on August 17. Agents from the Ministry of Intelligence came to her home and searched it, seizing personal effects, books, mobile phones and a laptop computer. They arrested here and took her away. Her family believe she is being held in the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facilities in Mashhad.

Manuchher Khalousi released in Mashhad

Human Rights in Iran (Persian), July 31, 2017.

Manuchher Khalousi (منوچهر خلوصی) was released from Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad on July 31. He began serving a 1-year sentence on October 6, 2016.

He was arrested on November 29, 2013, when security forces raided his home, for the sixth time since the 1979 Revolution. At his trial, on July 8, 2014, he was charged with “acting against national security by giving interviews with foreign media.” However no interviews with Mr. Kholousi are known, in either Iranian or foreign media. The court therefore adjourned the sitting for lack of evidence, and a judge was appointed to gather evidence for new charges. A court then sentenced him to six years in prison on charges against of propaganda against the regime and undermining national security. The review court reduced this sentence to one year.

His daughters, Nika and Nava Kholousi (نیکا و نوا خلوصی ), are serving sentences of six years and four and a half years, respectively, on charges of membership of the Bahai organisation, participation in illegal Bahai activities, and propaganda in favour of the Bahais and against the regime of the Islamic Republic.

In 1999, Mr. Kholousi was sentenced to death for being a Bahai. This sentence was later reduced to one year in prison, by which time he had already served 19 months in prison.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2VX

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

One-year sentences announced for 3 Mashhad Bahais

Bahai News (Persian), April 23, 2017.

Khoshayar and Shayan Tafazolli ( خشایار و شایان تفضلی ) and Sina Aqdas-zadeh ( سینا اقدس زاده ), Bahais from Mashhad, have been sentenced by Judge Mansouri (قاضی منصوری) to one year in prison on charges of propaganda against the regime. Shayan Tafazolli was among the eight Bahais arrested in February 2012, in relation to a handcrafts exhibition organised by Bahai youth in Mashhad. On July 11, 2012, security forces searched the homes of these three Bahais and arrested them. Sina Aqdas-zadeh was detained by the Ministry of Intelligence for 47 days, Shayan Tafazolli for 46 days, and Khoshayar Tafazolli for 23 days, before they were released on bail of 100 million tumans (at the time, 65,000 euros; 81,000 US dollars). They were tried in January this year, and the sentences were announced on April 22.

Shayan Tafazolli has been arrested on two other occasions, on February 17, 2012, when he was held for 66 days, and June 2, 2014.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2SJ

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Bahai student expelled from a non-profit university in Mashhad

Bahai News (Persian), February 1, 2017.

Sougol Kazemi-Bahnamiri (سوگل کاظمی بهنمیری) has been expelled from the Non-Profit University in Mashhad, where she had reached the fifth semester of a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Enginering, because of her Bahai beliefs. The discovered she had been expelled when she tried to access her personal page on the University’s web site on January 23. Her access was blocked. She went first to the IT services department, who sent her to the Education Office, who knew nothing about her expulsion. That office sent her back to the Director of the Education Office, who made further enquiries with the National Organisation for Educational Testing, who said that her student portal had been closed, but this was to be confidential. When she asked whether she had been expelled, the Education Office told her, “No, but until the Testing Organisation says that the problem with your file has been resolved, you are barred from further study and cannot follow classes in the coming semester.” She then went to the Ministry of Education and the Testing Organisation, but as of January 28 she had received no response, and there has also been no official documentation of the her expulsion.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2Pd

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Manuchher Khalousi begins 1-year prison sentence

HRANA, October 7, 2016.

On October 6, a month before Manuchher Khalousi (منوچهر خلوصی) was due to begin serving a 1-year sentence, security agents arrived at his home and took him under arrest to Vakil Abad prison, to serve his sentence.

He was arrested on November 29, 2013, when security forces raided his home, for the sixth time since the 1979 Revolution. At his trial, on July 8, 2014, he was charged with “acting against national security by giving interviews with foreign media.” However no interviews with Mr. Kholousi are known, in either Iranian or foreign media. The court therefore adjourned the sitting for lack of evidence, and a judge was appointed to gather evidence for new charges. A court then sentenced him to six years in prison on charges against of propaganda against the regime and undermining national security. The review court reduced this sentence to one year.

His daughters, Nika and Nava Kholousi (نیکا و نوا خلوصی ), are serving sentences of six years and four and a half years, respectively, on charges of membership of the Bahai organisation, participation in illegal Bahai activities, and propaganda in favour of the Bahais and against the regime of the Islamic Republic. They have both served more than two years of these sentences, also in Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad.

In 1999, Mr. Kholousi was sentenced to death for being a Bahai. This sentence was later reduced to one year in prison, by which time he had already served 19 months in prison. With respect to his current sentence, HRANA has published a document showing that he was sentenced solely for being a Bahai.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2Jo

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

Sonya Ahmadi released in Mashhad

Baszasht, August 18, 2016.

Sonya Ahmadi ( سونیا احمدی ) was released from Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad on August 17. She began serving her 5-year sentence, on charges of teaching the Bahai Faith and membership of the Bahai community, on September 2, 2012, but she was released early on January 10, 2014, with the promise that her complete freedom would follow. However on April 10, 2014, she was telephoned to say she would have to continue serving her prison sentence.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2GP

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.

 

Bahai student expelled from the Imam Reza University in Mashhad

Bahai News (Persian), June 21, 2016.

Mo’in Muhammadi (معین محمدی), a Bahai student, has completed an undergraduate course in biomedical engineering at the Imam Reza University in Mashhad, and, based on a provisional Bachelor’s certificate, has been accepted to study for a Master’s degree. However university officials then refused to issue his Bachelor’s certificate, saying initially that they had lost his files. Mr. Muhammadi pursued his case, even going to Tehran, but he was subjected to months of bureaucratic buck-passing. In the meantime, in the winter of 2014-2015, Mr. Muhammadi sat the entrance examination for the Master’s course, and was accepted for a course in Electricity of Telecommunications at the Imam Reza University. When he went to register, in August 2015, the Office of Education, the security office, and the Chief of Security told him that, as a Bahai, he did not have the right to register or attend university.

Short link: http://wp.me/pNMoJ-2EE

Older items can be found in the archive, here. Even older news is here.