Oct25
Iranian report confirms innocence of Baha’i prisoners in Shiraz, Iran
An Iranian inspector who examined the 2006 arrests of a group of young Baha’is in Shiraz, Iran, filed a confidential report dated June 2008 confirming what Baha’is have said all along: that their activities were strictly humanitarian in nature and did not involve the “illegal” teaching of the Baha’i Faith.
The report – signed by Vali Rustami, inspector and legal advisor of the Office of the Representative of the Supreme Leader for the province of Fars – was published by the Human Rights Activists of Iran on Oct. 23. The report was addressed to the representative of the Supreme Leader in the province and states that it was done at his request.
Three of the 54 Baha’is who were arrested were later sentenced to four-year prison terms and are still incarcerated in Shiraz.
The report states that not only was there no mention of religion in their activities, but that youths who attended the classes told him they wanted to continue. “They stated ‘We … truthfully learned a lot from this group and would like them to come back to us again,’” the investigator said in his report.
A Baha’i spokeswoman said the report underscores the injustice perpetrated against the Baha’is.
To read the full story and view related photos, click here
To visit the website of Human Rights Activists of Iran, which published the report and has the original document in Persian, go to: http://hrairan.org./Archive_87/1135.html. Click here for an English translation of the document.
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