Persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran

On March 8, the RFE/RL blog “Watchdog” published a Q&A with D.C.-area Baha’i Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing about the persecution of Iran’s Baha’i religious minority. The interview specifically addresses the ongoing trial of seven Baha’i leaders, which is expected to continue in Tehran on April 10, 2010.

Here’s an excerpt of the interview…

RFE/RL: For the seven who are now on trial, do they have lawyers representing them in court, and what is the basis of their charges?

Ma’ani Ewing: The seven right now are being represented by Shirin Ebadi, the famous Nobel laureate, but right now she’s out of the country fleeing for her own life. She has a human rights center in Iran that has lawyers, some of who were appointed to represent the Baha’is. With these seven, the next lawyer they were assigned, Abdolfattah Soltani, was promptly put in prison. They were finally given the dossier of charges, but there’s been absolutely no evidence to support these charges. Initially, they weren’t even going to allow the lawyers into court on February 8, so they had to argue their way in. There is no due process in the way that we understand it here in the West.

Tags: Abdolfattah Soltani, Baha'i arrests, Bahai, bahai leaders, Iran, persecution of Baha'is, Radio Free Europe, RFE/RL, Shirin Ebadi, Yaran