Aug10
Human Rights Watch issues statement to “Free Baha’i Leaders”
Today, August 10, Human Rights Watch issued a public statement calling for the release of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who were reportedly sentenced last Sunday to 20 years in prison for false charges stemming from their religious beliefs.
From the Human Rights Watch statement:
The Iranian judiciary should set aside any judgments issued in closed judicial proceedings against seven Baha’i leaders and release them immediately given that no evidence appears to have ever been presented against them, and they have not been given a fair and public trial, Human Rights Watch said today.
The authorities arrested the seven in May 2008 and severely restricted their access to lawyers and their families. Government officials reportedly informed one of their lawyers in recent days that Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court had sentenced each of the seven to 20 years in prison on charges that include propaganda against the state and espionage.
“For more than two years now the Iranian authorities have utterly failed to provide the slightest shred of evidence indicating any basis for detaining these seven Baha’i leaders, let alone sentencing them to 20 years in prison,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch.
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