Baha’i Abducted And Tortured In Shiraz

In a case of shocking brutality a member of Shiraz’s Baha’i community has been abducted and tortured.

According to HRANA [Human Rights Activists News Agency], based on reports from the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, Mr. Rouh’u’llah Rezaie, a 45-year-old Baha’i in Shiraz, was stopped, kidnapped, and moved to an unknown place as he was returning home, to his wife and child, from a gas station early in the morning on 8/8/1388 [October 27,2009]. There, he was threatened, insulted, and subjected to a simulated hanging in a show-execution. He was left naked in extreme cold, and different parts of his hands, chest, and forehead were burnt by cigarettes. Finally, he was released on a road in the suburbs of Shiraz.

Source: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/5272

Show Trial Of Baha’is Rescheduled Yet Again

In what has become a cruel farce the show trial of seven innocent Baha’is has been rescheduled yet again to Sunday 18th October.

“It is unclear whether the trial will take place on Sunday, or whether it will be postponed again,” said Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “If the trial does not go ahead, the seven Baha’is should be released on bail, as Iranian law requires,” she said. “They are completely innocent of the accusations against them and should not have been imprisoned in the first place.”

 Source: http://news.bahai.org/story/733

Family Of Imprisoned Baha’i Harrassed

I am saddened to learn that the family of imprisoned Baha’i Sahba Rezvani is being harassed by vandals.

The automobile of a Baha’i resident of Semnan was vandalized multiple times by unknown assailants. According to the Baha’i Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran, in a continuation of persecutions and harassment of our Baha’i countrymen, particularly those residing in Semnan, at 10 PM on August 27, an individual or a group of assailants riding on a motorcycle broke the windows of Nezam Fanaian’s car and then dispersed. During recent months, several times Mr. Fanaian’s vehicle has been attacked by unknown persons. Despite repeated appeals to the security and police agencies in Semnan by his family and other Baha’is about the consistent attacks and harassment of the Baha’is of that region, no action has been taken to prevent these episodes. It should be noted that Mr. Fanaian’s wife is Sahba Rezvani, who has been imprisoned since last December, and is presently completing her 3-year jail term in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Source http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/5209

Baha’i Cemetery Destroyed Near Isfahan

From September 6 through September 10, using large trucks and bulldozers, a number of unknown individuals destroyed and excavated the Baha’i Cemetery of Najafabad and Vilashahr [near Isfahan]. The cemetery, which belongs to the Baha’is of Najafabad and Vilashahr, and which is known as Gulestan Javid [“eternal garden”], is situated about 9 miles from Najafabad. This land was given to the Baha’is of Najafabad and Vilashahr in the winter of 1995; it has been attacked 18 times since them. It has been reported that 119 graves are located in this cemetery – 95 are in the first section and 24 more are in the second section. According to reports by eyewitnesses, when Baha’is visited the cemetery on Thursday, September 10, 2009, they were confronted with a destroyed cemetery and excavated land. The entire first section and portions of section 2 of this cemetery had been excavated, and large craters and earth-mounds were created. In some segments, the earth had been removed to the depth of over a yard, and in other segments earth had been brought in from other areas and piled up in long rows as high as 10 yards. Moreover, parking lots located on the northern and southern parts of cemetery were also excavated up to 35 yards from the graves, and large craters and mounds were created in them. It should be noted that tracks from bulldozers and large trucks were clearly evident throughout the cemetery and surrounding land. In addition, the remains of previously destroyed facilities that had included water tanks were taken away from the property. It should be noted that the previous Baha’i cemetery of this region was thoroughly destroyed and eradicated in 1984.

Source: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/5122