SEVEN LEADERS of the Bahai faith who have been detained for more than eight months in Iran have been officially accused of espionage, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary has said.
“Next week, an indictment will be issued and will be discussed in court,” judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told reporters on Tuesday, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA. The seven leaders were arrested in May, prompting international criticism of Iran for its treatment of Bahai followers.
Bahai officials insist the Iranian detainees are innocent of the charges.
Followers of the Bahai faith, an offshoot of Islam that originated in 19th-century Persia, say the Bahai founder is the final prophet, a distinction that Muslim scholars say should be reserved for the Prophet Muhammad.
Iranian officials do not recognise the Bahai faith as a religion, referring to it as an “organisation”. Bahais claim 300,000 followers in Iran, but there are no independent statistics on the denomination’s size. The Islamic Republic allows Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who are regarded as members of monotheistic religions, to hold religious gatherings. Bahais are forbidden to hold such meetings and those who make their faith public are banned from studying at universities, serving in the army and working in government offices.
The seven arrested Bahais form the leadership of the sect in Iran. The Bahai International Community, which represents members worldwide, says hundreds of followers have been jailed and some executed in the years after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran denies it has detained or executed people because of their religion.
“Any activity which would be propagation against the country, system and Islam is certainly a crime and the instigators will be punished,” Mr Jamshidi said in response to a question about a letter from Iran’s prosecutor general in which Bahais were portrayed as spies for Israel. Ayatollah Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi wrote in a letter made public on Sunday that there are “strong and long-term relations between the Bahais and the Zionists”, as Iranian officials often refer to Israelis. The Bahai headquarters is in Haifa, Israel, but the denomination says it has adherents in almost every country.
Abdolfattah Soltani, one of the lawyers for the Bahai leaders, said he had not been permitted to meet his clients. “How can I make my case ready? I’m only their lawyer in name,” he said. They are also being represented by Mr Soltani’s colleague Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and Nobel peace laureate.
"Like most political or faith-related cases in Iran, due, fair and legal procedures were not observed," Mr Soltani said. "I believe that this legal procedure is not ethically, humanly or legally acceptable." –( LA Times-Washington Postservice)