Update on Arrests of Baha’is in Iran
June 7th, 2006 by sfuqua
In mid may, 54 members of the Baha'i community of Shiraz, Iran
were arrested while teaching
children in a religiously-neutral setting. No indication has been given as to
the cause of their arrest. While most have been released, a few remain in
jail. Many in the international community see this as continuing evidence of
the renewed persecution — alluded to in our
April
editorial — of the Baha'is in their homeland of Iran, where
they are the largest religious minority yet do not enjoy equal rights with
the majority religion or other minority religions.
NEW YORK, 26 May 2006 (BWNS) — After their arrests on 19 May in
Shiraz, Iran, three Baha'is remain in jail while 51 others have been
released on bail. No indication has been given as to when the three will be
released. None of those who had been released, nor the three who are still
being detained, have been formally charged.
On the day of the arrests, one Baha'i, under the age of 15, was
released without having to post bail. At that same time, several other young
people who are not Baha'is and who had been arrested with the
Baha'is, were also released without bail.
On Wednesday 24 May, five days after their summary arrests, 14 of the
Baha'is were released, each having been required to provide deeds of
property to the value of ten million tumans (approximately US$11,000) as
collateral for release. The following day, Thursday 25 May, 36 Baha'is
were released on the strength of either personal guarantees or the deposit of
work licenses with the court as surety that they will appear when summoned to
court.
