Weekly Rights Podcast 8

In this week’s ‘Weekly Rights Podcast’: Mohammad Mostafaie, lawyer for Sakineh Ashtiani, flees Iran and is granted asylum in Norway; the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) is acting as an arm of the Intelligence Ministry to prosecute prisoners; leaders of the Baha’i Faith in Iran are each sentenced to 20 years in prison sparking an international outcry; American hiker Sarah Shourd continues to be denied medical treatment resulting in an urgent appeal from the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to Iranian authorities.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Baha’is Currently Imprisoned in Iran

Baha’is throughout Iran are routinely arrested and interrogated by government officials. This list is only the published and known names of those arrested.

Baha’i Community in Peril

(17 February 2009) Attacks on the Baha’i community in Iran have reached alarming levels, including semi-official calls for its “utter destruction,” the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. The Campaign called on the Iranian government to immediately cease its increasingly violent threats against the members of the Baha’i Faith, and to release members of the Baha’i Faith who are being held without charge. The Campaign also called on the international community to strongly condemn the Iranian government’s escalating persecution of the Baha’i religious minority.

The government has intensified its attacks on the members of the Baha’i Faith during the past year. There are currently at least 30 Baha’is in detention throughout the country.

Aziz Samandari

was arrested the morning of 14 January 2009 in his home in Tehran by Intelligence Ministry officials. He is being held incommunicado in Evin Prison.

Jinous Sobhani

is a former secretary at the DHRC and the ODMV and was arrested on 14 January 2009. She is being held incommunicado at Evin Prison.

Raids and Arrests of Baha’is Reach Critical Levels

(22 January 2009) – The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran expressed grave concern for the situation of Iran’s largest religious minority group today. Members of the Baha’i Faith have been targeted with alarming frequency in recent months with 36 Baha’is currently under arrest in Iranian prisons.

“The continued targeting of members of the Baha’i community is indicative of the larger goal of suppressing individual human rights by the Iranian government. All Baha’is detained and arrested, have committed no crime whatsoever,” said Hadi Ghaemi, Campaign spokesperson.

Entire Baha’i Leadership in Iran Detained Without Charge

(16 May 2008) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is calling on Iranian judicial authorities to account, in terms of Iranian and international law, for the detention on 14 May 2008 of six leading members of the Baha’i Faith, who have been taken to Evin prison.