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Amnesty International, US State Department call for release of Baha'i prisoners in Iran

GENEVA
29 January 2008 (BWNS)

In the wake of a US State Department call for Iran to release Baha'i prisoners, Amnesty International has issued an "urgent action" appeal on their behalf.

The three prisoners were taken into custody in Shiraz, Iran, last November and are serving a four-year sentence on charges connected entirely with their belief and practice in the Baha'i Faith.

"We urge the regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the three young Baha'i teachers being held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz," said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State Department on 23 January 2008.

Amnesty International issued its appeal on 25 January. It calls for human rights activists around the world to write directly to Iranian government officials on behalf of the Baha'i prisoners, asking why they have been detained and calling on authorities not to ill-treat or torture them.

"Haleh Rouhi Jahromi, Raha Sabet Sarvestani and Sasan Taqva, all Baha'is (a religious minority), have been detained by the Ministry of Intelligence in Shiraz since 19 November 2007," states the appeal, which was posted on Amnesty International's Web site on 25 January 2008.

"Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language," the appeal advises, "stating that Amnesty International would consider them to be prisoners of conscience if they are detained because of their Baha'i faith... calling for their release if they are not to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence and brought to trial promptly and fairly" and "calling on the authorities not to torture or ill-treat them..."

The Amnesty International appeal recounts the story of the three prisoners, who were initially part of a group of 54 Baha'is who were arrested in May 2006 as they took part in an effort to educate underprivileged children in Shiraz.

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Source: Baha'i World News Service:

http://news.bahai.org/story/599