A Baha'i Citizen Transferred to Prison for Sentence Execution, Another Baha'i Sentenced to Imprisonment

According to a report received by the Hengaw Human Rights Organization, on Wednesday, December 20, Shiva Khalili, a Baha'i citizen, was summoned to the Babolsar Execution Court and transferred to the city's prison to serve her one-year prison sentence. Shiva Khalili was accused of 'propaganda against the regime' by the first branch of the Revolutionary Court of Babolsar in December 2021 and sentenced to one year of imprisonment. Her mobile phone was seized as 'evidence' at the time of her arrest. Mohammad Hadi Irfaniyan Kasab, the lawyer defending this Baha'i citizen, stated in his Twitter account in March 2022 that this sentence was issued without regard to the 'evidence and documents' presented in court for his client. According to reports received by Hengaw, Nafiseh Saadat Yar, another Baha'i citizen, was also accused of 'propaganda against the Islamic Republic' and sentenced to one year in prison and four years of deprivation of social rights. Ms. Saadat Yar, who was arrested on January 21, 2023, along with her husband Pouya Amri, was accused by the first branch of the Revolutionary Court of Gorgan, where she resides in Golestan province, of 'propaganda against the Islamic Republic.' She, who worked as a representative in a private company, was dismissed from her job this year under pressure from the IRGC's intelligence. Baha'is, who are the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, have systematically faced persecution since the 1979 revolution.