A Baha'i Woman in Shiraz 'Banned from Leaving' and Arrested by the 'IRGC Intelligence'

Roya Sabat, a Baha'i citizen, who traveled from the United Arab Emirates to Shiraz in December of this year, has been 'banned from leaving' and was arrested on Thursday, February 15, by IRGC intelligence agents and transferred to an unknown location. According to HRANA, the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Roya Sabat traveled to Shiraz on January 3 to care for her elderly parents and was supposed to return to the UAE on January 25. However, two days before her departure from Iran, IRGC intelligence agents entered her parents' home, 'conducted a search of the house and interrogated Roya and two family members.' HRANA reports that the agents confiscated some of Roya Sabat's documents, including her 'passport, plane ticket, UAE driver's license, and UAE identity card.' According to this report, the IRGC informed this Baha'i citizen that she was 'banned from leaving and should await a summons from the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Shiraz.' Nevertheless, she was arrested on Thursday. HRANA states that the reasons for her arrest, her place of detention, and the charges against her are unclear. Baha'i citizens in Iran have systematically faced executions, widespread social and political discrimination, and illegal actions, including arbitrary arrests and desecration of their cemeteries since the 1979 revolution. The repression of Baha'is by the Islamic Republic has always faced international protests. Previously, Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, criticized the 'significant increase' in the harassment of Baha'is in Iran. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has also expressed concern over the intensifying pressure on religious minorities in Iran and the Islamic Republic's campaign to detain Baha'is. According to this commission's report, at least about 200 people are imprisoned in the Islamic Republic for religious or ideological reasons. Keyvan Rahimian, a Baha'i prisoner, was sentenced to 9 years in prison. The family of Yekta Fahindaj Saadi told Voice of America: More than 50 days have passed since her arrest. The request for retrial of Sanaz Tafazoli, a Baha'i prisoner, was rejected by the Supreme Court.