Five Years in Prison for Baha'i Artist Who 'Held Art Classes at Home'

The lawyer of Shahryar Sirous, a Baha'i artist and painter, announced that his client has been sentenced to five years in prison by the Revolutionary Court on charges of 'forming a group with the aim of disrupting national security.' According to the International Human Rights Campaign in Iran, Mohamad Hadi Irfaniyan Kasab, Sirous's defense attorney, stated that his client received this sentence based on Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code. He announced that he has appealed this ruling, and the case is set to be reviewed in Branch 36 of the Court of Appeals. According to Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code, 'Anyone who forms or manages a group or organization of more than two people inside or outside the country under any name or title with the aim of disrupting national security and is not recognized as a combatant shall be sentenced to imprisonment from two to ten years.' Meanwhile, Shahryar Sirous's lawyer claims that the charges against his client 'are not valid.' The International Human Rights Campaign also quoted an unnamed legal advisor who reminded that the allegations against Mr. Sirous regarding forming 'art classes in his home' do not constitute the formation of a group and 'do not pertain to disrupting security in this regard.' According to this legal advisor, this article 'concerns groups formed for sabotage and primarily military operations, not for holding a class, even without the necessary permit.' Shahryar Sirous, a Baha'i artist and painter, was arrested by agents of the 'Ministry of Intelligence' in Tehran on Tuesday, July 9, 2015, and was released after about 50 days. Before 2008 and the arrest of Baha'i community leaders, he was a lecturer in philosophy and art history at the online university of Baha'is. Mr. Sirous, who has been teaching design and painting for about ten years, has studied painting professionally since 1991 under masters such as 'Aydin Aghdashloo,' 'Roein Pakbaz,' and 'Ahmad Vakili.' Alongside his artistic activities, he has conducted studies and research in the fields of philosophy and art history, the results of which have been published in several articles titled 'Derived Arts and Global Culture' and 'Art on the Threshold of the Third Millennium.' Shahryar Sirous's artistic resume includes numerous solo and group exhibitions, as well as participation in 'the Third Biennale of Iranian Painters.' In recent years, UN special rapporteurs on human rights, the European Union, the United States, and several international human rights organizations have criticized the ongoing discrimination and violation of the rights of Baha'is in Iran. The U.S. Department of State reported on Wednesday, August 10, in its annual report on religious freedoms worldwide, citing the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, that 82 Baha'is are imprisoned in Iran. According to the European Baha'i community, about 300,000 Baha'is live in Iran. However, the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran do not recognize the Baha'i faith as a religion. Prohibitions on university education, exclusion from a wide range of jobs, dismissal from the public sector, and numerous restrictions in the private sector are among the limitations against Baha'i citizens in the Islamic Republic. Recently, the global Baha'i community based in Geneva, in an open letter to the President of Iran on Tuesday, September 6, referred to the closure of businesses belonging to Baha'is in several cities of Iran and called on the Islamic Republic to end the 'economic repression of Baha'is' in Iran.