Isfahan Revolutionary Court Sentences 15 Baha'i Women to a Total of 75 Years in Prison

Radio Farda has learned that the first branch of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court has sentenced 15 Baha'i women to a total of 75 years in prison on charges of promoting Baha'i beliefs. According to informed sources, this branch issued a five-year prison sentence for each of these 15 women, including Nasrin Khademi, Shohreh Ashouri, Sanaz Rasteh, Maryam Khorsandi, Firoozeh Rasti, Shourangiz Bahamin, Sara Shakib, Samira Shakib, Bashari Motahar, Farrokhandeh Rezvan-Pey, Roya Azadkhush, Mojgan Poorshafi, Noushin Hemmat, Mojdeh Bahamin, and Azita Rezvani-Khah on Thursday, May 17. Each of them has also been sentenced to pay a fine of 50 million tomans, a two-year travel ban, and a five-year deprivation of social services. Previously, Radio Farda reported that the Isfahan Revolutionary Court had established the charge of 'propagating and educational activities contrary to the sacred Islamic law' against these Baha'i citizens as 'proven' and issued a 'summons for prosecution' on April 4 of this year. Accordingly, Mohammad Reza Tavakoli, the head of the first branch of the Revolutionary Court, has considered the 'harshest punishment' for these Baha'i women. This judge had also issued the death sentence for Tomaj Salehi at the beginning of May. The Isfahan judiciary cited 'reliable reports from the intelligence organization of the Isfahan province', 'the text of the defendants' conversations', 'surveillance camera images', and participation in 'feast programs', which are considered one of the Baha'i religious ceremonies, as evidence for the charges against these women. The Baha'i World Community announced on Tuesday, May 7, that women followers of this faith in Iran have recently been targeted by increased government attacks, with more of them summoned and arrested. In a statement, this community reported that over the past two months, out of a total of 85 Baha'i citizens summoned or imprisoned in Iranian courts, 65—about three-quarters of all summoned—are women. According to this statement, the wave of attacks against Baha'i women across Iran has intensified in recent weeks, with dozens facing 'baseless charges' that could lead to years of imprisonment, separating them from their families and exposing them to 'cruelty and violence from the Iranian judicial system'. Previously, Radio Farda had pointed out new restrictions on Baha'is, including limitations on burial in Baha'i cemeteries in Tehran, noting that a new wave of repression against Baha'i citizens in Iran began with the protests for 'Women, Life, Freedom'. Human Rights Watch also announced on April 2 of this year that the accumulated effects of decades of systematic repression by the Islamic Republic officials amount to intentional and severe deprivation of Baha'is from their fundamental rights, falling under the category of 'crimes against humanity'. After the revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei, the former and current leaders of the Islamic Republic, issued fatwas declaring Baha'is as 'spies', 'infidels', and 'unclean' and that they should be avoided. The Islamic Republic does not recognize the Baha'i faith, and judicial officials have repeatedly labeled Baha'is as 'spies and enemies', issuing death sentences, arrests, imprisonment, and deprivation of education and employment against them.