Mazandaran Appeals Court Sentences 14 Baha'i Citizens to Imprisonment and Fines

The Ninth Branch of the Mazandaran Appeals Court has sentenced 14 Baha'i citizens to imprisonment and fines in verbal rulings. According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, based on the issued rulings, two Baha'i citizens, Beita Haghighi and Sanaz Hakimshahr, have each been sentenced to three years in prison and to pay a fine. The report states that twelve other defendants named Mani Gholinejad, Negar Darabi, Sam Samimi, Mahsa Fathi, Samiyeh Gholinejad, Majir Samimi, Anis Sanai, Afaneh Nematian, Basir Samimi, Hangameh Alipour, Golban Fallah, and Nazanin Goli have each been sentenced to pay fifty million tomans in fines instead of two years and one month in prison. HRANA noted that these rulings were issued on Thursday, November 2, and that the defendants must pay their fines within the next ten days. Previously, the Revolutionary Court of Qaemshahr had sentenced these fourteen Baha'i citizens to a total of 31 years in prison. According to HRANA, the Revolutionary Court convicted these fourteen Baha'i citizens residing in Qaemshahr, Sari, and Babolsar in Mazandaran Province of 'educational or promotional activities contrary to or disruptive to the sacred Sharia of Islam,' resulting in imprisonment, fines, and confiscation of property. The Baha'i community has recently stated that the issuance of prison sentences against Baha'i citizens is an increasing pattern of persecution against Baha'is in Iran and has called on the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable for human rights violations. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recently expressed concern over the intensified pressure on religious minorities in Iran and the Islamic Republic's campaign to detain Baha'is. According to this commission's report, currently, at least about 200 individuals are imprisoned in the Islamic Republic for religious or ideological reasons. Baha'i citizens in Iran have systematically faced execution, widespread social and political discrimination, and illegal actions including arrests and desecration of their cemeteries since the 1979 Revolution.