Tehran Prosecutor's Office Refuses to Extend Leave for Baha'i Citizen After 9 Years in Prison

Mahvash Shahriari, a manager of the Baha'i community, returned to Evin Prison on Saturday, October 24, after the Tehran Prosecutor's Office did not agree to extend her leave, which she had been granted after serving 9 years in prison. She had been released on leave on October 14 after 3,140 days in prison, but returned after 10 days. Shahriari's return to prison comes despite promises from Tehran prosecutor officials that her leave would be extended. She was arrested in March 2008 for being a member of the managing body of the Baha'i community in Iran, known as 'Yaran Iran', and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This sentence was later reduced to 10 years, but she spent the last 9 years in prison without any leave. Mahvash Shahriari, Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaleddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeed Rezaei, Behrouz Tavakoli, and Vahid Tizfahm are seven leaders of the Baha'i community who were arrested by security officials eight years ago and sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges such as 'espionage, insulting sacred beliefs, and propaganda against the regime'. The United Nations, the European Union, and the United States have repeatedly called for their release. The U.S. State Department reported on August 10 that 82 Baha'is are currently imprisoned in Iran. According to the European Baha'i community, about 300,000 Baha'is live in Iran, but the laws of the Islamic Republic do not recognize Baha'ism as a religion. Restrictions against Baha'i citizens in the Islamic Republic include bans on university education, exclusion from a wide range of jobs, dismissal from the public sector, and various limitations in the private sector. Recently, the global Baha'i community based in Geneva sent an open letter to the President of Iran, referencing the closure of businesses owned by Baha'is in several cities, demanding an end to the 'economic repression of Baha'is' in Iran.