Since 2005, the number of Baha’is who have been arrested, arbitrarily detained, or imprisoned in Iran has risen sharply. At least 610 Baha’is have been arrested and more than 110 are currently behind bars.
Such arrests and detention are designed by the government to keep Baha’is in a state of insecurity and terror, and the situation in Semnan clearly reflects such an effort.
The sight of government agents pouring out of unmarked cars, and then rushing up to one’s front door, has become an all too common scene for Iranian Baha’is. In typical raids, up to 12 intelligence officers arrive in unmarked cars at dawn. They reportedly cut telephone lines and then thoroughly search each residence. Agents seize mobile phones, computers, documents, Baha’i books, and satellite dishes. In a number of cases, property deeds, cash, and business licenses have also been confiscated.
At least 34 Baha’is from Semnan have been arrested and detained since 2005. And since 2009, some 22 Semnan Baha’is have been sentenced to prison. Most of these individuals are between 20 and 30 years old. The combined total of their sentences amounts to more than 65 years of imprisonment.
Of these, five have served their sentenced and been released. Eight are currently serving prison sentences – most of them handed down recently – ranging from one to six years. Additionally, one Baha’i is serving a period of internal exile upon the completion of his jail term. A further four are released on bail awaiting trial and eight more are sentenced but free pending appeal or awaiting the summons to begin their imprisonment. Several more have been interrogated.
The surge in arrests has been accompanied by heightened surveillance by officers of the branch office of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. Reports from Semnan say that when Baha’is leave their homes, they are followed everywhere. If they go to public places such as the local park, they are approached and interrogated about the purpose of their visit, queried about who they are meeting and what they plan to talk about.The fear of arrest has become so pervasive that young children reportedly live in a state of constant anxiety, concerned that agents will knock at their doors and take their parents away.
Nine of those arrested were residents of the 20 homes that were raided on 15 December 2008 by government agents, who apparently used the raids to gather “evidence” against them.
One of those arrested that day was Sahba Rezvani. She was tried on 12 February 2009 and charged with "involvement in establishing illegal groups and organizations” and "teaching against the Islamic Republic by establishing courses and classes, distributing educational CDs, and being involved in individual teaching [propaganda] in favor of the perverse sect of Baha'ism" – charges which stem wholly from her activities as a Baha’i. For these alleged “crimes,” she served three years in prison and was released in November 2011.
Of the eight other Baha’is whose homes were raided on 15 December 2008, three were given six month sentences.
The case of Pouya Tebyanian – who was recently re-arrested and sentenced to six and a half years in prison – is particularly instructive of the manner in which authorities have doggedly harassed Baha’is in Semnan.
On 8 March 2009, he was arrested at his workplace by Ministry of Intelligence agents, who also confiscated two computers belonging to his employer. Mr. Tebyanian – who was 24 years old at the time – was taken back home, where agents conducted another search and confiscated documents and Baha’i materials. He was held in detention without charge until a trial occurred, the precise date of which is not known.
One of the lawyers involved in representing Mr. Tebyanian was told at one point by the judge that “these [people] are unclean and spies and you should not represent them.” Mr. Tebyanian was sentenced to two and half years’ imprisonment – although an appeals court later reduced the sentence to two years.
However, he was later re-arrested several times. Following one such arrest on 12 March 2011, he was held for more than two months. In October 2011, he was again interrogated for two hours at the local office of the Ministry of Intelligence in Semnan. On 16 April 2012, he was tried on unspecified charges and, in late May 2012, sentenced to six and a half years imprisonment.
There is evidence that the judge who oversaw the case clearly expressed his prejudice against Baha’is to the attorneys representing Mr. Tebyanian. At one point, the judge even told the attorneys – who are not Baha’is – that if it were up to him, he would have “annihilated all the Baha’is.”
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