Bahai representative: 7 believers detained in Iran innocent
Following Iranian accusation that Bahai detainees plotted with Israel against Islamic republic, UN Bahai community delegate claims allegation 'a bald-faced lie'
"The argument for a ploy with Israel is a bald-faced lie and deceptive. The Iranian government is taking advantage of the fact that the Bahai community’s governing council is based in Israel,” Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Bahai International Community to the United Nations, said Monday.
In a statement posted on the community’s website, the Bahai International Community denied the allegations that seven Bahai individuals “admitted” to having had set up an “illegal organization” with connections to a number of countries including Israel.
The Iranian Resalat daily newspaper reported Sunday that an Iranian official had claimed seven Bahai individuals were detained and confessed to having had established an unlawful organization taking it orders from Israel and a number of other countries, in an attempt to undermine the Islamic republic.
Dugal added in her response to the news that “the severity of the accusations make us fear for the seven’s (Bahais) lives,” being that the Islamic republic sentences to death those guilty of espionage and treason.
Dugal claimed that the seven men arrested last May are the leaders of the Bahai community in Iran, who have been working as part of a committee for the benefit of the Iranian-based community of 300,000 members.
“It’s no secret; the government was well informed of the committee’s existence long before its members were arrested, and the government knows very well that those people are not involved in any clandestine activity,” Dugal said.
According to her, the detentions are part of an on-going battle which has been documented for decades, to trample the Bahai community in Iran.
Meanwhile, human rights activists in Iran reported that the seven are held at the ward 209 of Avin prison in Tehran, operating under the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and National Security.
According to the report, the Bahai believers are to be held indefinitely and have only been allowed to contact their families twice since their arrest.
