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Iran arrests city council member for supporting Bahais
TEHRAN, Sept 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Iran has detained a member of the Shiraz
city council for supporting two Iranians of the minority Bahai faith and
expressing concern over their arrest, state news agency IRNA reported Friday.
“Mehdi Hajati, a member of this council, was arrested Thursday evening for
supporting two people of the outlawed cult of Bahaism,” IRNA quoted council
presiding board member Ghasem Moghimi as saying.
Hajati, a reformist, had tweeted on Tuesday that “for the past 10 days, I
did whatever I could to release the two Bahai friends that were arrested but
failed”.
“Our generation is tasked to not back down in reforming judicial processes
and other things that endanger social justice,” he wrote, also using a
Persian hashtag that translating into English as “fair trial”.
His twitter account, @MehdiHajati was suspended hours after his arrest.
Bahram Parsayi, a lawmaker from Shiraz, came to Hajati’s defence on
Thursday.
“Defending the civil rights of citizens should not be equated with
supporting a cult,” semi-official news agency ISNA quoted him as saying.
Parsayi also vowed to pursue the case through the judicial and security
authorities.
Iran allows religious freedom for several minorities but targets the Bahai
faith, which believes in unity among religions and equality between men and
women.
The Bahai faith considers Bahaullah, an Iranian born in 1817, to be the
latest prophet sent by God, in contrast with Islamic orthodoxy.
Bahais have been targets of persecution and discrimination in Iran since
the emergence of the faith in the second half of the 19th century, well
before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The Islamic republic regards Bahais as “heretics” and suspects many of
espionage for Israel, where the community has a centre in the northern city
of Haifa.
The Bahai faith has an estimated seven million followers worldwide,
including some 300,000 Iran where the community says they are barred from
pursuing higher education and holding government jobs.
BSS/AFP/RY/1838 hrs