آیا می توان همواره نظاره گر خاموش و منفعل این مظلمه ی تاریخی باقی ماند؟

On March 17, 2012, three days before the Iranian New Year, once again security forces attacked the houses of a number of people of Bahaii faith in Shiraz. They arrested two - Kavous Samimi and Kambiz Habibi - and took them to the prison known in Shiraz as #100 (the detention centre of the security forces). After two days of interrogation, both men were transferred to the Adelabad prison in Shiraz.

Some weeks earlier, on February 3, 2012, the houses of some others in the Bahaii community of Shiraz were attacked and some people were arrested, including Mozhgan Emadi, Sumitra Momtazian, Yekta Fahandazh, Nima Deghghan Maneshadi, Sina Sarikhani, Sam Jabery, Farshid Yazdani, Farid Emadi, Iman Rahmatpanah and Payam Taslimi. Sumitra Momtazian and Payam Taslimi were released after 35 days imprisonment because of their special health conditions, but the others are still in detention nearly two months later.

In all of these cases, the method of entering houses, search and confiscation of personal effects and the method of arrests has been contrary even to the existing laws in Iran. Some security forces entered the houses by falsely identifying themselves as utility technicians. Some broke the locks on the houses when the owners were not present. Some security agents brutalized the inhabitants when they asked to see search warrants. In some cases the agents did not show any warrants, in other cases they showed illegal warrants for groups arrests. All of these point to blatant disregard for civil and legal rights of the citizens. The detainees' families attempts to obtain information about their loved ones from Shiraz Revolutionary Court have produced no results. The families have been subjected to insults, aggression and run-around.

Inequality, discrimination and repression of the Bahaii minority in Iran is not an unknown fact. We have been paying a heavy price for our determination to maintain our religious beliefs. We ask the world however if people of conscience can silently and passively witness these injustices. We consider it our duty to demand our rights as equal citizens through any legal means possible. We ask all freedom loving people and human rights organizations to inform the world about the disturbing conditions of the Bahaii communities in Iran, condemn the violent policies and actions of the Islamic Republic toward its Bahaii citizens, and demand in any way they can equal rights for Bahaii citizens and unconditional release of all who have been detained.

Some of the families of the detainees