8/7/2019 Indians Shocked at Duplicity' as 20-Year Sentence for Iran's Baha'i Leaders is Reinstated

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DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRSNATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAH S OFINDIA

Press ReleaseIndians Shocked at "Duplicity" as 20-year sentence for Iran's Baha'i

leaders is reinstated

NEW DELHI, 1 April 2011Just six months after Iran's appeal court reduced to 10 yearsthe jail terms handed down to seven Baha'i leaders, the prisoners have been told thattheir original 20-year sentences have been reinstated. The Baha'i InternationalCommunity has reacted with shock and dismay at the news.

"We can confirm that the seven have been told by prison authorities that the ruling of theappeal court has been rescinded," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of theBaha'i International Community to the United Nations. "But nothing has been seen inwriting by the prisoners or their attorneys, so we cannot know precisely on what groundsthe reduced jail terms have now been set aside. "It seems, however, that there was achallenge by the Prosecutor General who can appeal any court judgment he believescontradicts Shariah law," said Ms. Dugal.

Only last month, the international community was told that the 10-year prison terms wereconfirmed when the Iranian Embassy in Brussels presented a document to a EuropeanParliament briefing, in which it is clearly stated that the court initially issued 20 yearsentences for "espionage, acting against National Security and forming an illegal cult."However, the document then went on to say that the verdict was later reviewed and"decreased to 10 years' imprisonment."

The 20 year sentence, since then reduced to 10 years, and now re-instated to 20 has allthe appearance of a ploy, calculated to enable the authorities to manipulate the outcometo suit their own ends. said Bani Dugal. Any fair minded observer can see the duplicity,crass cynicism and vile motives of the Iranian authorities in their prosecution of this case.From the initial, illegal, 30-month detention of the seven through the gross irregularitiesof their trial to the judiciary's refusal to issue any official verdict to the defendants ortheir lawyers, the actions of the authorities have demonstrated at every turn that the

decision to impose harsh sentences was predetermined," said Ms. Dugal.

Since the imprisonment of the seven Bahai Leaders in 2008, Indian citizens have taken anactive stance towards addressing the grave violations of human rights imposed by Iransgovernment. As over 2 million Bahais representing the great diversity of the Indiannation live in every state of India in over 10,000 localities, even Indias most prominentvoices from the judiciary, religious leadership, academia, film industry, NGOs, HumanRights groups and other organizations of civil society have not gone without speaking out

8/7/2019 Indians Shocked at Duplicity' as 20-Year Sentence for Iran's Baha'i Leaders is Reinstated

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against the ill treatment of its brethren in Iran. In June 2008, February 2009, August 2009,August 2010 and March 2011, these prominent Indians issued Open letters urging Iran torelease the detainees immediately. Amongst the signatories of the letters includedJustice Krishna Iyer, Justice, J.S. Verma, Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, Rajinder Sachhar,Prof. Amitabh Kundu, Dr. Syeda Hameed, Maulana Khalid Rasheed, Archbishop VincentConcesso, Swami Agnivesh, Actor and Director, Aamir Khan, Maja Daruwala, MiloonKothari, and Professor Tahir Mahmood.

A letter dated March 2011 entitled The Persistent Call to the Government of the IslamicRepublic of Iran for the Immediate Release of the Seven Former Bahai Leaders wasdelivered by Dr. Mohini Giri, Founder of Guild of Service India and Former Chairperson forthe National Commission of Women. This statement was on behalf of over 90 IndianCitizens which includes former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Shivraj V. Patil,former Judges of the High Court of Karnataka, Justice G. Patri Basavana Goud and JusticeR. Gururajan, Honorable Vice Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University, Dr. H.Maheshappa, and Member of the Law Commission of India, Dr. B.V. Acharya. It addressesthe brutal conditions and threats the seven face in the areas of the prison they haverecently been transferred to.

At the heart of The Persistent Call and the series of letters the Indian surge of support hasbeen demanding is that to continue to call upon our government and people of good-willthroughout India to take whatever action they can to impress upon the Iraniangovernment that its actions are being watched, and that it will be held responsible for thesafety of these and the more than 50 other Bahais who are imprisoned throughout Iran.

For more information on the Bahais of India, please visit: www.bahai.in

For continuing coverage on the situation of Bahais in Iran, please visit:http://news.bahai.org/

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