Supporters of the two women have called them symbols of resilience, confidants of other oppressed and jailed individuals, and mothers to all Iranian women. Words fail to describe this absurd and cruel injustice.”

This ridiculous sentence, handed down without any basis in evidence, makes an absolute mockery of the Iranian judicial system where judges preside as prosecutor, judge and jury all in one. Instead of expressing regret to these families for the unjust imprisonment they have already suffered, the Iranian government is unbelievably and inexplicably repeating the same cruelty for a second time. “Mahvash and Fariba are wives, mothers and grandmothers to families who have already been forced to endure their absence for 10 brutal years. “It is profoundly distressing to learn that these two Baha’i women who have both already and unjustly lost a decade of their lives to prison for their beliefs, are once again being incarcerated for another 10 years on the same ludicrous charges,” said Simin Fahandej, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations. Nor was any new evidence forthcoming at this latest trial. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate and defence lawyer for Mahvash and Fariba during their first trial, said in 2008 that “not a shred of evidence” was offered to prove the national security charges or other allegations. Judge Iman Afshari, presiding over the Revolutionary Court’s Branch 26 in Tehran, rebuked the two women for “not having learned their lesson” from their previous imprisonment.ĭr. This trial came almost four months after their arrest. The latest jail sentence was handed down after a one-hour trial on 21 November. And at least 90 Baha’is are currently in prison or subject to ankle-band monitoring. Government plans to tar the Baha’is through hate speech and propaganda were also exposed. Homes owned by Baha’is in the village of Roshankouh were demolished. Dozens were arrested at various points in Shiraz, across Mazandaran province, and elsewhere throughout the country. More than 320 Baha’is have been affected by individual acts of persecution since the arrest of Mahvash and Fariba.

Mahvash sabet poems