Baha’i and Muslim Citizens Arrested

HRANA News Agency – On the evening of June 20, 2011, six citizens from the city of Esfahan were arrested.

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, a few hours ago, six individuals including three Baha’i citizens were arrested in Esfahan.The Baha’i citizens have been identified to be Katie Nik-a’in, Thamin Emani and Zhayna Enayati.

It has also been reported that
Thamin Emani is only sixteen years old.Security forces raided Thamin Emani’s house without showing a warrant and begin to beat and insult the residents when they demanded to see a court order.Thamin Emani was handcuffed after this violent confrontation.The charges or the whereabouts of those arrested are still unknown.

On June 20, 2011, another Baha’i citizen, Dari Amri, was also arrested in the city of Mashhad.Security forces raided Dari Amri’s house and seized her computer and camera.Additionally, two cell phones were also confiscated.One of the mobiles belonged to a guest who was present in the house during the raid.The security forces also searched the house of Dari Amri’s father-in-law.

On June 1, 2011, Anisa Dehghani, a Baha’i citizen, was arrested when she traveled from Esfahan to Mashhad.

During the winter of 2011, fifteen Baha’i citizens were arrested in Tehran, Esfahan, Mashhad, Kerman and Samnan.These individuals are all children’s rights activists and the members of a charity organization dedicated to helping children orphaned after the 2003 earthquake in Bam. During one of the arrests which took place in Kerman, three Muslim citizens who also helped this charity organization were detained.

In the last few weeks, fifteen other individuals were arrested in relation to a provisional university established for Baha’i citizens who are denied the opportunity to study at Iran’s higher education institutes.Farhad Amir, Dari Amri’s brother, and Zohreh Nik-a’in, Katie Nik-a’in’s sister, were amongst those detained for a few months and then released.