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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Baha'i members to face trial over Iran protests |
| 2010-01-11 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Iran said on Saturday members of the outlawed Baha'i group arrested in connection with anti-government protests would soon face trial, as a spokeswoman for the group rejected charges they had weapons in their homes. "The Baha'is' trial will be this week in a revolutionary court in Tehran," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying. He repeated comments he made on Friday that "they were arrested because they played a role in organizing the Ashura protests and for having sent abroad pictures of the unrest." He added that "they were not arrested because they are Bahais... Arms and ammunition were seized in some of their homes." But Diane Alai, the Bahai International Community's U.N. representative in Geneva, said the charges against the 10 Bahais were entirely unfounded. "Without doubt, these are baseless fabrications devised by the government to further create an atmosphere of prejudice and hatred against the Iranian Baha'i community," Alai said in a statement. "Baha'is are... committed to absolute non-violence, and any charge that there might have been weapons or 'live rounds' in their homes is simply and completely unbelievable," she added. |
| Posted by:Fred |