An attorney at law issued a short report on the conditions of Baha’i women’s detention and prosecution. According to the report, every defendant has only 4 minutes to defend herself in the court which is a violation of the legal procedures.
Mazdak Etemadzadeh, who has represented some Baha’is, says the defendants are charged with proselytizing Baha’ism while they have done nothing illegal.
According to Etemadzadeh,
- Sheida Ghodousi from Gorgan, is sentenced to 11 years in prison;
- Farah Tebianian, Pouneh Sanaii, Mona Amri Hessari, Parisa Shahidi, Mojdeh Zohouri, Parivash Shojaii, Tina Mohebati and Hana Aghighian from Gorgan as well as Bita Hedayati and Hana Koushki from Gonbad-Kavous are sentenced each to 9 years in prison;
- Rofia Pakzadan, Soudabeh Mehdinejad, Mitra Nouri, Shiva Rohani, Maryam Dehghan and Nazi Khalkhi from Gorgan as well as Shohreh Samimi and Kameli Bideli from Minoudasht have been sentenced each to 6 years in prison.
The report also indicates that Baha’is are tortured because of their faith. The tortures include: suspension (by hands from ceiling), dragging on the ground while hand cuffed, keeping the prisoner under rain for a long period, interrogations during the night, threatening to harass young girls and accusing them of immoral relationships, aggressive body search during transfer to the detention center, and severe beating up.
