Mehdi
Hajati Banned From Shiraz City Council For Seeking Release of Detained Baha’is
مهدی
حجتی از شورای شهر شیراز برای رهایی از بهاییان بازداشت شده ممنوع شده است
NOVEMBER 1, 2018
Iran’s
judiciary has banned Mehdi Hajati from
his seat at the Shiraz City Council because he tried to secure the release of
two fellow citizens who were arrested for their Baha’i faith.
“Based
on a ruling … approved by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court, Mr. Hajati has
been put under judicial surveillance for six months and banned from any
activities in the Shiraz City Council,” the state-funded Islamic Republic News
Agency (IRNA) quoted a
statement from the council’s public relations office on October 28, 2018.
The
IRNA report added that Hajati
had been “absent” from council sessions since he was arrested on September 27
and accused of defending the “false Baha’i faith.” Hajati was arrested two days
after he tweeted about his efforts to free the Baha’i detainees.
It
is very rare for an Iranian official to publicly express concern for a member
of the Baha’i faith, a severely persecuted religious minority in Iran.
Iran’s Constitution does not recognize the faith as
an official religion. Although Article 23 states “no one may be molested or
taken to task simply for holding a certain belief,” Baha’is are
harshly prosecuted for participating in peaceful
activism and denied many basic rights including higher education.
“In
the past 10 days, I have knocked on every door to try to free two of my Baha’i
friends from detention without any success,” Hajati tweeted on September 25. “As long as we
are facing foreign enemies, our generation has a responsibility to make an
effort to correct judicial or other actions that undermine social justice.”
He
was arrested two days later.
