U.S. panel demands release of Baha'is facing trial in Iran

(CNN) -- Seven Baha'i prisoners face a death-penalty trial Saturday in Iran amid calls for their release from a U.S. panel on religious freedom.

A U.S. panel on religious freedom has demanded the immediate release of the imprisoned Bahai's.

Responding to a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who spent four months in an Iranian jail earlier this year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) demanded the seven prisoners be freed rather than stand trial on charges of espionage and religious violations. If convicted, they could face execution.

"In addition to the hundreds of Iranians who have been detained in the context of Iran's disputed presidential poll, many other 'security detainees' arrested long before the June election remain behind bars," Saberi said in her letter requesting U.S. government intervention in the Baha'i case.

"These Iranians and the authorities who have detained them need to know that the Iranian people's human rights are a matter of international concern," she said.

Saberi, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison on espionage charges, spent time in a cell at Tehran's Evin prison with two of the Baha'i prisoners. Saberi was released in May.

Leonard Leo, chairman of USCIRF, said the crackdown on protests after Iran's June 12 presidential elections "have exposed the world to the cold realities about how the Iranian government regularly deals with dissent or views that are a perceived threat to the theocratic regime."

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"The charges against these imprisoned Baha'is are baseless and a pretext for the persecution and harassment of a disfavored religious minority," Leo said. "They should be released immediately."

The seven Baha'is have been held for more than a year without formal charges or access to their attorneys, said Diane Ala'i, representative to the United Nations for the Baha'i International Community.

She said the seven are being legally represented by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani. But according to the human rights group Amnesty International, Soltani was arrested in Iran on June 16 and his whereabouts are unknown.

via edition.cnn.com

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