The Baha’ism organization is always introducing the reason for its followers’ detention as believing in Baha’ism [1] while there is no law concerning the conviction of the Baha’is in the country.
The Baha’ism organization has announced that Sepehr Ziyaee has been condemned to be imprisoned for five years: “According to the verdict of the branch 26 of the Tehran revolution court headed by the Judje Iman Afshari, Sepehr Ziyaee who is residing in Tehran city was condemned to be imprisoned for five years due to obeying the Baha’i faith according to the article No. 499 of the Islamic punishment law[1] [2].”
However, the Baha’ism organization introduced believing in Baha’ism as Sepehr Ziyaee’s crime that:
- If it is so, some thousand Baha’is must be imprisoned while according to the statistics announced by the Baha’ism organization, merely nearly ninety Baha’is have been imprisoned so far.
- The excellency Ziyaee has been the member of illegal organization of Baha’ism who is making net in Iran[2] [3]. The measure which is against the law even confessed by the Baha’i leaders: “The commandments sent by the Excellency Bahaullah [4] in the book Aqdas are necessary to be done by all divine disciples in the east and the west of the world if its execution are possible and aren’t directly contrary to the civil laws of the country[3] [5].
- As pointed by the message of the Baha’ism organization, the conviction of the Excellency Ziyaee is based on article 499 of the Islamic punishment law. It is mentioned in the article 499 that: “A person who becomes the member of one of the categories or groups or population or the branches of the mentioned population in the article 498, he/she will be condemned to be imprisoned from 3 month to 5 years…[۴] [6]” So, his punishment wasn’t due to being a Baha’i.
[۱] [7] Narrated by the media related to the Baha’ism organization
[۲] [8] The social and economic development, a glance at the messages of the highest promise place and the statements of the OSED
[۳] [9] Hussein Ali Nouri, the Aqdas, (the introduction of the book), the electronic copy, p. 14.
[۴] [10] Article 499 of the Islamic punishment law