Baha’i jail terms alarm NZ families

New Zealand relatives of an Iranian man sentenced to imprisonment and banishment for his Baha’i faith say not being able to help is terrible, but they fear being identified could lead to further reprisals against their family in Iran.

The man’s aunt, who has lived in New Zealand for about 40 years, said their nephew is one of 26 Baha’i sentenced to a total of 85 years in prison.

He was arrested and charged around five years ago, she said.

‘‘They were doing voluntary work in villages in Shiraz, teaching the village kids how to read and write, assisting with sanitation projects, and they had permission to do that from the local authorities.’’

‘‘They were put in jail for around three months, then released on bail.

‘‘They’ve been living with this ever since, waiting and waiting. They couldn’t get on with their normal lives, because they never knew when they were going to be called [back to court].’’

‘‘We don’t congregate into our own clusters, we try to live in and be part of the community and serve in the community, in fact, it’s one of our tenets, we really try and work for the benefit of communities that we live in. And that’s what exactly what these young people were trying to do,’’ his uncle said.

In a statement released earlier in the week, the New Zealand Baha’i Community spokesperson Paddy Payne said sentences of between two and five years had been handed down to all 26 members of the group.

’’The recent prison sentences, exiles and travel bans are the latest in more than 40 years of systematic persecution of Iranian Baha’is,’’ Payne said.

’’The fear of speaking publicly against the Iranian regime, even in a country like New Zealand, is very real to members of the Baha’i faith who have come here from Iran.

‘‘They would like to express their alarm at having a family member jailed following a campaign by Iranian authorities to uproot the Baha’i community in Shiraz, but they are wary of reprisals.’’

The man’s aunt said she hoped to speak with her MP, and believed coverage of the situation was good, despite fears for her family in Iran.

‘‘It’s good for the world to know what’s going on – they haven’t committed any crime, it is really not just.’’

The man’s uncle said the sentence will leave his nephew’s wife and their two young children in a precarious situation.

‘‘He’s the breadwinner, and he will be out of action for four years, and of course, there’s no social welfare system, they just have to rely on family supports.

‘‘The thing is they live in fear all the time, not knowing what is going to happen or when it will happen. It’s so hard on the children and families.’’

The situation is ongoing, the man’s aunt said, with several more arrests happening recently.

‘‘There are waves of this kind of injustice.’’

Her husband said the Iranian regime doesn’t want to appear to be persecuting Baha’i for their faith.

‘‘When the verdicts are being read they don’t mention the faith at all, because they don’t want to be seen as openly prejudiced towards a religious minority, but at the same time, it’s obvious the only reason they are being arrested and imprisoned is because they are Baha’i.

‘‘Baha’i are still very much persecuted in Iran in a general way, for example, Baha’i youth cannot enter university, but for Baha’i education is very important, so we developed our own educational systems, and even that comes under pressure from the authorities.