NEW YORK (21 May 2008) – Allegations by Iran that six Baha’is were arrested last week “for security reasons and not for their faith” are utterly baseless and without documentation, said the Baha’i International Community today. “All of the allegations issued in a statement on Tuesday by the Iranian government are utterly baseless,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, referring to statements made in a press conference given yesterday in Tehran by Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, at which he acknowledged the arrest and imprisonment of six Baha’i leaders last week. The allegations are not new, and the Iranian government knows well that they are untrue,” Ms. Dugal said. “The documented plan of the Iranian government has always been to destroy the Baha’i community, and these latest arrests represent an intensification of this plan. “The group of Baha’is arrested last week, like the thousands of Baha’is who since 1979 have been killed, imprisoned, or otherwise oppressed, are being persecuted solely because of their religious beliefs. The best proof of this is the fact that, time and again, Baha’is have been offered their freedom if they recant their Baha’i beliefs and convert to Islam – an option few ha… >>>
