Iran: 24 Baha’i religious minority members sentenced to long prison terms

24 Baha’i citizens from the cities of Gorgan, Minudasht and Gonbad Kavoos were sentenced to a total of 193 years behind bars, recent reports from Iran indicate.

Shahnam Jazbani and Sheida Ghodusi from Gorgan were both sentenced to 11 years behind bars.

Farah Tabianian, Pune Thanaie, Mona Amri Hesari, Behnam Hassani, Parisa Shahidi, Mojhde Zohuri, Pariush Shojaie, Tina Mohebati and Hana Aghighiyan, all from Gorgan; Bita Hedayati, Vathagh Sinaie and Hana Kushak-Baghi from Gonbad Kavoos and Navid Moalemi from Minudasht were all sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Rofia Pakzadan, Sudabei Mehdinezhad, Mitra Nouri, Sheiva Rouhani, Houshmand Dehghan, Maryam Dehghan and Nazi Khalkhi all from Gorgan, and Kamelia Bideli and Shohre Samimi from Minudasht were all sentenced to 6 years behind bars.

The spouses of a number of these Baha’i citizens had been sentenced to jail terms prior to this, and they are currently serving their time behind bars without ever enjoying a single day of leave.