{"id":47386,"date":"2025-04-05T16:18:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T10:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/?p=47386"},"modified":"2025-04-05T16:18:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T10:48:25","slug":"breaking-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/breaking-news\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS -European Parliament urges the unconditional release of Baha\u2019i prisoner of conscience Mahvash Sabet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Parliament has passed an\u00a0urgency<\/a>\u00a0resolution<\/a>\u00a0on Iran, expressing its concern about the worsening human rights situation in the country. The resolution specifically calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Mahvash Sabet. This is the third urgency resolution of the European Parliament in\u00a0<\/strong>five months\u00a0<\/strong>condemning the escalating persecution of Baha\u2019is in Iran, who have long faced systemic oppression. Urgency resolutions are an essential way for the European Parliament to note and condemn pressing cases of human rights violations around the world.<\/p>\n

The resolution highlights Mahvash Sabet\u2019s case as particularly urgent, raising the alarm as to her persecution and imprisonment. Mrs. Sabet, now aged 72, was a member of the former \u201cYaran\u201d, or \u201cFriends\u201d of Iran, a disbanded informal group that tended to basic pastoral needs of the Baha\u2019is in Iran. She has spent over 13 years in prison solely for her belief in the Baha\u2019i faith. In December 2024, after years of medical neglect and harsh prison conditions, she underwent\u00a0<\/a>open-heart surgery<\/a>. Despite her deteriorating health, she now faces the harrowing prospect of being forced back into prison to serve the remainder of her unjust 10-year sentence. Since then, her condition has significantly worsened, with multiple medical reports warning that continued imprisonment could cause irreversible harm.<\/p>\n

During the European Parliament plenary debate on the resolution, Member of the European Parliament Helmut Brandst\u00e4tter highlighted Mahvash Sabet\u2019s case in particular, stating:<\/p>\n

“Iran is an incredibly beautiful and wonderful country, with a wonderful population and a very interesting history… But I also want to talk about someone else: Mahvash Sabet. She is an author, 70 years old, who has already been imprisoned several times. Now, at the age of 70, she has once again been sentenced\u2014this time to 10 years in prison, which is essentially a death sentence. Why? Simply because she is a Baha\u2019i.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Brandst\u00e4tter then read from Mrs. Sabet\u2019s poetry, written from behind bars:<\/p>\n

“In your prisoner\u2019s cage, you become<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 a zero made from numbers, believing<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 things that were not, are not true,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 confessing to things you could not,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 did not do.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Both in\u00a0<\/a>2015<\/a>, during her first imprisonment, and then subsequently during her second imprisonment in \u00a0<\/a>2023<\/a>, Members of the European Parliament raised concerns about the unjust imprisonment of Mrs. Sabet, including the then-Chair of the Iran Delegation to the European Parliament, Ms. Cornelia Ernst. Ms. Ernst called Mrs. Sabet \u201c a symbol of courage for all Iranian women<\/em><\/a>, not only in Iran, but worldwide<\/em>.\u201d The Baha\u2019is in Iran have long faced arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and the denial of basic rights. The European Parliament\u2019s call for her immediate and unconditional release underscores its commitment to ending the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Baha\u2019is and the systematic denial of their fundamental human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cMahvash Sabet’s plight and repeated incarceration is emblematic of the plight of the more than 50 other innocent imprisoned Baha\u2019is in Iran. Her particular case has long been a concern for the European Parliament, dating back to her first imprisonment in 2007. It is truly heartening to see the Parliament\u2019s unwavering support a decade later, which now, in light of her age and condition, has led the Parliament to ask for her immediate release in an urgency resolution,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Rachel Bayani, Representative of the Baha\u2019i International Community to the European institutions in Brussels.\u00a0\u201cMahvash is more than a symbol of the longstanding persecution of the Baha’is in Iran\u2014her unwavering resilience and grace in the face of adversity have made her a beacon of hope and inspiration for both women and men across Iran\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

More on Mahvash Sabet<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
Dr. Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and defense lawyer for Mahvash Sabet and the other Baha\u2019i leaders during their 2008 trial, said there was \u201cnot a shred of evidence\u201d to prove any of the allegations regarding national security, \u201cspreading corruption on earth,\u201d and other charges, put forward by the Iranian government.<\/li>\n
In 2017, Mrs. Sabet was named by International PEN as its \u201c International Writer of Courage<\/a>\u201d for a series of poems she had written inside Evin Prison. Before her first imprisonment, she worked as an educator for the Baha\u2019i Institute for Higher Education, which offers university-level instruction to young Iranian Baha\u2019is, who are barred from tertiary institutions because of their faith.<\/li>\n
One of Mrs. Sabet\u2019s fellow inmates in Evin Prison, the Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi, has on several occasions spoken out in defense of Mrs. Sabet and other Baha\u2019i prisoners.<\/li>\n
In one statement, published in January 2023 from inside Evin Prison, Ms. Mohammadi remembered the moment she saw Mrs. Sabet returned to Evin Prison, saying \u201cMahvash stood there, coughing repeatedly, pale, and still wearing the summer clothes she had on during her arrest on 31 July,\u201d noting her lack of warm clothing during the winter months, in a clear confirmation of the neglect shown by prison authorities for Mrs. Sabet\u2019s health.<\/li>\n
The US-based Iranian women\u2019s rights activist, Masih Alinejad, also published in December 2023<\/a>\u00a0a video statement in which she read from a letter by Mrs. Sabet and praised her courage in the face of persecution and injustice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
More on the persecution of the Baha\u2019is in Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n
Recent months have seen a rise in international attention and concern over the human rights of Baha\u2019is in Iran and, in particular, over the situation of Iranian Baha\u2019i women.<\/p>\n
\n
The latest development in Mrs. Sabet\u2019s health situation comes just weeks after 18 United Nations experts criticized the Iranian government for a rise in attacks on Baha\u2019i women. Iranian Baha\u2019i women face intersectional persecution<\/a>\u00a0as women and as Baha\u2019is.<\/li>\n
Earlier this week, meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly passed its most recent resolution criticizing the Islamic Republic for its human rights violations and rebuking Iran\u2019s government for subjecting Baha\u2019is to \u201ca continued increase and the cumulative impacts of long-standing persecution, including attacks, harassment, and targeting, who face increasing restrictions and systemic persecution by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on account of their faith and have been reportedly subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and destruction of property,\u201d<\/li>\n
A recent launch of a\u00a0new report,Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Baha\u2019is in the Islamic Republic of Iran<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, UN Special Rapporteurs including Professor Mai Sato, the new Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, and Professor Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, spoke about Iran\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>systematic repression of the Baha\u2019i community<\/a>, particularly targeting Baha\u2019i women.<\/li>\n
A grim example of recent persecution came in October when 10 Baha\u2019i women in Isfahan were sentenced to a combined total of 90 years in prison. The women were convicted of \u201cspreading propaganda\u201d and acting against the Iranian government after organizing educational and cultural activities\u2014such as language, art, and yoga classes, including for children\u2014which Iranian authorities deemed \u201cdeviant educational activities.\u201d<\/li>\n
Recent international scrutiny also includes a letter signed by 18 UN experts in October,rebuking Iran for targeting Baha\u2019i women<\/a>\u00a0through home raids, travel bans, and prolonged prison sentences. The experts, including UN Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls, freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of opinion and expression, called the government\u2019s actions \u201ca continuous pattern of targeted discrimination.\u201d And earlier this year a report by Human Rights Watch, titled\u00a0The Boot on My Neck<\/em>, found Iran\u2019s 45-year systemic repression of Baha\u2019is to be the \u201ccrime against humanity of persecution<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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The European Parliament has passed an\u00a0urgency\u00a0resolution\u00a0on Iran, expressing its concern about the worsening human rights situation in the country. The resolution specifically calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Mahvash Sabet. This is the third urgency resolution of the European Parliament in\u00a0five months\u00a0condemning the escalating persecution of Baha\u2019is in Iran, who have long faced … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[3218,306,6589,6591],"class_list":["post-47386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-news","tag-bahai-news","tag-bahai-faith","tag-bahais-of-iran","tag-mahvash-sabet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47388,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47386\/revisions\/47388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanjeevnitoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}