Watchdog

Iranian security forces have arrested six members of the Baha'i religious community in Tehran, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i International Community's UN representative in Geneva, confirmed the arrests took place on February 10, the eve of the 31st anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution.

The arrests are the latest in a string of such detentions that have escalated since the disputed Iranian presidential election last summer, and which often coincide with antigovernment protests.

On January 3, security forces arrested 10 Baha'is after protests during the Ashura holidays.

The Tehran prosecutor has accused the Baha'is of "organizing the Ashura chaos" and also "sending the images of this chaos abroad."

The regime has officially forbid Baha'i activism in Iran since 1983. Baha'is say hundreds of their followers have been jailed and executed since the Islamic Revolution.

The government denies it has detained or executed people for their religious beliefs. The Baha'i faith was founded in Iran some 150 years ago and it claims to have 5 million followers worldwide, including an estimated 300,000 or more in Iran.

RFE/RL's excellent "Journalists In Trouble" page marks the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution by comparing media freedoms in Iran then and now.

Although there were some red lines dictating what they could and couldn’t cover in the country, what journalists are facing today in Iran is nothing compared with those days.

Nooshabe Amiri, an Iranian journalist now living in France, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that despite the strikes and opposition in their "Kayhan" newspaper office before the Islamic Revolution, journalists didn’t fear being arrested, tortured, or losing their jobs.

You can also find a list of journalists currently imprisoned in Iran, as well as an open letter by Iranian journalists to their foreign colleagues.

Go to the “Journalists In Trouble” page by clicking here.