The following news was posted in Persian on the Khabar Navard site and is offered below in translation:

Last year witnessed many incidents of attacks on Baha’i homes in the Mazandaran region, and interrogations and arrests of Baha’is.  These persecutions were particularly intense in such towns as Behshahr, Qaemshahr, Sari and Tonekabon

Two Baha’i residents of Behshahr, in the province of Mazandaran, namely, Zia’u’llah Allahverdi and his wife, Sonya Tebyanian (Allahverdi) were incarcerated for 50 days last fall (see previous post).  During May and June of 2009, they had two court sessions, which on June 24 resulted in a verdict of a 2-year and a 1-year sentence for the husband and wife, respectively.

The charge against them is “activities against national security”.  The two Baha’is were given 20 days, that is, until July 14, 2009, to file an appeal.

The above is happening against a background such that every form of turmoil and insecurity in the nation is blamed on the Baha’is, though no one has ever produced the slightest evidence in support of any wrongdoing by the Baha’is.  From the bombing of the Husayniyh in Shiraz to the present conflicts in all towns, particularly Tehran, they blame every form of unrest on the Baha’is!

It is noteworthy that from the perspective of religious law, civil law or just basic ethics, to charge someone without any evidence or proof is viewed as immoral and a transgression.  However, every day, based on the most frivolous excuses, Baha’is are subject to interrogation, violation and arrest – and so far, not a shred of evidence against them has come to light.

It is now more than a year since the former Baha’i leaders of Iran were incarcerated without any formal charges in the notorious Evin prison, and languish in the harshest physical and psychological conditions.  Each day, the Iranian regime accuses them of a new crime and adds to the preposterous charges against them.  Every so often their families have been promised a trial for their 7 loved ones, and then the trial has been canceled or postponed.

[Posted on June 28, 2009, at: http://khabarnavard.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post_4152.html. Translation by Iran Press Watch.]