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Society & Culture

Payam Vali and Cyrus Zabihi, Baha'i Citizens, Arrested in Iran

September 25, 2022
IranWire
1 min read
On the evening of September 24, eight agents of the Ministry of Intelligence raided the optician store of Payam Vali, a Baha'i citizen living in Karaj, and without showing a warrant beat and arrested him
On the evening of September 24, eight agents of the Ministry of Intelligence raided the optician store of Payam Vali, a Baha'i citizen living in Karaj, and without showing a warrant beat and arrested him
Cyrus Zabihi, a Baha'i citizen in Mashhad, was arrested at around noon on Saturday, September 24, by agents who introduced themselves as law enforcement officers
Cyrus Zabihi, a Baha'i citizen in Mashhad, was arrested at around noon on Saturday, September 24, by agents who introduced themselves as law enforcement officers

Cyrus Zabihi, a Baha'i citizen in Mashhad, was arrested at around noon on Saturday, September 24, by agents who introduced themselves as law enforcement officers. The agents searched Zabihi's house and confiscated mobile phones, computers, and books and religious pamphlets. He was detained and taken to an unknown location and his family has no information on the reasons for his arrest.

Zabihi has previously been arrested on numerous occasions, in the 1980s and 1990s, because of his Baha'i beliefs.

And during the evening of September 24, eight agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in Karaj raided the optician store of Payam Vali, another Baha'i citizen, and without showing a warrant beat and arrested him.

Vali was taken by car to his house where the agents searching the property. He was then detained and taken to an unknown location.

During the inspection, the officers beat Vali's teenage son, Adib, who refused to hand over his laptop. The agents then confiscated both the laptop and a mobile phone.

Adib Vali is a computer programmer for several companies and the laptop was his work computer. He was previously recognized as a leading young researcher when he ranked as the third-highest student at Amirkabir University of Technology. He also ranked highly at seventh Fira International Robotics Competition, in the Ideas and Creativity category, for a water crisis management and air pollution project.

And a separate statement, Diane Ala'i, Representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, said that five Baha'is had been arrested in different Iranian cities. Ala'i did not confirm the identities of any of the five.

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