<a class="go2wpf-bbcode" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href=" http://www.bahairights.org/2010/08/08/iran-sentences-bahai-leaders-to-20-years-in-prison/ "> http://www.bahairights.org/2010/08/08/iran-sentences-bahai-leaders-to-20-years-in-prison/
An Iranian court has sentenced seven leaders of the Bahai faith to 20 years in prison after charging them with espionage and engaging in propaganda against Islam, two Bahai activists said on Monday.
Iranian media reported in January this year that the seven arrested in 2008 had gone on trial on charges of spying and collaborating with Israel, an enemy of the Islamic Republic.
The activists told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, that lawyers for the five men and two women held in a Tehran prison for more than two years, had been informed of the sentences, though no details of the verdict were made public.
The Bahai faith was founded in Iran in the 19th century and activists say more than 300,000 adherents live in Iran today. Iran's Shi'ite government considers the faith a heretical offshoot of Islam.
Exiled Bahai leaders say hundreds of followers have been jailed and executed since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The Iranian government denies it has detained or executed people for their religion.
Bahai officials said their institutions in Iran were disbanded in 1983, and the seven jailed leaders had formed an ad-hoc group that oversaw such rituals, marriages and funerals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/09/bahai-attack-iran-human-rights-outrage
Attack on Iran's Baha'i is a human rights outrage
The destruction of 50 Baha'i homes demonstrates the Iranian government's disregard for its international obligations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Bah%C3%A 1'%C3%ADs
wonder how long a protestant would go to jail?
I remember when that monster Khomeini first took over in Iran, a whole bunch of Bahais were executed, purely for their religion. The women were first officially "married" (without their consent) to their prison guards, who could then legally rape them before execution.
Bahais have no right to exist under Islamic law, because they are classified as Muslim heretics rather than a seperate religion. I guess this is because Bahai began in Muslim countries, so all the early Bahais were orginally Muslims, and Islamic law prescribes the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to a diffeent religion. Only Judaism, Christianity, and the Sabian religion are recognised as legit religions under Islamic law.