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Iran Steps Up Bahai Persecution with Wave of Arrests
(AFP-Barron's) Stuart Williams - 13 Bahais were arrested on Sunday in raids on homes and businesses across Iran, Diane Alai, of the Bahai International Community (BIC), told AFP. This is after dozens of members of Iran's largest non-Muslim minority had been arrested, summoned or subjected to house searches in June and July. Those detained included prominent Iranian Bahai figures Mahvash Sabet, Fariba Kamalabadi and Afif Naemi, who had previously each served a decade in jail. Iran's intelligence ministry said Monday that those arrested were suspected of spying for a center in Israel and of working to "infiltrate educational environments" and spread their religion. Bahais are used to accusations by Iran of links to Israel, where the city of Haifa hosts a center of the Bahai faith established well before the State of Israel was established.