EU calls on Iran to end persecution of Bahais

(BRUSSELS) - The EU presidency on Wednesday called on Iran to end its persecution of members of the Bahai religious community, whose faith is banned in the Islamic republic.

The European Union stressed "its serious concern about the continuing systematic discrimination and harassment of the Iranian Bahais on the grounds of their religion," the EU's Slovenian presidency said in a statement.

The EU called on Iran "to uphold fully the right to adopt and practice a religion of choice, to end the persecution of the Bahai community, and to release the detained individuals," the statement added.

The message came after Iran confirmed on Tuesday it had arrested Bahai followers for acting against the national interest.

"This does not have to do with ideological issues or if you want to call it beliefs, which we basically do not approve of," Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham assured.

However the EU presidency said it was "deeply concerned" by reports that ministry of intelligence officers had arrested six members of the Bahai faith and were holding them in jail.

Iran said in January it had sentenced 54 Bahais for anti-regime propaganda, three of them to four years in jail while the rest received suspended one-year jail terms.

The Bahai faith originally developed in Iran in 1863 but is not recognised by the government. Its followers are regarded as infidels and have been persecuted since the 1979 Islamic revolution and also under the deposed shah.

Bahais consider Bahaullah, born in 1817, the last prophet sent to Earth by God, while Muslims believe the last messenger of God is the Prophet Mohammed.