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Whoever hopes that Iran could experience something like a political spring has to bear another disappointment these days.
Despite international Protests the trial against seven members of the Baha'i faith is about to begin this week in Tehran.
It might have begun already. Not even that is made public by the leadership there.
The Baha'is are Iran's most important religious minority. For the ayatollas they are a thorn in their side.
They are simply a provocation that, as they say, only the Jews can be responsible for.
Perhaps it is because their gentle belief that sees men and women as equal is becoming increasingly attractive to young Iranians.
Andreas Kynast is reporting from Berlin where the German government and the Baha'is living there are deeply worried.
Berlin is a good place to be Baha'i and the evening is the best time.
After sunset it is permitted to eat food during the still eight days ongoing fast of the youngest and gentlest religion of the world.
They are teachers, psychologists, retirees. All are equal and tolerant.
Baha'is believe that no religion is false and know that this turns them into dangerous people in the Islamic world.
Especially in Iran Baha'is fear for their lives.
It is difficult to understand that if Baha'is accept Islam, respect the Quran and see Muhammad as a prophet
why they are still being persecuted. Because on the part of the Bahai's there is no enmity towards Islam.
Tehran is a bad place to be Baha'i especially during recent years.
Ever since President Ahmadinejad rules Iran with an iron hand Baha'is are being persecuted, reviled and arrested.
The mullahs threw the whole leadership of the Baha'is into the notorious Evin prison.
These seven. Without lawyers and without the public.
In Iran there are no democratic courts. It is a dicatorship and we have to assume that there will be show trials.
The death penalty is unfortunately a realistic option. Only international pressure can prevent it from being carried out.
The pressure is increasing—especially from Germany. The chancellery has just summoned the Iranian Embassador. All parties are alarmed.
We need a determined and a closed position towards Iran that the persecution of religious minorities
and especially their being threatened with the death penalty is in no way acceptable to us.
The situation is serious and because of that it is good if the public is informed about the trial.
It is good if we try to make sure politically that the members of the Baha'i faith are released.
The relatives in Germany who are worried don't know anything.
They don't know if the trial has begun, not how the accused are and not if there is any hope.
That's why it is important that the world public know about what's going on.
Especially for these people it is not only a comfort, but it also serves as a protection,
because these reactions are also head by the Iranians.
No one knows if the pressure is making a impact. Officially Tehran does not provide any information.
Therefore Baha'is are waiting everywhere on the world—especially in Berlin—
to find out if human beings actually have to die for a religion that is here something normal.