Behrouz Azizi Tavakkoli

He was active as a social worker until the 1980's , when he was fired from this government position due to his religious beliefs. He has a B.S in Psychology. He and his wife, Tahereh Fakhri Tousaki, have two sons, one of which studies architecture in the Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education

<coverage-outsourcing id='751'> He was arrested in Mashhad and was transferred to Evin Prison after spending 40 days in solitary confinement in the Mashhad Intelligence Ministry's lock-up </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='752'> He was transferred from Mashhad Intelligence Ministry's lock-up to Evin Prison, where he spend about three months in solitary confinement. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='4970'> He was released from prison after posting bail of 50 million tomans. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='700'> The global Baha'i community published a statement in which they criticized judicial officials for targeting the daughter of Shirin Ebadi, one of the attorney's representing a member of the Yaran Iran group for being of Baha'i faith. They claimed that Iranian officials are biased towards the Baha'i community and that they label any kind of sympathy for these individuals as espionage. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='694'> He and the other members of the Yaran Iran group transferred to the Public Ward after spending three and a half months in solitary confinement. After about one month these inmates were separated from the general population again where the five men were held in one cell and the two women in another. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='654'> The Tehran Judiciary reported that the defendant and six other Baha'i community leaders were charged with "Spying for Israel, Blasphemy , and propagating against the state". </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='665'> The first trial session for the defendant and six other Iranian Baha'i leaders was held in Branch 28 of Revolutionary Court. Their charges included: > Espionage for foreign countries, Propagating against the state, Founding and maintaining illegal groups, Collaboration with the Zionist occupying regime, Conspiracy to collect classified information and sharing it with foreign nations in an attempt to disrupt national security, gathering and colluding against national security internally and externally, defacing the Islamic Republic of Iran in the international community and corruption on Earth . </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='666'> The last trial session for him and six other Baha'i leaders was held publicly and took three days to hold in Branch 28 of Revolutionary Court, while their attorneys and family members were present. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='677'> He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='688'> He was transferred to Rajaee Shahr Prison to serve his sentence. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='706'> News of the decrease of his and six other Bahai' leaders' sentence to 10 years was relayed verbally to their attorneys. The "Espionage" charges were dropped in Branch 54 of Appeals Court presided by Judge Movahed and as a result the sentences were revised to be 10 years shorter. Ultimately, the decision by the Appeals Court was deemed unlawful and overturned by the Attorney General, who increased the sentences back to 20 years. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='678'> It was reported that the initial sentence of 20 years was upheld in Appeals Court and relayed to the defendant. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='648'> From the three attorneys that represented the seven Baha'i citizens in court, Abdolfatah Soltani and Hadi Esmailzadeh were imprisoned and Mahnaz Parakand fled the country. Mahnaz Parakand spoke at the European Parliament in June 2011 and stated: > The arrest warrants for our clients looked more like a political statement than a legal warrant. It was a 50 page text... the warrant was full of insults and belittled the rights of Iranian Baha'is, especially our clients. The text was very general and did not include any substantial evidence . </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='633'> On the fifth anniversary of the arrests of Yaran Iran, UN experts Ahmed Shaheed, El Hadji Malick Sow, Head of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, and Rita Izsák, The UN Independent Expert on Minorities issues, asked he Iranian government o release the seven prisoners immediately. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='753'> It was reported that 42 political prisoners of Rajaee Shahr Prison penned a letter to Sadegh Larijani, Head of the Judiciary, and requested the release of the defendant and 15 other ill and old prisoners. The letter claimed that these 16 individuals are all over 60 and suffer from dangerous ailments. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='626'> He wrote a letter to President Rohani along with the other six members of the Yaran Iran group : > The sentences that led to the expulsion of thousands of Baha'i individuals from government jobs, the execution of more than 200 Baha'i citizens, the expulsion of thousands of students from universities as well as the countless rulings made against Baha'i individuals in the last eight years and the legal process which led to each one of the seven of us to 20 years in prison, are a clear indication of the importance of having proper evidence in these cases. In fact, if there is no revision or adjustment to the mindless and arbitrary conditions under which citizen's rights can be violated, who can rest assured that they won't be subjected to the same fate that we are suffering today? </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='641'> In the seventh year of the incarceration of the seven Baha'i citizens, five members of the European Parliament requested their release from prison. </coverage-outsourcing>