Behzad Yazdani, a Baha'i translator, 200 days without trial in Adelabad prison

Behzad Yazdani, a Baha'i translator and editor living in Shiraz, is still being held in Adelabad prison in Shiraz more than 200 days after his arrest by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence, with no trial and no sentence. He was arrested at his home in Shiraz in March–April 2026 and, according to informed sources, has had no access to a lawyer throughout this time.

Yazdani's family say they have repeatedly asked the judicial authorities to convert his detention to bail or conditional release but have received no answer, and each time they have been told the case is "under review". The charges against him have so far not been officially announced.

The arrest of a Baha'i couple

In those same days of March–April, IRGC intelligence agents also arrested Romina Khazali, Behzad Yazdani's wife and a painter. The couple are the parents of two teenagers. According to earlier reports, for these arrests the agents entered the home of Yazdani's wife's parents on the false claim that a thief was on the roof, and made them bring her back home. Relatives and acquaintances who had come to the family's home were also interrogated and their mobile phones were confiscated. Before her arrest, Romina Khazali had undergone stomach surgery and was suffering from migraines and severe pain.

The repression of Shiraz's Baha'is

Behzad Yazdani's long, open-ended detention is part of the Islamic Republic's broad pressure on Baha'i citizens, a community that since 1979 has been barred from education, government employment and civil rights, and has repeatedly been the target of arrests, confiscation of property and heavy sentences. DIAR had earlier reported on the enforcement of a five-year prison sentence, with an electronic ankle monitor, on Iman Rahmatpanah, a Baha'i citizen of Shiraz.

Behzad Yazdani has been held for more than 200 days in Adelabad prison in Shiraz, with no trial, no sentence and no lawyer.