Iran said to arrest 54 Baha'is, charges unknown

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (Reuters) The Iranian authorities have arrested 54 Baha'is in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, the Baha'i International Community said.

It said the Baha'is were arrested on Friday while they were teaching classes to underprivileged children as part of a community service program of the U N Children's Fund UNICEF.

''The nature of the charges against the Baha'is is unknown at this time,'' it said yesterday.

A judge told family members the detainees would soon be freed but so far just one of them has been released while some non-Baha'is detained at the same time and place have all been let go without bail, it said.

In the previous 14 months, 72 Baha'is across Iran had been arrested and held for up to several weeks, said Bani Dugal, who heads the Baha'i International Community's U N office.

''These new arrests in Shiraz, coming after more than a year of revolving door detentions, bring the total number of Baha'is who have been arrested without cause to more than 125 since the beginning of 2005,'' she said. ''Taken all together, this pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions amount to the purest form of religious persecution.'' The Baha'i faith, an offshoot of Islam, originated in Iran 150 years ago. It claims 5 million members in 191 countries worldwide, including an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 in Iran, where it is considered heresy by the country's religious leaders.

Baha'is say hundreds of their faith have been jailed and executed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The government denies it has detained or executed people for their faith.

REUTERS DH RN0450