Deeply concerned by the news of Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi’s second 10-year imprisonment, several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have demanded their release and condemned Iran’s actions against the Baha’i community.

MEP Cornelia Ernst, chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Iran, noting that she had already drawn attention to the “scandalous situation of the Baha’is in Iran” in 2015, said that Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi ““are considered role models and symbols of courage for all Iranian women. And not only in Iran but worldwide.”

MEP Leopoldo López Gil, meanwhile, described the two women as “symbols of bravery, humanity and resilience.”

“Amidst the most repressive actions by Iranian authorities”, said MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White, “[are those against] two Baha’i women, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, considered symbols of resilience in Iran after spending 10 years in prison.” And MEP Alviina Alamestä called the newly-issued sentence against both women as yet “another step in the long running process of persecution against the Baha’i Community by the Iranian regime”.

MEP David Lega, the European People's Party’s Standing Rapporteur for Iran, said the situation of the two women was all the more distressing as it was their “second 10-year imprisonment" and they “are now at risk of worsening health conditions”.