Watchdog

Amnesty International says politically motivated harassment, detentions, and imprisonments continue in Turkmenistan, in a statement issued to mark the second anniversary of the current government.

The government of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov came to power on February 14, 2007, Amnesty says, "amid hopes that he would improve the country's abysmal human rights record marked by repression of any form of peaceful dissent."

Amnesty says that, despite some improvements, Berdymukhammedov has failed to live up to his promises of human rights reform by "swiftly ending enforced disappearances, releasing prisoners of conscience, ending torture or other ill treatment, and lifting restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and religion."

"Until it takes immediate measures," says Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia program director, "there will be little to distinguish the present government from the previous one."

The International Baha'i Community says it is concerned that seven imprisoned members of the Baha’i faith are to be tried for charges including "espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic."

Diane Ala'i, the Baha’i community's envoy to the UN, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the International Baha'i Community "rejects all the accusations."

"They are just common Iranians who wanted to serve their society and their country," she added.

Tehran Deputy Prosecutor Hassan Haddad said the case will be sent to a revolutionary court next week.

Pressure on religious minorities, including Baha'is and Gonabadi Dervishes, has increased in Iran in recent years.

The Baha'i faith is not recognized in the Iranian Constitution.

The European Union has expressed "serious concern about the continuing systematic discrimination and harassment of the Iranian Baha'is on the grounds of their religion."