E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.1 Page 45 179. The Special Rapporteurs brought to the attention of the Government the situation of Mr. Shahrukh Ta'ef, Mr. Kayvan Rahimiyan, and his wife Ms. Fereshteh Subhani, three prominent Bahá'ís , who were arrested on 6 March 2005 in Tehran by agents of the Intelligence agency. No reasons were given for their arrests. Their family members and other Bahá'ís had been unsuccessful in locating them. It was also reported that on the same day, early in the morning, seven or eight agents entered the home of Mr. and M s. Rahimiyan and ransacked their house. They took away a quantity of documents; books; printed material; a copy machine and other possessions. 180. It was further reported that Mr. Mehran Kawsari was re-arrested on 8 March 2005. He had been previously arrested for distributing a letter to the President of the Republic denouncing the destruction on 2-3 February 2005 of the Bahá'í cemetery of Yazd. Mr. Kawsari was sentenced to three years imprisonment. He was held in Evin prison. Mr. Bahram Mashhadi, another Bahá'ís previously detained, who was the subject of a communication sent on 15 December 2004, w as also rearrested and given a one-year sentence for the same alleged offence. 181. According to the source, these actions coincided with the launch of a campaign against the Bahá'ís in government-controlled media. In an article published on 8 January 2005 in Jomhouri-e-Eslami newspaper, the Bahá'ís letter to the President of the Republic was portrayed as a "provocative" activity by the Bahá'ís and as "part of a plan by the United States" to exert pressure on Iran. Another article appeared in a Yazd newspaper complaining about the Bahá'ís. Response from the Government dated 27 May 2005 182. The Government indicated that Mr. Shahrukh Ta'ef has been charged with financial corruption and the legal proceedings were underway. Mr. Mehran Kawsari had been charged for mea sures against the internal security of the State. The preliminary proceedings had been carried out and, since he had filed an appeal, his case had been sent to the Tehran Appellate Court for consideration. He refused the offer of bail and has remained in custody. Urgent appeal sent on 12 April 2005 183. Follow -up communication concerning the situation of Mr. Hamid Pourmand, a 47-year-old lay pastor with the Assembly of God Church in Bandar-I Bushehr who was the subject of a previous communication on 3 November 2004. Recent reports indicated that, on 16 February 2005, a Tehran military court found him guilty of deceiving the armed forces by not declaring that he was a convert from Islam. The Court reportedly sentenced him to three years in jail. He was reportedly held at the Evin Prison in Tehran where he had allegedly spent most of his imprisonment in solitary confinement. The verdict of the military court was reportedly under appeal to the Supreme Court. Besides, concerns had been expressed that, on 4 April 2005, he was allegedly told that he would be produced before a Shariah Court within 7 to 10 days, on two separate charges of apostasy and proselytizing, the first of which is a capital crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran.