Markus Löning – Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office – “ learned with dismay that seven representatives of the Baha'is were sentenced to prison terms of four to five years.” In a statement, Mr. Löning said: “Once again I urge the Iranian Government to grant religious freedom to which it has comitted itself under international law. Even the human rights of minorities must be respected and protected. The accused must have a right to a transparent process in according to the principles of the rule of law. Apparently the seven defendants have been accused of joining forces in a subversive group. However this "group" is a distance learning university, which was founded many years ago to allow the otherwise excluded Baha’is from studying to have higher education. A trial observation on behalf of the EU was not permitted by the Iranian authorities…”

Rolf Mützenich MP, foreign policy spokesperson of the Social Democratic parliamentary group (SPD) in the German Bundestag said: “The long-term prison sentence of seven Bahá'ís shows once again that Iran heavily violates the rights of minorities and dissenters. The judgment made by the revolutionary court is inacceptable, and the religious intolerance it reflects is intolerable. The federal government must use its diplomatic options in order to protest against the unfair trial and the dubious verdict. It has to insist that the sentence will not be final. The convicts worked at Bahá'í educational institutions in Iran. Iran denies the Bahá’ís access to institutions of higher education. That in itself is a serious violation of basic human rights. The educational institutions of the Bahá’ís are meant to compensate the lack of educational opportunities. It is urgently necessary for the Iranian government to end its discrimination against the Bahá’ís and to respect their basic rights to education and to practicing their faith.”