SAN A, Yemen: Three members of the minority Bahai faith detained in Yemen face imminent deportation to Iran, a Yemeni security official said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Bahai international group warned that the three - all of Iranian origin - could be prosecuted and even tortured in Iran, where their religion is against the law.

The Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to make statements to the media, said the three men could be deported "as soon as possible." He refused to provide details.

But the New York based Bahai International Community said it has urged Yemeni authorities to refrain from deporting the men, arrested along with an Iraqi Bahai member in the Yemeni capital in June.

The group's statement, made available to The Associated Press, quoted Bahai representative to the United Nations, Bani Dugal, as saying it was "gravely concerned about the fate" of the men.

The three, who hold Iranian passports, had lived for more than 25 years in Yemen and established successful businesses and families in the community, Dugal said. They were taken into custody during a raid by Yemeni forces on Bahai homes on suspicion of "proselytizing".

"Deportation to any country for three individuals with well established businesses and families for their religious beliefs would be grossly unjust, but deportation to Iran, where they face the possibility of torture, would be a clear violation of international human rights law," Dugal said.

Yemen has some 250 members of the Bahai faith and they enjoy relative freedom to quietly practice their religion, she added.

Iran had been the cradle of the Bahai faith in the middle of the 19th century. But after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the faith was banned and it is not recognized in the Iranian constitution as a religious minority.

The Bahai religion was founded in the 1860s by a Persian nobleman, Baha u llah, who claimed to be a new prophet in the series that included Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Islam considers Muhammad to be the last of the prophets. 

Source : AP