KOBE — Japan's Baha'i community is calling on the government to join the growing list of countries and international organizations that have condemned Iran for its arrest of seven of its members.

Those arrested in Tehran in January include Jinous Sobhani, who worked for two human rights groups founded by Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 and is representing the group but has not been allowed to see them.

The defendants are accused of spying for Israel, an offense that carries the death penalty.