Source: iranwire.com
Kian Sabeti
The Islamic Republic intensified its persecution of Baha’i citizens over the past Persian year, with women facing particularly harsh treatment.
Official data reveals that 246 Baha’is – 142 women and 104 men – were subjected to government actions ranging from imprisonment to workplace closures between March 2024 and March 2025.
The number of Baha’i prisoners increased from 24 to 30 over the year, with women making up more than half of those behind bars.
As members of Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, Baha’is continue to face systematic discrimination.
Baha’i women bear the double burden of religious and gender-based persecution in a campaign that has now expanded to include attacks on cemeteries and the destruction of agricultural lands.
The confirmation of a nine-year prison sentence for Keyvan Rahimian, a Baha’i psychologist and translator, exemplifies the judicial actions taken against Baha’i citizens over the past year.
Rahimian was arrested on July 28, 2023, on charges of promoting the Baha’i faith through psychology classes.
He rejected this accusation in a letter from prison.
He said, “On February 13, I received my sentence from Judge Salavati—five years in prison for promoting the Baha’i faith through psychology classes. This is completely incorrect, and all people who participated in my classes, either individually or in groups, can attest to the fact that I never mentioned a word about the Baha’i faith or my being Baha’i, and many of them did not even know I was Baha’i.”
Similarly, in November, the Revolutionary Court of Babol sentenced two other Baha’i women, Newsha Badie Sabet and Suzan Eid Mohammadzadegan, to five years in prison on charges of promoting the Baha’i faith through psychology classes.
Other judicial actions against Baha’i citizens over the past year included simultaneous and collective court sessions for fifteen and ten Baha’i women in Isfahan, an eight-year prison sentence for Sirous Zabihi Moghaddam in Mashhad and his transfer to prison to serve his sentence, confirmation of an eight-year prison sentence for Anisa Fanaeian in Semnan and her subsequent arrest to begin her sentence, and an 11-year prison sentence for Behzad Azargan, a Baha’i artist and musician.
Additionally, preventing Labib Jazbani, a percussion instrument player, from performing at a music concert in Gorgan and blocking a young Baha’i actress, Hana Siavashi, from entering a theater stage in Yasouj were instances of security measures taken against Baha’is over the past year.
Statistics show that the number of Baha’i prisoners increased at the end of 2024 compared to the previous year.
There were 24 Baha’i citizens imprisoned at the end of 2023, which rose to 30 by the end of 2024. Ten prisoners remained incarcerated across both years.
Seventeen of the 20 Baha’i prisoners at the end of 2024 were women. Baha’i citizens are currently imprisoned in Tehran, Karaj, Semnan, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Rasht, and Qazvin.
In November 2024, a court in Hormozgan province rejected a request for “blood money” from the family of Ataollah Rezvani because Rezvani was Baha’i.
The request was denied despite the court confirming that premeditated murder had occurred in Rezvani’s case.
Rezvani, a Baha’i from Bandar Abbas, was killed by gunshot eleven years ago in his personal vehicle after being abducted by unknown people.
This Baha’i citizen had been threatened by the Intelligence Office and the city’s Friday prayer leader months before his death.
The exclusion of Baha’i adherents from laws regarding retribution and blood money, as observed, demonstrates the discrimination and inequality in the Islamic Republic’s laws concerning Baha’i citizens.
Another discriminatory law of the Islamic Republic regarding Baha’is is the deprivation of inheritance rights for Baha’i individuals.
According to news published in November, two Baha’i citizens in Hamadan are at risk of losing ownership of their lands because a Muslim relative has filed a complaint with the court arguing that, according to Islamic Republic laws, only Muslim heirs have the right to inherit property.
The Islamic Republic’s discriminatory laws regarding Baha’i citizens are not limited to the country’s official and written laws – there are also unwritten rules in the Islamic Republic that reflect injustice toward Baha’is.
Lawyer Sina Yousefi said in October: “The Ministry of Intelligence, by summoning the owners of large stores in Tabriz (and other cities) … has prohibited them from selling products of the Rafoneh company due to the Baha’i faith of the company’s owner.”
Attacks on Baha’i Cemeteries
Baha’i cemeteries, known as Golestan Javid (Eternal Garden), have consistently been subject to attacks, destruction, and confiscation during the Islamic Republic’s rule.
Over the past year, various reports were published about continued attacks on Baha’i cemeteries in different cities. At least 14 cities saw attacks on Baha’i cemeteries.
In one instance, the historic Baha’i cemetery in Ahvaz, with a 110-year history, was set on fire by officials on August 6, 2024.
After the fire, officials cut down trees and removed them from the site. The action was taken despite the cemetery land belonging to the Baha’i community of Ahvaz, and none of the officials were willing to respond to the Baha’is.
Other incidents included the destruction of the morgue and theft of items from the Baha’i cemetery in Mashhad, attacks and defacing of Baha’i gravestones in Semnan, prevention of burying a Baha’i deceased in the cemetery of their place of residence in Mazgan village of Kashan, and the burial of Baha’i deceased in Khavaran cemetery without the presence of the deceased’s family or religious ceremonies.
On May 28, 2024, Iranian government officials, in an attack on the village of Ahmadabad in Mazandaran, used mechanical excavators to destroy many rice fields belonging to Baha’is in the village and destroyed their crops and the river water passage to the rice fields.
Photos of this incident show dozens of villagers, including an elderly woman, pleadingly asking the officials to stop the destruction, but the officials continued their destructive operations without paying attention to the residents’ requests.
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