ADL Task Force on Middle Eastern Minorities Condemns the Raids in Iran Targeting Baha’i Community

New York, NY, November 24, 2020 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Task Force on Middle East Minorities today condemned the recent raids targeting Iran’s vulnerable Baha’i community.

According to reports, on November 22, homes of tens of Baha’is were ransacked by the Islamic Republic’s security agents in a coordinated and simultaneous operation in various cities across Iran including Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Mashhad and Kerman. The agents confiscated personal effects including computers, cell phones, laptops, photographs and religious books, and there are some allegations that they also took away national ID cards and cash found during home searches.

This latest attack on the Baha’i community, which has been persecuted throughout the decades by the regime, exemplifies Iran’s severe discriminatory acts against its religious minorities. Iran’s other religious minorities, including members of Iran’s Protestant Christians and Gonabadi Sufis, have increasingly suffered systematic harassment, arbitrary raids, arrests, and imprisonment in the recent years.

The ADL Task Force on Middle East Minorities has endorsed bipartisan Congressional resolutions H. Res 823 and S. Res. 578 in support of Baha’is in Iran and strongly urges the international community to pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect the equal citizenship rights of all minorities.