Source: iranwire.com
Kian Sabeti
Sirus Zabihi-Moghadam, a 64-year-old member of the Baha’i religious minority, was transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad last week to begin serving a seven-year sentence.
This is not his first time in prison; he has been repeatedly arrested and jailed under the rule of the Islamic Republic.
The government has intensified its campaign of arrests and convictions against Baha’i citizens, seeking to normalize these repressive actions.
Zabihi-Moghadam’s case reflects the plight of thousands of Iranian Baha’is who continue to face religious persecution by the state.
For the past 45 years, whenever faced with public protests, the Islamic Republic has attempted to deflect attention by blaming vulnerable segments of society for these demonstrations.
Among the groups consistently targeted by the government are followers of the Baha’i faith.
Although Baha’is are an integral part of Iranian society, the authorities deny them all forms of citizenship rights. To discredit protesters as unrepresentative of the population, the government often accuses Baha’is of instigating unrest.
When the Woman, Life, Freedom movement began, the Ministry of Intelligence issued its first statement accusing Baha’is of playing a significant role in the protests.
The government claimed Baha’is were “orchestrating chaos, encouraging sabotage, and destroying public property” and announced the arrest of what it described as the “main core of the Baha’i leadership,” which included three prominent figures and two members of their media team.
This statement followed the arrest of three elderly and well-known Baha’is in Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad: Sepehr Ziaei, Enayatollah Naeimi, and Sirus Zabihi-Moghadam.
Sepehr Ziaei is currently serving a five-year prison sentence, Enayatollah Naeimi has been sentenced to 15 years, and Sirus Zabihi-Moghadam is serving a seven-year sentence in Vakilabad Prison.
The Baha’i administrative council in Iran, known as Yaran-e-Iran (Friends of Iran), was officially disbanded in 2008 with the government’s knowledge.
For the past 15 years, no individual or group has managed the Baha’i community in Iran. The Ministry of Intelligence’s claims about dismantling a Baha’i leadership network are propagandistic and aim to fabricate charges against these individuals.
Sirus Zabihi-Moghadam was among the first generation of Baha’is who were denied access to higher education following the Cultural Revolution of 1980–1983. During this period, Baha’i high school graduates faced severe restrictions.
They had no opportunities to continue their education. On one hand, all Baha’is were barred from leaving the country and denied passports, which made legal emigration and studying abroad impossible.
On the other hand, young Baha’is were forced to complete military service. Despite having high school diplomas, they were denied ranks and treated as low-ranking conscripts.
After his father’s death, Sirus Zabihi-Moghadam became responsible for supporting his mother. Upon graduating from high school, he took on low-paying jobs to provide for their livelihood.
The persistent persecution and denial of basic rights have been defining aspects of the Baha’i community’s experience in Iran, where their mere existence is met with systemic discrimination and hostility.
In the early 1980s, thousands of Baha’is across Iran were arrested. The Islamic Republic, believing it could eliminate the Baha’i faith by detaining its followers and pressuring them to renounce their religion, launched widespread crackdowns.
This initiative failed, as most detained Baha’is refused to abandon their faith despite intense coercion.
Among the cities targeted, Mashhad witnessed a significant number of Baha’i arrests. Sirus Zabihi, a 23-year-old man, was arrested in August 1983 by agents of the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
After two months of detention, he was released with a suspended death sentence under orders from Ali Razini, a cleric who served as Mashhad’s revolutionary judge. Razini was assassinated on January 18.
In July 1984, Zabihi was arrested again, along with his wife, shortly after their marriage.
Following a month-long detention in an IRGC facility, he was transferred to Vakilabad Prison. After two months of uncertainty, Judge Razini sentenced him to six months in prison for being a Baha’i.
His wife was also sentenced to one year in prison for the same reason.
During this time, the couple’s first child was born in prison and remained with the mother until her sentence was completed.
On January 7, 1991, Zabihi was arrested for the third time. He spent nine days under interrogation at the Intelligence Office in Mashhad before being transferred to Vakilabad Prison. After six days, he was released on bail.
In October 1994, the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad sentenced Zabihi to three years in prison for charges related to his 1991 arrest.
In March 1995, he was detained again to serve his sentence. Although the Intelligence Ministry initially ordered that he serve his time in their detention facility, he was released on furlough shortly afterward.
In November 1997, Zabihi and two other Baha’i leaders were summoned to the Intelligence Office following allegations that a Muslim woman had converted to the Baha’i faith before marrying a Baha’i man. The three were arrested and held in detention for three years.
Judge Ghasem Bakhshian of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court initially sentenced all three to death.
After the case was transferred to another court, the death sentences for Zabihi and another individual were upheld.
However, upon review by the Supreme Court, the sentences were overturned due to procedural flaws.
Despite multiple death sentences issued by Judge Nemati, the Supreme Court ultimately rejected the verdict, and the case was reassigned to a parallel court.
Finally, in 2001, Zabihi-Moghadam was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and was released after serving five years.
During the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, security forces arrested Zabihi’s daughter, Armaghan Zabihi, and her husband, Arash Zamani, in a nighttime raid on their home in Tehran on September 24, 2022.
Hours later, agents from the Ministry of Intelligence stormed Sirus Zabihi-Moghadam’s home in Mashhad and arrested him. After 73 days in detention, he was released on bail.
Charged with “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and “membership in an opposition organization,” Zabihi appeared before Branch 1 of Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court on November 4, 2023.
He was told that his case had been transferred to Branch 6, but after sentencing, it was revealed that the verdict had actually been issued by Branch 1.
The court added a new charge, “establishing a group to disrupt national security,” to his case.
Zabihi was ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison for this new charge and one year for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” with the seven-year sentence being enforceable.
The initial verdict was upheld by Branch 35 of the appeals court. Although the Supreme Court later annulled the decision and referred the case for review, Branch 37 of the Khorasan Razavi Province appeals court rejected the referral and directed the case to be enforced.
On January 13, Zabihi was transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad to begin serving his seven-year sentence.
While Sirus Zabihi faces years of incarceration, his peers enjoy retirement with their families. Despite global scrutiny, the Islamic Republic continues to claim that no Baha’is are imprisoned for their beliefs.
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