Persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran

For a group that prides itself on tolerance, Baha’is have drawn a lot of intolerance, especially in Iran, where the religion originated. Ever since Baha’i began, its followers have come under attack by fundamentalist Muslims. An early incarnation of Baha’is, the Babis, saw 20,000 of their members killed in the mid-19th century, and Baha’is founder, Baha’u’llah, spent most of his life either in prison or in exile.

Once, during Ramadan in the mid-1990s, Erfan Sabeti was on his way to an all-day genetics class at the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education in Tehran.

Attacks such as these, against the rights of citizens to organize and be educated in freedom, can no longer be tolerated. We call upon the Iranian government not only to cease its persecution of Bahá’ís, but to provide, and promote, education for all.

Hollywood star Rainn Wilson and actress/activist Shiva Rose hosted an audience of 1,300 at the Kavli Theatre in Thousand Oaks, CA, in mid-September for an evening dedicated to human rights in Iran. The program combined arts, panel discussions and a keynote address by Iranian-born journalist and film-maker Maziar Bahari who recently published a book about his incarceration in Iran in 2009. [...]

The release of an open letter from two Nobel Peace Prize winners regarding the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education coincided with the first round of trials for imprisoned staff members of the beleaugured Institute. Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta called for an end to education discrimination in Iran in a [...]

“While Iran’s leaders hypocritally claim to promote tolerance, they continue to detain, imprison, harass, and abuse those who simply wish to worship the faith of their choosing.” — U.S. Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland Read entire editorial here. Excerpt Earlier this month, Iranian authorities reportedly refused to allow a Baha’i family to bury a [...]

British spy novelist Jon Stock featured the Iranian government’s persecution of Baha’is as a central element of Dead Spy Running. The book was published in 2009 by Thomas Dunne Books and is slated to be made into a movie set for release in 2014. In fact, the book’s climactic scene takes place outside the Baha’i House of [...]

Eleven Baha’is charged with “conspiracy against national security” for operating an institute for higher education

Iranian authorities faced a deadline two months after the May 21st raids carried out on more than thirty Baha’i homes* connected to the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. Under Iranian law, the authorities had to either formally charge defendants or set the prisoners free.

The Baha’i International Community just learned that charges have been laid and 11 of the 19 individuals originally detained in the raids will continue to be held in detention*. The remaining 8 individuals were released over time since the raids.

U.S. news coverage of Iran’s attack on Baha’i educators reveals stark contrast to spring graduation season As worldwide outrage gathers in response to the recent raids and sweeping arrests of Baha’i Institute for Higher Education faculty and administrators, the reaction in many U.S. news reports and blogs has been one of trying to relate to [...]

Columnist Samuel G. Freedman‘s “On Religion” article in The New York Times on May 7 coincided with Mother’s Day weekend. So he decided to write about a woman’s courage in facing the severe hardships she endured for her daughter and her faith. HOUSTON — On a blustery night the week before Mother’s Day, a woman [...]

Blogger Reza Aslan weighs in on how each individual can play a part in supporting the spread of human rights at this crucial time in a critical part of the world: As the Iranian regime continues to tighten the noose of oppression around the throats of all its citizens, one group of Iranians is being [...]

On Tuesday, February 8, The Huffington Post published an opinion article about the persecution of Baha’is in Iran by Anthony Vance, Director of External Affairs for the Baha’is of the United States. It describes the recent burning of Baha’i-owned businesses, whose owners were accused of befriending Muslims in their community, as well as a series [...]

Photo courtesy of Baha’i World News Service Baha’i World News Service– A recent wave of arson attacks on Baha’i-owned businesses in Rafsanjan, Iran, appears to be part of a campaign to fracture relationships between Baha’is and Muslims in the city. After around a dozen attacks on shops – carried out since 25 October 2010 – [...]

Baha’i World News Service– In an open letter to the head of Iran’s Judiciary, the Baha’i International Community today contrasted the country’s persecution of Baha’is with Iran’s own call for Muslim minorities to be treated fairly in other countries. “We…request that the Baha’is in that country be granted their full rights of citizenship, in order [...]

The U.S. Department of State’s newly released Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (2010) again ranked Iran as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. The ongoing persecution of the country’s 300,000 Baha’is was highlighted extensively in the report. From the section on Iran: Baha’i religious groups reported arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention, [...]

On Saturday, October 9, the British newspaper The Guardian published a letter decrying the lack of due process leading up to the sentencing of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders in August. Rosalyn Higgins QC Former international judge; Linda Lee President, Law Society; Mark Muller QC Chairman, Bar human rights committee co-authored the letter, which called for [...]

An Iranian Baha’i woman living in Australia has received threats for advocating for the release of her sister Rozita Vasseghi, who has been held in solitary confinement in Iran since she was arrested in March 2010. Rosa Vasseghi  has lived in Australia since she received asylum in 1999. She and her family have been outspoken [...]

On Wednesday, September 22, The Wall Street Journal published an opinion article by Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, recommending more than a dozen questions for journalists to ask Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his U.S. visit this month. The question of Baha’i rights was among them: Why does the Islamic Republic [...]

Baha’i World News Service– The 20-year prison sentences received by Iran’s seven Baha’i leaders have reportedly been reduced. The Baha’i International Community has learned that the lawyers representing the seven were informed orally yesterday that the 20-year jail terms have now been reduced to 10 years. The seven – Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, [...]

Last week a Pennsylvania FOX News affiliate (FOX 43) aired a story about local refugees that included a description of the ongoing persecution of Baha’is in Iran. The story, by Nava Ghalili, also highlighted the trial of seven Baha’i leaders who were each sentenced to 20 years in prison last month. View the FOX 43 [...]