Persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran

Baha’i World News Service– According to the latest Iran Update, provided by the Baha’i World News Service wo of the three Iranian Baha’is, imprisoned for their participation in an education program for underprivileged children, have been freed after serving more than three years of their four-year jail terms. Haleh Rouhi and Sasan Taqva were released [...]

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, [...]

Baha’i World News Service — A committee of the UN General Assembly today sharply criticized Iran for its continued and increasing violations of human rights. By a vote of 80 to 44, the Assembly’s Third Committee approved a resolution that “expresses deep concern at serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations” in Iran. There were [...]

Baha’i World News Service– The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has once again expressed strong concern over Iran’s ongoing human rights violations, including its persecution of Iranian Baha’is. In a report issued Thursday, Mr. Ban highlighted his continuing concerns over Iran’s use of torture and the death penalty, its poor treatment of [...]

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 [...]

On September 29, 2010, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont issued the following statement on behalf of the persecuted Baha’i religious minority in Iran: Mr. President, I want to take a moment to call the Senate’s attention to members of the Baha’i faith who have and continue to suffer severe persecution by the Iranian Government. [...]

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 [...]

On Tuesday, August 31, CNN’s Belief Blog published an article about Minoo Vosough, an Iranian Baha’i who was arrested in 1984, at the age of 27, and held in Evin and Gohardasht prisons for 3 months before her release. Seven Iranian Baha’i leaders were transferred from Evin to Gohardasht earlier this month following more than [...]

On Saturday, August 28, The Washington Post published an op-ed article by journalist Roxana Saberi advocating for the release of seven Iranian Baha’i prisoners, two of whom she shared a cell with during her 100-day incarceration in Evin prison last year. In the article, Saberi describes how the two Baha’i women, Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash [...]

On Wednesday, August 25, Cherie Blair, a barrister at Matrix Chambers in London and the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, published an op-ed in The Guardian concerning the recent sentencing of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders each to 20 years in prison. From The Guardian op-ed: The truth behind this sentence is that [...]

Baha’i World News Service– The harsh prison sentences handed down to seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who are absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing is a judgment against an entire religious community, the Baha’i International Community said today. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, whose Defenders of Human Rights Center represented the Baha’i defendants, said she was “stunned” by [...]

On Friday, August 13,  Foreign Policy magazine’s “The Cable” blog highlighted last week’s sentencing of seven Iranian Baha’is leaders in an article about Secretary of State Clinton’s recent statements on human rights in Iran. From the Foreign Policy article: Persecution of the estimated 300,000 Baha’is in Iran has existed since the religion’s inception in the [...]

On Thursday, August 12, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued the following statement concerning the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who have each been sentenced to 20 years in prison for their religious beliefs. According to new reports, the seven prisoners have been transferred from Evin prison in Tehran to Gohardasht Prison – also [...]

Today, August 11, the Los Angeles Times published on its Mideast blog, “Babylon & Beyond,” an article about the 20-year sentence reportedly imposed on seven Baha’is who have already been imprisoned for more than two years in Tehran. From the article: The Bahai leaders have been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison since 2008. The [...]

Today, August 11, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom joined the international outcry on behalf of seven Iranian Baha’is recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for their beliefs. From the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom statement: The five Baha’i men and two women had been charged with several baseless and unsubstantiated crimes [...]

Several statements of international support for seven Iranian Baha’is each recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for their religious beliefs have been issued by the governments of Canada, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, the European Parliament and the European Union. In Canada, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement issued [...]

On August 10, Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the reported sentencing of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders each to 20 years in prison. News of their sentences followed six brief court appearances, which began on January 12, 2010, after they had been incarcerated without charges for 20 months. The trial ended on June 14. Statement [...]

Today, August 10, Human Rights Watch issued a public statement calling for the release of seven Iranian Baha’i leaders who were reportedly sentenced last Sunday to 20 years in prison for false charges stemming from their religious beliefs. From the Human Rights Watch statement: The Iranian judiciary should set aside any judgments issued in closed [...]

Baha’i World News Service– The Baha’i International Community has received reports indicating that seven Iranian Baha’i leaders have each received jail sentences of 20 years. The two women and five men have been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since they were arrested in 2008 – six of them on May 14 and one of [...]