Baha’i Women Singled Out for Harsh and Aggressive Persecution

Over 1,200 Facing Court Proceedings or Sentenced to Prison for Practicing Faith

Center for Human Rights in Iran

November 5, 2024 – The Islamic Republic has intensified its crackdown on the Baha’i community, the country’s largest unrecognized religious minority, with soaring arrests and detentions that have particularly targeted Baha’i women, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and the International Baha’i Community (BIC) said today.

While the Iranian government has for decades relentlessly persecuted members of the Baha’i faith, arresting and imprisoning their leaders and blocking them from school, jobs, and business ownership, the state’s assault on the community has greatly intensified, with over a thousand Baha’is—predominantly women—now facing court proceedings or lengthy prison sentences.

“The Iranian government’s full-out assault on the Baha’i community demands far greater global attention—the Islamic Republic is aggressively trying to erase an entire community simply for their desire to practice their faith,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI.

“By targeting Baha’i women for especially brutal persecution, the Iranian authorities are not only devastating families and attacking the very heart of the community’s resilience, they are intentionally broadening their escalating war on women,” Ghaemi added.

“When Baha’i women are attacked, entire families feel the pain of this injustice. The targeting of Baha’i women—who are doubly marginalized both as women and as members of a religious minority—demands urgent global attention. Sentencing so many Baha’i women to prison just for their beliefs demonstrates the urgent need for governments to demand that Iran ends this persecution,” said Simin Fahandej, the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the UN.

Key Findings:

  • At least 70 Baha’is are currently in detention or serving prison sentences, while 1,200 are facing court proceedings or have been sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.
  • In 2024 alone, more than 93 Baha’is were summoned to court or prison—and more than 75% of them were women. (See list below for numerous cases of Baha’i persecution from January to October.)
  • Since 2021, arrests and imprisonments of Bahai’s, property confiscations, destruction of cemeteries, denial of burials, and business closures have increased by 50% each year.

CHRI and BIC call on the UN, governments worldwide, human rights groups, and religious organizations of all denominations to demand that the Iranian authorities immediately:

  • Release all imprisoned Baha’is;
  • Drop all charges and cease the persecution of Baha’is for the practice of their faith;
  • End the policies of educational and employment discrimination;
  • Return or provide compensation for all confiscated or destroyed businesses and properties;
  • Cease the destruction of Baha’i gravesites.

New Wave of Assaults Come After Decades of Brutal Persecution

Speaking to CHRI on condition of anonymity, a source close to a Baha’i family in Iran said:

“The intensification of government pressures on the Baha’i community in recent years, such as arrests or confiscation of Baha’i properties, has brought back many past traumas to the family. In the 1980s, several members of the Baha’i family that I know were executed, and some of their properties were confiscated. Just a year ago, another woman from this family was arrested. This caused many past traumas to resurface.”

Iran’s constitution does not recognize the Baha’i faith as an official religion. For decades, Baha’is in Iran have been systematically denied access to education and employment opportunities, subjected to the confiscation or destruction of their business and properties, faced arbitrary arrests, sentenced to lengthy prison terms on bogus charges after grossly unfair trials, and subjected to the destruction of their gravesites. This persecution violates numerous international conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a signatory.

Commenting on the severe and all-encompassing nature of the Iranian government’s persecution of the Baha’is, Saeid Dehghan, a prominent human rights lawyer, said:

“The Islamic Republic’s systematic discrimination and extensive restrictions against Baha’is — including bans on university education, dismissals from government jobs, shop closures, and especially widespread property confiscations —leads us to conclude that the Islamic Republic of Iran is committing ‘religious apartheid’ against the Baha’is.”

Targeting Baha’i Women: A Gendered Repression

Women within the Baha’i community have increasingly borne the brunt of the state’s persecution, which is aimed at dismantling the community’s leadership structures. There have been a growing number of cases where Baha’i women are arrested on spurious charges such as “propaganda against the state” and “membership in illegal groups”—common pretexts used to justify the broader persecution of religious minorities. Many have been imprisoned under inhumane conditions, denied access to legal representation, and subjected to physical and psychological abuse >>>