The global Baha'i faith originated in Iran in the mid-nineteenth century based on the principle of the unity of humanity. Since then, the Baha'i community has dispersed worldwide, becoming one of the youngest and most populous religious communities with a 170-year history.
Iran, the initial setting for the Baha'i faith and the birthplace of its key figures (Seyyed Ali Mohammad Bab, Baha'ullah, and Abdul-Baha), continues to see the growth of its Baha'i followers. However, despotic and brutal rulers in Iran have always interfered with the believers of this faith by any means possible.
Baha'is in Iran, both women and men, despite the challenges they have faced since the inception of their faith, have striven to promote Baha'i teachings in the country. Education is a fundamental tenet of this religion, prioritizing the education of girls and women, which naturally leads to the advancement and development of any society. The Baha'i faith considers education one of the main factors in individual growth and societal improvement.
Baha'is have been active and dynamic in establishing modern schools, developing agriculture, healthcare centers, promoting public health, and literacy. Despite this, the Baha'i community and its followers in Iran, with a brilliant cultural and service history, have continually faced various forms of harassment, restrictions, censorship, and suppression.
Continual hate campaigns, cultural and social oppression, denial of education, media suffocation, bans on economic activities, arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, and executions are prominent examples of such suppressions. According to the United Nations, two-thirds of Baha'i prisoners in Iran are women. The restrictive and inhumane conditions against Baha'i women in Iran are rarely discussed, such as their imprisonment for their religion in a country that claims to be religious.
One example is Mahvash Sabet, a 71-year-old Baha'i teacher and poet, and one of the community's leaders in Iran, who has been imprisoned for years in Evin Prison despite severe heart disease, simply for being a Baha'i. In the most recent case, continuing the systematic oppression of Baha'is in Iran, Nazila Khanipour and her child, Vessal Heravi, were transferred last week to a prison in Rasht to serve their unjust sentences. This mother and child were convicted for possessing Baha'i religious books, posting images of Baha'i temples on social media, and writing a book about the history of the Baha'i faith in Gilan—charges that are nothing but an organized effort to erase the Baha'i religious identity from Iranian society.
These unjust verdicts once again demonstrate the depth of systemic discrimination and organized suppression against religious minorities, particularly Baha'is in Iran. Thousands of documents, reports, testimonies, photos, and videos have been collected on these issues. To date, hundreds of Baha'is in Iran have been executed for their religious affiliations, and dozens are currently imprisoned for the same reason. However, there is no precise data on how many of the 300,000-strong Baha'i community have been executed in Iran over the past four decades.
Shia clerics and Iranian regime intelligence organizations have always tried to shut down Baha'i institutions, oppress and destroy the Baha'i community, and demonstrate violence, continuing to harass them extensively, systematically, and relentlessly. With the instigation and provocation of Islamic jurists in the despotic regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Babis and Baha'is have been killed.
The primary reason for anti-Baha'i sentiment is that some religious scholars and the Islamic government insist on the baseless claim that no new religion should appear after Islam. They are concerned about diminishing their religious and governmental mafia.
Baha'is in the oppressive regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran are deprived of all kinds of civil and human rights and are suppressed, imprisoned, and executed. In other words, anti-Baha'ism and even conspiracies to completely destroy Baha'ism in current Iran are official policies.
The Islamic Republic regime authorities deliberately and severely deprive Baha'is of their fundamental rights and prosecute members of the Baha'i community for their religion. Authorities regularly trample the rights to education, employment, property, and even dignified burial for Baha'is.
Recently, after years, the international community has become aware of the violations against Baha'is and the severe repression they face in Iran, and the brutal actions of the government in Iran against Baha'i citizens are continually condemned. United Nations experts unanimously warn of the increasing multi-faceted repression against Baha'i women in Iran, as they are harassed both as followers of the Baha'i faith and as women.
From 1979 to the present, hundreds of Iranian Baha'is have been executed, murdered, or disappeared; thousands have been arrested, detained, and interrogated, and tens of thousands have been deprived of jobs, retirement, and educational opportunities.
Holy sites, cemeteries, and the properties of the Baha'i community have been confiscated, destroyed, or ruined; many homes and other properties of Baha'is have been confiscated, damaged, or looted. There is no news of Islamic justice and mercy. Even the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his 2016 report on human rights in Iran, named Baha'is the most persecuted religious minority in Iran.
In fact, the suppression of Baha'is by the Islamic Republic, especially after 1979, is enshrined in Iranian law and is an official government policy. Repressive policies and laws in Iran are zealously implemented by security forces and judicial authorities.
Fortunately, the Baha'i community in Iran is a spontaneous, dynamic, progressive, resilient, and peaceful community that continues to develop Baha'i teachings, establish a free scientific university for Baha'is deprived of education, and empower Baha'i women and girls. In the Baha'i faith, the equality of women and men is emphasized, and women participate in all social and administrative structures.
Interestingly, the Baha'i faith does not have religious clergy and manages its community affairs through systematically elected institutions based on the principles of consultation and collective decision-making. During the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, illiteracy among Baha'i women under forty was eradicated nationwide, but after 1979, Baha'i women were imprisoned for their humanitarian and educational activities, tortured, and even more than twenty of them were executed. With the occurrence of the Khomeini revolution, the Baha'i community in Iran suffered greatly, and many Baha'is left Iran. Many Iranian Baha'i emigrants experienced severe hardships and deprivations.
Baha'i women in Iran experience systematic human rights violations in all aspects of their lives, from education and employment to basic freedoms, and face increasing levels of structural, cultural, and physical violence from a government that has continued its repressions for over 45 years with impunity.