Research by Iran Prisons Atlas shows that during the past years, the amount of repression of citizens by the Islamic Republic has fluctuated and shows a significant relationship with social and political events. Meanwhile, the comparison of 227 cases opened against Baha’i citizens in two one-year periods before and after the beginning of the Women, Life, Freedom uprising shows: The repression of Baha’i citizens in Iran has a slow, rising, and constant course, and social events and political changes have less impact on the mechanism of repression of these citizens and only leads to an increase in the amount of repression; It is a trajectory that confirms the systemic suppression of Baha’is in Iran.

Four decades of the Islamic Republic’s animosity toward the Baha’i religion

The fight against the Baha’i religion and the suppression of its followers has a history as long as the life of the Islamic Republic. By naming a limited number of religions and faiths and removing the name of the Baha’i religion, the Islamic Republic’s constitution has practically deprived the followers of this religion even of the unequal rights enjoyed by other non-Shiite-Islamic religions. Although belief in the Baha’i religion is not criminalized in Iran’s legal laws, in practice, the Islamic Republic considers any organization of Baha’i citizens a security issue, and the followers of this religion are accused of forming and managing an illegal group or being a member of illegal groups and suppressed under articles 498 and 499 of the Islamic Penal Code.

It seems that the Islamic Republic’s conflict with the Baha’i religion is not due to the Baha’is being organized in a wide geographical area and the ability to mobilize its members, but it is due to the power of repulsion and totalitarianism of ideological systems. Basically, a religious ideological system bases its meaning on the negation of other religions and beliefs. The history of the suppression of religious minorities in Iran by the Islamic Republic also shows that the rejection of other religions and faiths by the Islamic Republic is relative, and in the case of Baha’is, it is absolute. Basically, after the arrest of seven members of the Yaran Iran group in 2007, who were involved in the administration and management of the Baha’i community in Iran, the organization of the Baha’is was dismantled inside the country, and the basis of suppressing the followers of the Baha’i religion based on their organization became invalid.

The mechanism of suppression of Baha’is in Iran is also different from other religious and faith-based minorities. The violation of Baha’i rights by the Islamic Republic is continuous, uninterrupted, and systematic. Based on the data from the data bank of Iran Prison Atlas since 2016, the events or the change of governments in Iran do not show a significant decrease in the repression of Baha’i citizens. However, despite the linear and continuous course of repression of Baha’is, the amount of this repression increases after some events or in certain periods.

June 2022; The beginning of a new round of oppression of Baha’i citizens

The review of the cases opened against Baha’i citizens in a year ending on September 16, 2022, shows that: from September 2021 to June 2022, summoning, arresting, issuing, and enforcing rulings against Baha’i citizens continued in a linear and slightly fluctuating manner. Nevertheless, at the beginning of June 2022, the suppression of Baha’i citizens experienced a new turning point. In the new round of repression of the followers of the Baha’i religion, the Islamic Republic arrested dozens of Baha’i citizens in different regions of Iran or searched their houses, the previous prison sentences of some of these citizens were enforced, the ruling of prison sentences against these citizens increased, and the agents attacked the village of “Roshankouh” and destroyed the houses of the Baha’i villagers.

According to the chronicle of Iran Prisons Atlas, the security forces of the Islamic Republic arrested at least eight Baha’i citizens in different cities and searched the homes of more than 20 Baha’is on July 31, 2022, alone. On this day, Afif Naimi and Saman Ostovar were arrested in Karaj, Mahvash Sabet, Fariba Kamalabadi, and Soha Sabeti in Tehran, Bahare Pazhgaleh in Shiraz, and Behnam Momtazi and Masoud Bahrami were arrested in Qazvin. In another example, on August 23, 2022, the 37th branch of the Court of Appeal of Fars Province sentenced 26 Baha’i citizens to a total of 76 years in prison and additional punishments in a joint case; A case in which the defendants were arrested in Shiraz in 2016 in a mass arrest of Baha’i citizens.

Based on the data bank of the Iran Prison Atlas, from September 2021 to September 16, 2022 (coinciding with the beginning of the uprising of women, life, freedom), 69 Baha’i citizens – including 30 women and 39 men – were convicted in the courts of the Islamic Republic or the sentences issued against them earlier were enforced. By applying Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code and considering the last sentence issued in each case, during this period a total of 136 years and six months of imprisonment were issued or enforced against these Baha’i citizens, one Baha’i was sentenced to imprisonment in exile, and at the same time, four others were sentenced to prison and condemned to exile. In the judgments issued against these 69 Baha’i citizens, 34 were also sentenced to additional punishments such as the ban on leaving the country, confiscation of personal belongings, etc.

The continuation of repression after the uprising of women, life, freedom; Intensification of repression on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the uprising

After the arrest of Zhina Amini by the agents of the Irshad (morality) patrol in Tehran and finally the death of this young woman who became the trigger of the women, life, freedom uprising, the Islamic Republic started a new round of repression of citizens. At the same time, the course of suppressing Baha’i citizens also continued its rising trend and this course continued in a constant and slightly fluctuating manner until July 2023.

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With the beginning of summer and with the approach of the anniversary of the death of Zhina Amini, a new round of security pressure, hate campaigns, arrests, sentencing, and execution of prison sentences against Baha’i citizens began. The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic announced the arrest of 9 Baha’i citizens; state media published a video in which Baha’i citizens were accused of disrupting the Iranian drug market; security forces arrested Jamaluddin Khanjani, a 90-year-old Baha’i citizen and a former political prisoner. At least 39 Baha’is were sentenced to prison or were arrested to serve their sentences, and the security agencies buried a number of deceased Baha’is in the Khavaran cemetery without informing their families and without observing Baha’i burial customs.

However, during the past four decades, Baha’i citizens have always experienced many problems regarding the burial of their fellow believers, and during this period, their cemeteries have been destroyed and confiscated many times, Baha’i graves have been disrespected, and even in some cases, Baha’i followers have been prohibited from visiting Baha’i cemeteries. But in the new round of repression of Baha’i citizens in the summer of 2023, the Islamic Republic took persecution of Baha’is to a new level by forcibly burying the deceased Baha’is in Khavaran cemetery, which is the burial place of prisoners executed in 1988. At the same time, the Islamic Republic arrested four Baha’i citizens in this connection and sentenced them to a total of 20 years in prison, and by forcibly burying the deceased Baha’is in the Khavaran cemetery, the Islamic Republic tried to distort people’s historical memory about the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners and destroy one of the important pieces of evidence of this brutal massacre. At the same time, in a way, this action can be considered pitting Iranian citizens against each other and creating tension between the families of the 80s litigants and Baha’i citizens.

Based on the IPA database, since September 16, 2022, the Islamic Republic of Iran has sentenced 70 Baha’i citizens, including 43 women and 27 men, to a total of 247 years and six months in prison and enforced their prison sentences. Of these, 16 Baha’i citizens have been sentenced to 104 billion and 820 million Rials in fines, 30 people have been sentenced to exile, and 34 citizens have been sentenced to other punishments in addition to prison sentences and fines.

Doubling the number of issued and enforced prison sentences after the uprising

The number of Baha’i citizens against whom a judicial case was filed in the year leading up to the women, life, freedom uprising (September 2021 to September 2022) and that IPA was able to collect data and verify them, were 113 cases, and the number of judicial cases opened against the Baha’is after September 16, 2022, until now, is 114 cases. At the same time, the number of Baha’i citizens who were sentenced to prison or their previous prison sentences were enforced in the period from September 2021 to September 2022, was 69 cases, with a total of 136 years and six months of prison sentences, and in the period since the beginning of the uprising until now, there have been 70 cases with a total of 247 years and six months. The statistics show that, although the number of filed cases and the number of convicted citizens is close in the two time periods; However, the total number of prison sentences issued and enforced against Baha’i citizens has almost doubled since the uprising.

In the 227 cases examined in the two time periods before and after the uprising of women, life, freedom, the results of which are reflected in this report, the most frequent accusations leading to the conviction of Baha’i citizens is “propaganda against the state”, which is subject to Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code, after that, it is “membership or formation and administration of illegal groups”, subject to articles 498 and 499 of the same law, then “assembly and collusion to act against national security”, subject to article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code, and finally “domination over another in the form of sects and propaganda contrary to the Sharia”, subject to article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code. In these legal articles, the prison sentence is determined between three months and 10 years. Considering the nearly doubling of prison sentences issued against Baha’i citizens in the period of about one year after the uprising of women, life, freedom, it seems that the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has consciously used legal articles that carry heavier prison sentences.

The most frequent cases of violation of the rights of Baha’i citizens who were arrested or imprisoned in the two periods investigated in this report were violations of fair trial, denial of access to a lawyer, denial of family visits, and psychological torture against the prisoners.

This statistical report has only narrated a part of the organized persecution of Baha’i citizens. The focus of this report is on the Baha’i citizens who have spent at least two weeks in detention and the judicial branch of the Islamic Republic has filed a case against them. But the extent and level of repression of Baha’i citizens are not limited to the statistics and events mentioned in this report. During the last four decades, along with discrimination and tolerance of illegal behavior due to their faith in their religion, Baha’is in Iran have experienced a new round of dehumanization and organized hatred every time after a new wave of repression. At the same time, the Islamic Republic’s reliance on the anti-Baha’i mentality of a part of the religious community and its social base has reduced the cost of suppression and persecution of the Baha’i citizens. Reducing the amount of crackdown and repression of Baha’is and increasing the cost of this repression for the Islamic Republic requires a public effort.