Bahá'í families in Iran have been terrorised as government agents raided their homes and businesses on November 22nd last.  Just hours into a 15-day national lockdown imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19 over a hundred government agents simultaneously raided the shops and homes of Bahá'ís all across Iran.  

The agents who barged into Bahá'í homes confiscated phones, computers and books and demanded that the Bahá'ís hand over their property deeds.  Witnesses reported that the government officials ignored their own health protocols as they raided the homes of law-abiding people, including those with young children, the elderly and the sick.  

 In July, more than 70 Irish politicians, doctors and experts signed a statement calling on the Iranian authorities to stop arresting and imprisoning Bahá'ís.  Similarly, less than a week before the raids took place, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the government of Iran to observe the rights of all their citizens, including Bahá'ís.  In the past few months, politicians all over Europe - including Ireland - have called on the Iranian government to end their persecution of Bahá'ís.  The Iranian government has clearly chosen to ignore these calls to end this systemic and systematic persecution of their own citizens.  

 “The coordinated raids against so many Bahá'ís represents a gross violation of the basic human rights of Bahá'í citizens without any grounds except religious prejudice…invading these homes, seizing numerous items, and demanding property deeds, may signal that the authorities are mobilizing to confiscate properties belonging to Bahá'ís on an even more concerted and widespread scale,” said Diane Ala’i, Representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the United Nations in Geneva. "Iranians of good conscience know that the Bahá'ís only wish is to contribute to the progress of Iran and that they are innocent.  The Bahá'ís are being terrorized, threatened with asset seizures, and treated like criminals, but who has committed the crime here?  The innocent Bahá'ís or the authorities who have raided their homes without legal justification?”  

Bahá'í families in Iran have been terrorised as government agents raided their homes and businesses on November 22nd last. Just hours into a 15-day national lockdown imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19 over a hundred government agents simultaneously raided the shops and homes of Bahá'ís all across Iran.  

The agents who barged into Bahá'í homes confiscated phones, computers and books and demanded that the Bahá'ís hand over their property deeds.  Witnesses reported that the government officials ignored their own health protocols as they raided the homes of law-abiding people, including those with young children, the elderly and the sick.  

 In July, more than 70 Irish politicians, doctors and experts signed a statement calling on the Iranian authorities to stop arresting and imprisoning Bahá'ís. Similarly, less than a week before the raids took place, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the government of Iran to observe the rights of all their citizens, including Bahá'ís.  In the past few months, politicians all over Europe - including Ireland - have called on the Iranian government to end their persecution of Bahá'ís.The Iranian government has clearly chosen to ignore these calls to end this systemic and systematic persecution of their own citizens.  

 “The coordinated raids against so many Bahá'ís represents a gross violation of the basic human rights of Bahá'í citizens without any grounds except religious prejudice…invading these homes, seizing numerous items, and demanding property deeds, may signal that the authorities are mobilizing to confiscate properties belonging to Bahá'ís on an even more concerted and widespread scale,” said Diane Ala’i, Representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the United Nations in Geneva. "Iranians of good conscience know that the Bahá'ís only wish is to contribute to the progress of Iran and that they are innocent.  The Bahá'ís are being terrorized, threatened with asset seizures, and treated like criminals, but who has committed the crime here? The innocent Bahá'ís or the authorities who have raided their homes without legal justification?” 

Background

Background

The Baha'is are Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority and have been systematically persecuted by the government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
More than 200 Baha'is were executed in the years after the Islamic Revolution.

The Baha'is are Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority and have been systematically persecuted by the government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.  More than 200 Baha'is were executed in the years after the Islamic Revolution.

A 1991 policy document signed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for the progress and development of Iran’s Baha'i community to be “blocked” and for Baha'is to be denied education and livelihoods.  Thousands of articles of propaganda against the Baha'is are published in Iran’s state media each year.

A 1991 policy document signed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for the progress and development of Iran’s Baha'i community to be “blocked” and for Baha'is to be denied education and livelihoods.  Thousands of articles of propaganda against the Baha'is are published in Iran’s state media each year.