Mock executions, electric shocks and threats to send a three-year-old daughter to a state orphanage.

HOW IRANIAN AUTHORITIES ARE TORTURING BAHÁ'Í DETAINEES INTO FALSE CONFESSIONS

The Bahá'í International Community (BIC) confirmed today that Iranian authorities have tortured a young Bahá'í prisoner, Borna Naimi (29), subjecting him to mock executions, electric shocks, and threats against his three-year-old daughter to force false testimony about his own actions and those of his cousin, Peyvand Naimi, who is also being held in prison on trumped up charges. 

During his first days in prison, Borna was held in a special section of the prison called “the death suite” where death row prisoners are held for 48 hours before execution. Reports indicate that, during this time, he was held under solitary confinement in a small room about two-by-two metres in size, in such a way that he could not distinguish between night and day.

Borna Naimi, (29) is father of a three-year-old girl. He was arrested on 1 March 2026 at his workplace by six masked IRGC officers. The situation has caused great distress to his daughter - who thinks her father has abandoned her. Since his arrest he has endured: 

• Two mock executions.
• Repeated beating and electric shocks extensive enough to cause severe burns to his legs and feet.
• Being transferred several times to places near his residence, where he was pressured with threats concerning his wife and young daughter, including threats that his child would be sent to a state orphanage if he did not cooperate.
• Solitary confinement.
• A pre-written false confession was handed to him to sign, implicating both himself and his cousin Peyvand Naimi in murders committed after Peyvand was already in custody and while Borna was at home with his family.

For more than a month Borna Naimi's family stayed silent, afraid that speaking out would only make things worse. They have now decided the world must know.

Peyvand Naimi (30) was arrested on the morning of 8 January 2026. He has been accused of killing Basij officers. These killings took place when Peyvand was already in custody. He could not have committed the crime. Despite this, he has endured:

• Two mock hangings, during one of which the stool was nearly kicked from beneath his feet.
• 48 hours with hands and feet bound.
• Ten days of continuous torture, interrogation, and denial of food and water.
• Prolonged solitary confinement.
• A forced "confession" broadcast on Iranian state television on 1 February, extracted under duress.
• Damage to his physical and mental health for which prison officials deny him medical care.

Neither man has had any legal representation. No real evidence has been presented. The torture and threat of execution continues for both.

A PATTERN ACROSS FIVE DECADES

Under Iran's Islamic government (1979), Bahá'ís enjoy no rights of any sort and can be attacked and persecuted with impunity. Courts have ruled that Iranian citizens who kill or injure Bahá'ís are not liable for damages because their victims are considered "unprotected infidels." In subsequent decades, the government's anti-Bahá'í strategy shifted its focus to social, economic, and educational discrimination, evidently in an effort to mollify international critics. For 47 years, the Bahá'í community in Iran has faced systematic, state-sponsored persecution solely on the basis of their beliefs. Bahá'ís are continually denied fundamental rights and legal protections, and are subjected to:

• Arbitrary arrest and detention.
• Violent home and business raids.
• Confiscation of property and assets.
• Denial of access to universities and employment.
• Restrictions on burial rights.

"It is impossible to not feel immense heartache for the plight of this family, who have suffered such cruelty solely for their faith.” Simin Fahandej, Baha’i International Community representative to the United Nations, Geneva.

The Bahá'í International Community is an international non-governmental organisation representing the worldwide Bahá'í community at the United Nations.

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