The Iranian Baha’i community has faced systematic repression, arrests, and nearly 1,500 years in prison sentences over the past five years, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
At least 284 Baha’is were arrested and 270 were summoned to security or judicial institutions in Iran between August 2020 and 2025, the US-based rights group said on Monday.
Other violations of Baha’i rights in Iran over the same period included 419 cases of home searches, 147 trials, 127 travel bans, 108 prison sentence enforcements, 106 denials of education and 57 restrictions on economic activities, it added.
The Bahaʼi faith emerged in nineteenth century Persia, challenging Islamic orthodoxy with its teachings on universal religion and progressive revelation.
Iranian authorities perceive it as a threat to religious and political control, calling it a false religion and a cult.
Over the past five years, 388 Baha’is in Iran have been sentenced by judicial or security institutions to a total of 17,948 months of imprisonment, HRANA reported, equivalent to 1,495 years and 8 months.
Additionally, 91 individuals were fined about 503 billion tomans ($12 million), and 103 were deprived of social rights. Twenty-five individuals were sentenced to 600 months of exile, HRANA said.
Imprisoned for being Baha’i
Many Baha’i prisoners received long-term sentences during this period, often without fair trial procedures and based on charges such as “propaganda against the regime” or “forming illegal groups.”
The figures include 17,324 months of mandatory imprisonment and 624 months of suspended sentences.
The HRANA report identified 2023 as the most repressive year, with 162 documented violations, and 2024 as having the highest number of arrests 76, and a total of 5,220 months of imprisonment.
Other forms of pressure
Beyond judicial prosecution, Baha’is in Iran face other forms of repression, including economic and educational exclusion, interference with burials, cemetery destruction, and property confiscation, HRANA reported.
The pressure and harassment have intensified in recent years, with Baha’is facing more security and judicial actions than any other religious minority in Iran.
Over the past three years, an average of 72% of all reported religious minority rights violations in Iran have targeted Baha’is, HRANA reported.
The 1979 constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes only Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as official religions.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has on several occasions called the Baha’i faith a cult, and in a 2018 religious fatwa, he forbade contact including business dealings with its followers.
Iran's ministry of Intelligence said last month it had made arrests targeting the Baha'i religious minority, evangelical Christians, foreign-based dissidents, Sunni Muslim jihadists, separatists, monarchists and media organizations acting in league with Israel as part of its post-war crackdown.
