Iranian authorities are stepping up the use of courts and security agencies to target members of the Baha’i community through prison sentences, arbitrary detention and property seizures, the Baha’i International Community and Human Rights Watch said.
“Iranian authorities are relentlessly persecuting Baha’is, depriving them of the most basic human rights in what amounts to ongoing crimes against humanity – solely because of their faith,” said Human Rights Watch Iran researcher Bahar Saba, quoted in the statement.
The groups said the crackdown intensified after the Israel-Iran war in June and involved arrests, interrogations, unfair trials and asset confiscation.
Between June and November, the Baha’i International Community recorded more than 750 cases of harassment across Iran, three times the number in the same period last year. The incidents included more than 200 raids on homes and businesses and the arrest of at least 110 Baha’is. Courts issued prison sentences of between two and ten years, including against mothers separated from young children.
“A justice system that should deliver fairness and neutrality instead serves as a weapon of persecution,” said Simin Fahandej, the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the UN in Geneva.
EU pressure builds over Iran record
The statements follow moves in Europe to raise pressure on Tehran. In April, the EU imposed sanctions on parts of Iran’s judiciary and several judges and prosecutors over human rights violations, including the persecution of Baha’is.
Last month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging EU governments to sanction Iranian officials involved in abuses against the Baha’i community and to press for the release of those jailed for their beliefs.
Iran does not recognize the Baha’i faith, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, which rights groups say has faced sustained repression since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
