Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former member of parliament and seasoned political activist, has come under fierce criticism for meeting with leaders of Iran’s Baha’i religious community. Political activism rarely makes Iranian news, but with Faezeh being the daughter of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran and a pillar of the Islamic Republic, this story is especially scandalous in Iran.

The controversy began when Faezeh appeared in a picture with Fariba Kamalabadi, her former cellmate at Tehran’s Evin prison and a Baha’i activist, sitting among other activists and leaders of Iran’s Baha’i community. Kamalabadi was on furlough from prison when the picture was taken last week. Faezeh had spent six months in Evin for protesting the 2009 presidential election results. She later defiantly described her imprisonment as the “best time of my life” because it had “opened another world” to her.

The picture of Faezeh with the Baha’i leaders circulated widely on social media. Users praised Faezeh for bringing attention to a persecuted minority. With all the media attention, however, came blowback from Iranian officials, including Faezeh's father. “Faezeh made a bad mistake and needs to correct it and make up for it,” said Ayatollah Rafsanjani on May 15. “The misguided Baha’i sect is a colonially built sect and deviant.”

The strongest criticism came from Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a leading religious figure in Qom and a source of emulation. “From a religious point of view, strengthening the enemies of Islam is a crime, and the criminal can be pursued,” said Makarem Shirazi May 16, referring to the Baha’is. “We are opposed to them not only because of their enmity with Islam, but because this misguided sect are agents of America and Israel.” The Baha’i World Center, the administrative center for the group, is located in Haifa, Israel, which makes it a constant target of Iranian officials.