Iran’s Baha’is face escalating persecution amid crackdown: What to know
The United Nations has expressed concern over persecution of Baha'is in Iran as arrests mount.
Fifteen members of Iran’s Baha'i religious community have faced legal prosecution this week, according to state media outlets and a rights watchdog, as international observers sound alarms about persecution facing the group.
Sharareh Rouhani was sentenced to five years in prison by an Isfahan court for the crime of "inciting people to war and conflict.” She received an additional year for spreading “propaganda against the regime.” Her husband, Farrokh Enayatipour, was sentenced to six months for the same crime, the Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported on Monday.
Rouhani and Enayatipour are from Isfahan, and the charges relate to their social media activity. They were first summoned in October of 2023 but later released on bail, according to Hengaw, a human rights organization that focuses on Iran’s Kurdish minority as well as other ethnic and religious groups in the country.
Sharareh Rouhani and Farrokh Enayati-Pour, a Bahá'í couple residing in Isfahan, have been sentenced to a total of six years and six months of imprisonment by Iran’s judicial system.
— Center for Human Rights in Iran (@ICHRI) January 28, 2025
Sharareh Rouhani was sentenced by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, presided over… pic.twitter.com/G523G8rLWh
On Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence service said that 13 members of the “misguided” Baha'i sect were arrested for proselytizing. The detainees “were acting illegally and were indirectly promoting their ideological deviation by exploiting children and adolescents,” according to the statement, which was carried by Iranian media.
