Peyvand Naimi has been sitting in an Iranian prison for more than six months, accused of killing government security agents during nationwide protests. His family says no formal charges have been filed and no evidence has been presented against him. According to the family, when they pressed for his release, a prosecutor bluntly told them it would never happen — referring to Naimi only by his religion. “The Baha’is will not be released,” the family says it was told.
The Baha’i faith traces its roots to 19th-century Persia — the land that is now Iran — and its followers there have faced persecution throughout history, with the crackdowns typically growing harsher during times of national crisis.
This year has proven to be no exception. With massive anti-government protests sweeping the country and war with the United States and Israel underway, the Islamic Republic has launched one of its most aggressive campaigns yet against Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, according to human rights organizations.
Since January, dozens of Baha’is have been locked up solely because of their faith, rights groups say. During raids on Baha’i family homes, authorities have desecrated holy books and religious symbols — actions that rights organizations say reveal the sectarian nature of the crackdown. Those taken into custody have reportedly endured abuse ranging from electric shocks to mock hangings, and some have been forced to confess to crimes that carry the death penalty.
The intensified targeting of Baha’is is part of a broader wave of repression across Iran. Nationwide protests that erupted in late December triggered the deadliest response by Iranian security forces since the Islamic Republic came to power in 1979, with thousands killed and tens of thousands reportedly arrested.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry and its United Nations spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for comment on the treatment of Baha’is.
The government’s targeting of Baha’is — who account for less than 1% of Iran’s population — is carried out openly. State television and government-linked social media accounts routinely accuse Baha’is of being foreign spies and blame them for Iran’s economic problems.
“Every time there is a crisis — social, economic, or political — shift the blame to the Baha’is,” said Simin Fahandej, who represents the international Baha’i community at the United Nations. “And this (year’s) protest and the war have also been no different.”
Although many Baha’is practice their faith in secret, the Iranian government actively encourages citizens to report neighbors who are known or suspected to follow the religion, which Iran’s ruling clerics consider immoral.
“Much of this portrayal stems from theological hostility,” said Omid Ghaemmaghami, an associate professor of Middle East Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He and other experts noted that using Baha’is as scapegoats also serves a broader purpose — instilling fear and compliance among the wider Iranian population.
Naimi was taken into custody at his workplace on the afternoon of January 8 by agents from Iran’s intelligence ministry, his family says. The family insists he had no involvement in the anti-government protests. Amnesty International says the killings of three Basij agents — the crimes Naimi is accused of — occurred during January 8 protests in Kerman after he had already been arrested. The government has not released any details about the alleged killings.
On February 1, Iranian state television aired a clip of Naimi appearing to admit involvement in the protests. His family says the confession was obtained under duress.
Authorities also accused Naimi of “celebrating” from his prison cell the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the early stages of the Iran war, according to the Baha’i International Community. The organization said Naimi had no access to any communications at that time and “no knowledge” of Khamenei’s death.
Naimi told his family by phone that he was held in solitary confinement at Kerman Central Prison for more than two months, according to Fahandej.
His cousin, Emilia Nazari, said a judge ordered Naimi’s release on March 7, but he was never let go. In the days that followed, family members went to the prosecutor’s office every day for over a week demanding his freedom. That is when the prosecutor reportedly told them it would never happen — and identified Naimi only by his religion.
When his parents visited him in late March, he told them he had been subjected to ten days of harsh treatment, including being denied food, Nazari said. In mid-May, the family learned he had been moved out of solitary confinement and into the general prison population at Kerman, Nazari added.
The Baha’i faith was established in the 1860s by a Persian nobleman known as Baha’u’llah, whom followers regard as a prophet. His teachings held that all world religions represent successive stages in the unfolding of God’s will, ultimately pointing toward the unity of all people and faiths.
There are more than 5 million Baha’is around the world, according to Harvard University’s The Pluralism Project. The majority live in Asia, with the largest single community located in India.
Baha’is also face persecution in Egypt, Qatar, and Yemen, but the worst treatment occurs in Iran, where Shiite Muslim clerics have viewed the faith as heretical since its earliest days.
Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, large numbers of Baha’is fled Iran amid arrests, executions, property confiscations, and bans on education and employment. Some remained, and others returned in the decades that followed. An estimated 300,000 Baha’is currently live in Iran, a country with a population exceeding 90 million.
Many Baha’is feel a sense of calling to remain in Iran, said Sheyda Kamran, a professor at the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. Even while living in fear, her students often ask how they can support fellow Iranians who are grieving losses from the protests and war. “They have a goal,” she said. “That is the only way they can survive.”
The crackdown on Baha’is — and on Iranians broadly — grew even more severe after the United States and Israel launched the war in late February.
As of June 11, the Baha’i International Community says at least 63 Baha’is were being held in Iranian prisons, though the organization acknowledges the number is likely an undercount, as some families are afraid to speak out.
Most of those detained are being held without any known charges, while others face accusations of spreading “propaganda against the regime” or engaging in acts deemed “contrary to Islamic law,” according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Iranian television outlets and social media accounts have amplified anti-Baha’i messaging in recent months, accusing followers of working with Israel to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
In May, a public exhibition in the northern Mazandaran province depicted Baha’is as enemies of the state, according to IRNA, Iran’s state-run news agency. A representative of Iran’s supreme leader who attended the exhibition, Mohammad Baqer Mohammadi Laini, called Baha’is “spies” and said they should be prohibited from owning property, according to the semiofficial news agency Tasnim.
The very public nature of the harassment suggests the real goal is to spread fear throughout Iranian society, said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, founder of Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based organization. “I think it’s part of the general intensification of the repression in Iran,” he said.
In April, Behzad Basiri was arrested by Revolutionary Guard agents at his home in Shiraz with no charges given, according to his family, which said Baha’i holy books were torn apart during the raid. His wife, Mandana Sotoudeh, was arrested the same day at her parents’ home, and her sister, Mahsa Sotoudeh, had been detained three days earlier.
Basiri was released on bail on May 6. His wife and sister-in-law were released on bail on July 1, the family said.
Basiri’s sister, Roya, who lives in Canada, said some family members chose to remain in Iran out of love for their country and hope for a better future. “They’re paying the heavy price for that choice,” she said.
