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Religious Freedom

Tehran International Book Fair Features Anti-Baha’i Literature by State-Funded Groups

Tehran International Book Fair Features Anti-Baha’i Literature by State-Funded Groups

May 16, 2018

State-funded publishers at Iran’s May 2018 Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) were permitted to offer dozens of books disparaging the Baha’i faith, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.  “There were three different booths at this year’s TIBF ...

“You Know What Your Problem Is:” Young Man Expelled From Iranian University For His Baha’i Faith

“You Know What Your Problem Is:” Young Man Expelled From Iranian University For His Baha’i Faith

May 14, 2018

A young man has been expelled from the University of Gilan in northern Iran because of his Baha’i faith in another example of Iranian universities discriminating against students for their religious beliefs without consequences.   A source close to Arash Razavian told the Center for Human ...

Baha’i Leader’s 10-Year Prison Sentence Extended Despite Judicial Ruling That He Is Too Ill to Be Incarcerated

Baha’i Leader’s 10-Year Prison Sentence Extended Despite Judicial Ruling That He Is Too Ill to Be Incarcerated

May 13, 2018

Afif Naeimi, the seventh and last imprisoned member of Baha’i leaders in Iran known as the Yaran, returned to Rajaee Shahr Prison near Tehran on April 23, 2018, at the end of his medical ...

Lawyer: Dervish Bus Driver Could be Executed in “3 or 4 Days” Despite Innocence Plea

Lawyer: Dervish Bus Driver Could be Executed in “3 or 4 Days” Despite Innocence Plea

May 11, 2018

Mohammad Salas, a Sufi bus driver convicted in Iran of running over three policemen in the capital city of Tehran, could be hanged in a “few days” despite arguing that he caused the deaths by accident. “News that the execution has been ...

Christian Property in Iran to Be Taken Over by Supreme Leader’s Organization

Christian Property in Iran to Be Taken Over by Supreme Leader’s Organization

March 29, 2018

Very few photographs exist online of Sharon Gardens, a large and valuable piece of real estate located in the Iranian city of Karaj that has been confiscated from its Christian owners. Sharon Gardens, a valuable ...

Sixth Baha’i Faith Leader Completes 10-Year Prison Sentence in Iran

Sixth Baha’i Faith Leader Completes 10-Year Prison Sentence in Iran

March 20, 2018

Vahid Tizfahm and his wife, Furuzandeh Nikumanesh, reunited after his 10-year imprisonment. Press Release by Baha'i International Community 20 March 2018 Sixth member of the Yaran completes his imprisonment GENEVA – Mr. Vahid Tizfahm completed his 10-year sentence yesterday. At 44, he is ...

Shiite Mystic Sentenced to Another Five Years Imprisonment in Iran

Shiite Mystic Sentenced to Another Five Years Imprisonment in Iran

March 8, 2018

Death Sentence Struck Down Twice by Supreme Court Mohammad Ali Taheri, the founder of a mystical Shiite spiritual group in Iran, has been sentenced to five years in prison for a second time, this time for the charge of “corruption on earth,” his lawyer ...

Tehran Police Chief Says Man Accused of Killing Policemen Will Be “Punished by Hanging”

Tehran Police Chief Says Man Accused of Killing Policemen Will Be “Punished by Hanging”

March 5, 2018

The alleged driver of a bus that was driven into three policemen and two members of the Basij volunteer militia, killing them all during recent clashes between the police and Sufi followers of the Gonabadi Order...

Baha’i Leader Spent 10 Years in Prison, Authorities Incapable of Producing Any Evidence of Wrongdoing Throughout

Baha’i Leader Spent 10 Years in Prison, Authorities Incapable of Producing Any Evidence of Wrongdoing Throughout

March 1, 2018

Oppression Has Failed to Break Our Commitment to Our Faith, Says Leader The Islamic Republic of Iran has failed to suppress Baha’is by putting their leaders behind bars and denying them rights as equal citizens, according to a former leader of the persecuted community ...

Dozens of Gonabadi Dervishes Hospitalized in Tehran as Friday Prayer Leaders Demand Harsh Retribution

Dozens of Gonabadi Dervishes Hospitalized in Tehran as Friday Prayer Leaders Demand Harsh Retribution

February 26, 2018

Approximately 170 members of the Sufi Gonabadi Order known in Iran as the Gonabadi Dervishes have been hospitalized in Tehran following clashes with the police and security forces, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) ...

Iranians Debate Use of Violence Against Security Forces After Clashes With Sufi Gonabadis Leave Three Dead

Iranians Debate Use of Violence Against Security Forces After Clashes With Sufi Gonabadis Leave Three Dead

February 21, 2018

Clashes among members of a predominantly peaceful minority faith in Iran and security forces have resulted in a discussion on social media among Iranians about the use of violence as a form of self-defense. “Mr. Dervish! There is no common ground between peaceful ...

Tehran Police Open Fire on Sufi Gonabadi Protesters as Clashes Leave Several Dead

Tehran Police Open Fire on Sufi Gonabadi Protesters as Clashes Leave Several Dead

February 20, 2018

A protest by followers of Iran’s Muslim Sufi Gonabadi Order was attacked with police fire and tear gas near the home of the faith’s spiritual leader, Nour Ali Tabandeh, in Tehran on February 19, ...

25 Legal Experts Urge Iranian Official to Address “Public Archive” of Abuses Against Baha’is

25 Legal Experts Urge Iranian Official to Address “Public Archive” of Abuses Against Baha’is

February 10, 2018

Twenty-five professors, lawyers and judges from around the world have called on the head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani, to address documented human rights violations against members of the Baha'i faith in Iran compiled on a newly launched website. "The persecution of ...

Imprisoned Iranian-American Art Dealer Accuses IRGC of Judicial Interference

Imprisoned Iranian-American Art Dealer Accuses IRGC of Judicial Interference

February 6, 2018

Karan Vafadari: “I don’t think we will be justly treated unless there is greater and more effective international pressure.” Karan Vafadari Arrested After ...

Hardline Judge Keeps Iranian-American and Wife in Jail by Imposing $27 Million Bail

Hardline Judge Keeps Iranian-American and Wife in Jail by Imposing $27 Million Bail

February 3, 2018

Family Meets Bail for Wife, but Judge Still Refuses to Release Her The judge presiding over the case of imprisoned Iranian-American gallery owners Karan Vafadari and his wife Afarin Neyssari has deliberately imposed an extraordinarily heavy bail to prevent them from being released pending their ...

Iranian-American Zoroastrian Denounces 27-Year “Unjust” Prison Sentence in Letter From Prison

Iranian-American Zoroastrian Denounces 27-Year “Unjust” Prison Sentence in Letter From Prison

January 30, 2018

Update: The couple's sentence was later reduced to 15 years for Karan Vafadari and 10 years for Afarin Nayssari. In a letter from Evin Prison obtained by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), Iranian-American dual national Karan Vafadari...

Iranian Pastor’s Wife Sentenced to Five Years in Prison For “Acting Against National Security”

Iranian Pastor’s Wife Sentenced to Five Years in Prison For “Acting Against National Security”

January 29, 2018

Judge Ahmadzadeh Has Sentenced 16 Christians to Prison In Less Than A Year Shamiram Isavi, the wife of Victor Bet Tamraz, who formerly led Iran’s Assyrian Pentecostal Church, has been sentenced to five years in prison. “As far as we ...

Iranian Sunni Cleric Faces Travel Restrictions: “It All Comes Down to Intolerance”

Iranian Sunni Cleric Faces Travel Restrictions: “It All Comes Down to Intolerance”

January 29, 2018

Iranian Officials have imposed travel restrictions on one of the country’s highest-ranking Sunni clerics, Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi. Regardless of how much he attempts to ...

Imprisoned Baha’i Teacher Told to Repent in Exchange for Furlough

Imprisoned Baha’i Teacher Told to Repent in Exchange for Furlough

January 5, 2018

The authorities of Evin Prison have told imprisoned Baha’i educator Azita Rafizadeh that she will only be considered for furlough if she apologizes for teaching online classes to members of her ...

Iranian-Jewish Worshippers Find Two Synagogues Ransacked and Vandalized in Shiraz

Iranian-Jewish Worshippers Find Two Synagogues Ransacked and Vandalized in Shiraz

December 28, 2017

Unidentified assailants attacked two synagogues in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz on December 24 and 25, 2017, and destroyed or desecrated religious items, according to Sam Kermanian, an adviser to the Los Angeles-based Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF). ...

Baha’is Still Misunderstood in Iran, Says Former Leader After Serving 10 Years in Prison

Baha’is Still Misunderstood in Iran, Says Former Leader After Serving 10 Years in Prison

December 21, 2017

Baha’i leader Behrouz Tavakkoli has spoken out about the Iranian government’s “misunderstandings” about his minority faith. Tavakkoli spoke to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on December 15, 2017, 11 days after his release from ...

Judge Demands Political Prisoner Mohammad Ali Taheri Pick Lawyer from Judiciary’s List

Judge Demands Political Prisoner Mohammad Ali Taheri Pick Lawyer from Judiciary’s List

December 14, 2017

Judge Salavati Often Assigned to Issue Harsh Sentences in Political Cases The judge who will re-sentence imprisoned spiritual thinker Mohammad Ali Taheri for the charge of “corruption on earth” has demanded that Taheri use an attorney approved by the judiciary. “Unfortunately, the ...

Two Iranian Officials Publicly Break Rank and Discuss Discriminatory Policies Against Baha’is

Two Iranian Officials Publicly Break Rank and Discuss Discriminatory Policies Against Baha’is

December 7, 2017

Iranian officials are beginning to broach the previously taboo topic of religious discrimination in Iran. On the same day, two government officials publicly discussed discriminatory policies against Baha’is, one of Iran’s most severely persecuted minority faiths. “Today we have students being illegally ...

Reformist MPs Call on Science Ministry to Allow “Starred” Student Activists to Attend University

Reformist MPs Call on Science Ministry to Allow “Starred” Student Activists to Attend University

December 6, 2017

Students accused of engaging in peaceful activism continue to be banned from attending university in Iran despite President Hassan Rouhani’s election campaign promise that he would lift the ban. On November 30, ...

Intelligence Ministry Pressures Two Sunni Rouhani Campaign Managers to Halt Peaceful Advocacy Efforts

Intelligence Ministry Pressures Two Sunni Rouhani Campaign Managers to Halt Peaceful Advocacy Efforts

November 22, 2017

Within the course of the same week, two Sunni Muslim politicians were warned by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry to stop advocating for Sunni Muslims rights, especially the inclusion of Sunnis in the president’s cabinet ...

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