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