Bahai activists say Iran intensifying persecution of community in wake of protests

PARIS, France — Iran is stepping up persecution of the Bahai, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, in the crackdown launched during protests that rocked the Islamic Republic, community representatives said Tuesday.

As well as arrests of Bahais, state television has broadcast “false accusations” against the community as well as “forced confessions” from arrestees, the Bahai International Community (BIC) said, in a statement.

The BIC, which represents the interests of the Bahai at the UN, said it is “alarmed by an increasing effort by the Iranian government to use Bahais as a scapegoat in a moment of national crisis.”

Over the past week, it said, state television has broadcast “false accusations” against the community, and the “confessions” of two arrested Bahais that it said were “manifestly obtained under pressure and coercion.”

This marks “a major escalation in the Iranian government’s campaign against the Bahai community,” it said.

“This has been accompanied by reports of an increase in the arrest and detention of Bahais across the country,” it added.

Unlike other non-Muslim minorities like Armenians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, the Bahais’ faith is not recognized by Iran’s constitution, and they have no reserved seats in parliament.

How many members of the community remain in Iran is unknown, but activists believe there could still be several hundred thousand.

The Bahai faith is a relatively young monotheistic religion with roots dating back to the early 19th century in Iran.

Members have repeatedly faced charges of being agents of Iran’s arch-foe Israel, which activists say are baseless.

The Bahais have a spiritual center in the northern city of Haifa, but its history dates back to before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Repression of the Bahais, 200 of whom were executed in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has varied in strength over the last four-and-a-half decades but has been in one of its most intense phases in recent years, community members and observers say.

The statement did not say how many Bahais have been arrested in recent weeks.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said that over 50,000 people have been arrested in total nationwide in the crackdown, which has left thousands dead. It has also counted over 300 “forced confessions” related to the protests.

“During every period of national crisis, whether social, economic, or political, the Iranian authorities consistently and systematically scapegoated the Bahais, said Simin Fahandej, BIC representative to the UN in Geneva.