Iran arrests 10 Bahai women in ‘shocking’ raids, group says

Iranian authorities today arrested 10 women members of the Bahai community, a representative group says, warning of escalating repression against one of the country’s biggest non-Muslim religious minorities.

“Security forces arrested 10 Bahai women, without arrest warrants or prior notification, in a series of shocking home raids,” the Bahai International Community (BIC), which represents at the United Nations the interests of faith members worldwide, says in a statement.

It says security agents scaled walls, coerced neighbors, and even posed as utility workers to force entry into the women’s homes, “subjecting them to distressing and invasive searches.”

The women face charges including participation in conducting “deviant” educational and propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law.

“The Iranian government has once again shown its true face,” says Simin Fahandej, BIC representative at the UN in Geneva, calling the raids “yet another senseless act against women who are completely innocent.”

“Their so-called ‘crime’ was to serve their local communities, and now the Iranian government has detained them in violent home raids,” she says.