There are around 300,000 Baha’is in Iran, where the Baha’i faith originated. They face tremendous persecution.

The U.S. State Department reported that in 2022, “in July and August, security forces in cities across the country conducted multiple raids of Baha’i homes, confiscated property deemed ‘illegitimate wealth,’ and arrested Baha’is in their homes or workplaces on unsubstantiated charges including ‘causing intellectual and ideological insecurity in Muslim society.’ In October, the organization Baha’is of the United States stated that more than 1,000 Baha’is were being held within the criminal justice system.”

“Iran: Experts alarmed at systematic targeting of Baha’i women,” ReliefWeb, December 23, 2024:

GENEVA – Independent human rights experts* today expressed serious concern at what appears to be an increase in systematic targeting of women belonging to the Baha’i religious minority throughout the country.

The experts said that Baha’i women were being targeted through arrests, summoning for interrogation, enforced disappearance, raids on homes, confiscation of personal belongings, limitations on freedom of movement and prolonged consecutive deprivations of liberty.

Baha’i women comprise two-thirds of all Baha’i prisoners in Iran, with a significant number being held without due process and with their whereabouts unknown.

“In the larger context of the targeting of women in Iran and the challenges with gender equality, this dramatic rise in persecution against Baha’i women is an alarming escalation,” the experts said. “This is affecting a group of people who face intersectional discrimination and persecution: as women and as members of the Baha’i religious minority,” they said….