[PROVISIONAL TRANSLATION FROM PERSIAN]

[Translator’s notes appear in square brackets.]

[Personal information has been redacted.]

[The excerpt below is from the section of the article that pertains to the Baha’i Faith]

[Adapted from website:] IranWire

[Date:] 30 October 2025

From Home Searches and Arrests to Property Confiscation: Bahá’ís in October 2025

Kian Sabeti

The Bahá’í community in Iran faced the most severe judicial and security crackdowns of 2025 during the month of October. This pressure and persecution occurred even as António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, in his latest report, listed the persecution and suppression of Bahá’ís in Iran among the most serious global human rights concerns. Dozens of followers of the Bahá’í Faith were arrested, tried, or sentenced to prison this month. Home searches and confiscation of Bahá’í property also continued. Many young Bahá’ís were, as in previous years, denied access to higher education in Iranian universities. In addition, some Friday prayer leaders and state-affiliated media engaged in spreading lies and slander against Bahá’ís. A literary award call centred on anti-Bahá’í themes, and the publication of children’s and youth stories were among other actions aimed at inciting hatred against Bahá’ís during this month.

Issuance of Heavy Judicial Sentences for Bahá’ís

In October 2025, Revolutionary Courts sentenced at least 43 Bahá’í citizens to a total of 220 years in prison and summoned some for enforcement of their sentences. The issuance of such a large number of heavy sentences against Bahá’í citizens in a single month is unprecedented in recent years and indicates that the country’s judiciary, disregarding the Islamic Republic’s human rights violations dossier at the United Nations, has intensified judicial actions against Iranian citizens who follow the Bahá’í Faith.

According to published reports, Bahá’ís residing in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Hamadan, Shiraz, Qaemshahr, Semnan, Kerman, and Bukan have faced judicial proceedings and prison sentences. Most of these sentences were accompanied by supplementary punishments such as exile, fines, confiscation of personal belongings, and bans on using social media.

Roya Sabet was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Shahram Fallah to 13 years and six months, and Anisa Fanaian to eight years. Ten Bahá'í women residing in Isfahan received a total of 90 years in prison, and thirteen Bahá'í women living in Baharestan received a total of 26 years (one of them died in an accident before the verdict was announced). These are among the Bahá'ís sentenced in October 2025.

All convictions were based on their inner beliefs. Judicial authorities—including primary, parallel, and appellate courts—have broadly and unlawfully interpreted Articles 499 and 500 bis of the Islamic Penal Code, criminalizing any social or human interaction among Bahá’ís and sentencing them accordingly. Article 499 refers to membership in a group or association with the intent to disrupt national security. Revolutionary Court judges have equated being Bahá’í with membership in a group aimed at undermining national security and issued sentences on that basis.

Article 500 bis stipulates that “any educational or promotional activity that is deviant and contrary to the sacred law of Islam” is punishable. Being Bahá’í has led to any activity—even teaching mathematics to children—being deemed punishable simply because it was carried out by a Bahá’í individual.

According to various reports, some convicted Bahá’ís have been summoned to serve their sentences. Among those summoned was Agah Sadeghi, a Bahá’í citizen from Bukan in West Azerbaijan, who was transferred to Bukan Prison on 5 October to serve a one-year sentence.

Arrests and Home Searches of Bahá’í Citizens

Judicial and security actions against Bahá’ís in October were not limited to issuing sentences or summonses. According to reports, ten Bahá’í citizens were arrested during the month solely because of their religious beliefs, though details of their charges and detention periods remain unclear.

Details of these arrests are as follows:
On the morning of Tuesday, 20 October, in a coordinated and simultaneous raid, Ministry of Intelligence agents searched 22 homes and businesses belonging to Bahá’ís in Tehran, Sari, Shiraz, Semnan, and Zahedan. During this operation, six Bahá’ís—Hengameh Sharifinia, Fahim Agahi, Foad Abdolghaffari (in Tehran), Negar Misaghian and Shakib Farzan (in Shiraz), and Adib Rahmani (in Sari)—were arrested.

Prior to these arrests, other Bahá’ís were detained in various cities: Sonia Todiee in Babol on 12 October; Fardin Bangaleh and Afshin Haghighat in Shiraz on 14 October; and Jinous Mohammadnejad in Urmia on 14 October. All remain in detention without clear information.

Confiscation of Bahá’í Property in Isfahan

Economic pressure on Iranian Bahá’ís has existed in various forms since the Islamic Revolution. One method of economic persecution in the 1980s was confiscating the property of Bahá’ís solely because of their religious beliefs. In recent months, the Islamic Republic has once again resorted to this method to exert economic pressure on Bahá’ís.

In recent months, 22 Bahá’í citizens in Isfahan received text messages informing them of the confiscation of their assets. Their cases are being reviewed in Branch 49 by Judge Barati without their knowledge and without allowing lawyers access. Branch 49 of the Revolutionary Court is a specialized court that handles cases related to illicit wealth obtained through usury, seizure, embezzlement, bribery, and similar matters, and reportedly issues confiscation orders under Article 49 of the Constitution.

Arshia Rowhani, one of the 22 Bahá’ís mentioned, discovered after visiting Branch 49 in Isfahan that the court had issued a confiscation order for his shop without his knowledge or presence.

On 26 September 2025, Judge Barati verbally informed a Bahá’í family—Ataollah Jafari Naimi, Mehran Mehrabian, and Mitra Mehrabian (Mehran’s sister)—of the confiscation of their pistachio orchard. They had owned and cultivated this orchard for decades. The verbal ruling claimed that the orchard had been purchased with funds from the Bahá’í community to host Bahá’í meetings and classes. This claim formed the basis of the ruling despite no evidence being presented in court and the defendants’ lawyer being denied access to the case file.

Although the ruling only ordered confiscation of the orchard, on 30 September, while the Bahá’í family was harvesting pistachios, Ministry of Intelligence agents entered the property and seized all harvested produce. When the orchard owners approached Branch 49, Judge Barati told them that the proceeds from the sale of the produce would be deposited as collateral into the Judiciary’s account and would be returned if the confiscation order was overturned.

The above cases are two examples of economic persecution and oppression of Bahá’ís in the Islamic Republic. In reality, Bahá’í citizens face compounded economic discrimination in their homeland, both from state-imposed economic repression and from the everyday economic hardships shared by all Iranians.

A Political Prisoner’s Hunger Strike for the Release of a Bahá’í Prisoner

Nasim Simyari, a political prisoner and one of those arrested during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, announced in a note from Evin Prison that she would go on hunger strike until the unconditional release of Fariba Kamalabadi, the longest-imprisoned Bahá’í woman:

“I, Nasim Simyari… for Fariba and the thousands of days she has spent in captivity, for the suffering she endured, for years of steadfastness, patience, and resilience, until the unconditional freedom of my dear Fariba, a teacher from whom I learned so much, will remain on hunger strike.”

This political prisoner wrote that last week, while seven years of her sentence remained, Fariba was unexpectedly informed by her lawyer that she was to be released. She rejoiced and shed tears of happiness. “We called out to each other with joy and shared the good news with celebration.” On 23 September, her release was announced by a Judiciary representative, and she was told to prepare for departure within a week.

Nasim continued: “But the distance between Fariba’s joy, her family, her lawyers, and the women’s ward, and the pain of her continued imprisonment was only a few days. News came that her release had been cancelled.”

After ten days and with her health deteriorating, Nasim ended her hunger strike at the request of her fellow inmates in the women’s political ward of Evin Prison and following a letter from 76 civil activists.

Nasim wrote at the end of her strike:
“For me and my dear Fariba, enduring the days of imprisonment was not as hard as witnessing the injustice unfolding before our eyes. The pain of prison becomes unbearable only when faced with unanswered injustice. My strike arose from this pain—from the inability to remain silent in the face of what must never become normal.”

Fariba Kamalabadi is the longest-imprisoned Bahá’í in Iran. She has spent more than 13 years of her life in the prisons of the Islamic Republic. After serving ten years in prison, she was arrested again in July 2022 and sentenced to another ten years.