Iran Continues Persecuting Members Of Baha’i Religious Minority

Amid the Iranian regime’s systematic persecution of the Baha’i religious minority, a Baha’i citizen has been sentenced to nine years in prison, as others languish in prison.

According to reports on Thursday, Tehran's Revolutionary Court headed by notorious Judge Abolqasem Salavati sentenced Kayvan Rahimian to five years of imprisonment, six years of the deprivation from social rights and a total fine of 500 million rials ($1,000). He was accused of engaging in “deviant education or propaganda activities that contradict or disrupt the sacred law of Islam.”

Moreover, he was handed down another 4-year sentence over the allegation of “assembling and conspiring to commit a crime against national security.”

Karimian has been in Evin Prison since July 18, 2023, when he was arrested by security forces. A translator, psychologist and professor at the Baha’i virtual university, he had already served a 5-year sentence for teaching young Baha’i students. He was released six years ago.

The Iranian regime has barred the Baha’i community, which it labels as heretics, from studying at universities and academic institutions.

Meanwhile, Nooshin Mesbah, another Iranian Baha’i citizen, has been taken to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad to serve her one-year sentence. She was convicted by Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court for her alleged membership in a group “aimed at undermining the order and security of the country.”

In December, the Baha'i International Community (BIC) issued a statement accusing Iran of employing brutal tactics to persecute the country's Baha'i religious minority.

Nine Iranian political prisoners warned in November that in the event of the expansion of the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict, the Iranian regime would intensify its crackdown against civil and political activists, women and student movements, as well as religious minorities such as the Baha'i community.