The persecution of the Baha’i community in Iran has recently intensified sparking fears of further harassment from the government, a senior representative of the global Baha’i community said.
Principle Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations Bani Dugal said Baha’is are not recognized as a religious minority in Iran. She stressed that the community has no political or territorial aspirations. Baha’is are denied the right to freedom of worship and many Baha’i youth are not allowed to study in higher education institutions, Dugal said.
In an interview with The Media Line’s The International News Hour, Dugal said that over the past year she has noted an increase in arrests, confiscation of property, and general harassment of the community in Iran.
Also, a U.N. report recently revealed that Iran’s spiritual leader ‘Ali Khamanai has instructed the armed forces in the country to secretly monitor people who adhere to the Baha’i faith and collect information about them.
Dugal said there have also been reports that the Iranian association of chambers of commerce is compiling a list of Baha’is in every type of trade and employment. “Problems are being created for them to conduct an everyday livelihood,” she said.
The state-controlled Keyhan newspaper has run several articles defaming Baha’is, which may have dire consequences for the community. “We’re really worried that this may be a pattern that’s been put in place, a plan for something bigger to come,” Dugal said.
She is calling on U.N. member states which have diplomatic and trade relations with Iran to pressure Iranian authorities into granting Baha’is their rights.
The Bahai faith was founded in Iran in the middle of the 19th century and today numbers more than five million followers scattered across the globe. In Iran, the Baha’i community numbers some 300,000 people, constituting the largest religious minority in the country.