International outcry: Solidarity with persecuted Bahá’í women in Iran!

International outcry: Solidarity with persecuted Bahá’í women in Iran!

In Iran, the attacks on the Bahá’í community accept alarming proportions, especially against women of this religious minority. The Bahá’í are the largest non-Muslim religious group in Iran and have been systematically pursued since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. So report both ots.at href = "https://news.bahai.org/story/1755/"> news.bahai.org of a dramatic deterioration in the situation for Bahá’í women, the two thirds of all persecuted Bahá’í in Iran. They are exposed to arbitrary arrests, house searches and expropriations, which on January 22, 2025 led to a brutal raid and the arrest of eleven Bahá’í women in Isfahan.

international attention and support

The situation was treated on January 24, 2025 as part of the universal periodic review procedure (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Several UN member states, including Austria, demanded that Iran adapt its constitution to international human rights standards. Austria's representative emphasized the need that all religious minorities, including the Bahá’í, are recognized and their right to freedom of religion is observed. In a remarkable declaration of January 30, 2025, 125 members of the European Parliament and National Parliaments called for an end to the discrimination against Bahá’í and a comprehensive protection of their human rights.

The international community does not let Bahá’í down, and votes like that of Isma Forghani, human rights officer of the Bahá’í community in Austria, remind us that systematic persecution is not unnoticed. It is an urgent appeal that underlines the urgent need for measures and global solidarity.