Members of the Baháʼí Faith have been persecuted in various countries, especially in Iran, the location of one of the largest Baháʼí populations in the world. The Baháʼí Faith originated in Iran, and represents the largest religious minority in that country. Since the later part of the 20th century many third party organizations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, the European Union, and the United States have made statements denouncing the persecution of Baháʼís asking that human rights be maintained. Members of the Baháʼí community in Iran have been subjected to unwarranted arrests, false imprisonment, beatings, torture, unjustified executions, confiscation and destruction of property owned by individuals and the Baháʼí community, denial of employment, denial of government benefits, denial of civil rights and liberties, and denial of access to higher education.

General

United Nations

The United Nations and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has published reports on the persecution of the Baháʼís since the Iranian Revolution in 1979; in every year since 1984, except for 2002, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has passed a resolution expressing concern about human rights violations against the Baháʼís in Iran. The Special Representative on Iran, Professor Galindo Pohl, Canadian Jurist and UBC Law Professor, Maurice Copithorne, and the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Professor Abdu'l Fatah Amor, have all reported on the persecutions that the Baháʼís have faced in Iran. Throughout the years the Commission has written:

1995: "... the Baháʼís, whose existence as a viable religious community in the Islamic Republic of Iran is threatened ..."United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. E/CN.4/RES/1995/68, 1995. 1997: "... the grave breaches of the human rights of the Baháʼís in the Islamic Republic of Iran ..."United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. E/CN.4/RES/1997/54, 1997. 1999: "... the unabated and, in some instances, worsened pattern of persecution against the Baháʼís, including death sentences, executions, arrests and the closure of the Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education ..."United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. E/CN.4/RES/1999/13, 1999. 2000: "... unabated pattern of persecution against the Baháʼís ..."United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world. E/CN.4/2000/L.16, 2000. 2001: "... its concern at the still-existing discrimination against persons belonging to minorities, in particular against Baháʼís ..."United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. E/CN.4/RES/2001/17, 2001. 2004: "... the Committee has noted discriminatory practices against the members of the Baháʼí[sic] in education [and] the Government provides no new information on the situation of the Baháʼí[sic] in terms of access to university and institutes of higher learning ..."United Nations. Islamic Republic of Iran: Convention No. 111: Discrimination (Employment and Occupation), 1958. In Report of the Committee on Excerpts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendation . Equality of Opportunity and Treatment, 2004. January 2004: "The situation of the Baháʼís is also a cause of concern for the Special Rapporteur. Members of the Baháʼí community are barred from expressing themselves as Baháʼí. The Baháʼí community are routinely harassed, arrested and sometimes sentenced to long periods of imprisonment either for apostasy or association with Baháʼís institutions"Ambeyi Ligabo. Report Submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo. Addendum: Mission to the Islamic Republic of Iran. In UN Commission on Human Rights. Civil and Political Rights, including the question of freedom of expression E/CN.4/2004/62/Add.2, January 12, 2004. March 2005: "... individuals in the city of Babul began to destroy a property with great religious significance to the Baháʼí community worldwide ... . Despite attempts to protect the site, it was reported that the demolition of the rest of the structure had continued gradually and quietly, in a manner designed not to attract attention. ... the reported discrimination faced by certain minorities, including the Baháʼís, who are deprived of certain rights ... appear to be discriminatory on both ethnic and religious grounds."United Nations. Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir Addendum: Summary of cases transmitted of Governments and replies received. In UN Commission on Human Rights. Civil and Political Rights, Including the Question of Religious Intolerance E/CN.4.2005/61/Add.1, March 2005. March 2005: "... it continues to be concerned at reports that these minorities, in particular the Baháʼí minority, are subjected to harassment, intimidation and imprisonment on account of their religious beliefs" July 2005: "Information collected by the Special Rapporteur seems to indicate the existence of a number of cases of confiscation of Baháʼí property ..." November 2005: "... the escalation and increased frequency of discrimination and other human rights violations against the Baháʼí[sic], including cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, the denial of freedom of religion or of publicly carrying out communal affairs, the disregard of property rights, the destruction of sites of religious importance, the suspension of social, educational and community-related activities and the denial of access to higher education, employment, pensions, adequate housing and other benefits ...". The United Nations "calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ... to ensure equality before the law and the equal protection of the law without any discrimination in all instances, including for members of religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minority groups, officially recognized or otherwise ... . To eliminate, in law or in practice, all forms of discrimination based on religious, ethnic or linguistic grounds, and other human rights violations against persons belonging to minorities, including Arabs, Kurds, Baluchi, Christians, Jews, Sunni Muslims and the Baháʼí[sic], and to address this matter in an open manner, with the full participation of the minorities themselves, to otherwise ensure full respect for the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief of all persons, and to implement the 1996 report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on religious intolerance, which recommended ways the Islamic Republic of Iran could emancipate the Baháʼí[sic] community."United Nations (2005-11-02) Human rights questions: human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives General Assembly, Sixtieth session, Third Committee. A/C.3/60/L.45

Amnesty International Amnesty International has also documented the persecution of the Baháʼí community in Iran. It has written:

1993: "Serious human rights violations persist in Iran. Real or imagined political opponents are targeted, along with religious minorities such as Baháʼís" 1996: "At least 201 have been executed, most during the 1980s and apparently in connection with their religious beliefs. Baháʼís are not permitted to meet, to hold religious ceremonies or to practice their religion communally. Baháʼí buildings, sites and centres have been confiscated and closed; private and business property of individual Baháʼís has been confiscated, and Baháʼís have been dismissed from government posts and schools" 1998: "Amnesty International unreservedly condemns the execution of Ruhullah Rouhani and fears that he was executed for the non violent expression of his beliefs. Amnesty International currently knows of seven cases of Baháʼí prisoners under the sentence of death and is calling for commutation of these and all other death sentences without delay"

European Union

The European Union in the 2004 EU Annual Report on Human Rights wrote:

Then in a speech given at the European Parliament in October 2005 on behalf of the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, Jan Figel said:

United States government The United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor stated in the 2004 Report on International Religious Freedom that:

"The Government harasses the Baháʼí community by arresting Baháʼís arbitrarily" "The property rights of Baháʼís are generally disregarded, ... the Government has confiscated large numbers of private and business properties belonging to Baháʼís" "Public and private universities continue to deny admittance to Baháʼí students" "... official Baháʼí schools are not allowed ..."

In 2008, the United States House of Representatives passes HR. RES. 1008, condemning the persecution of Baha'is in Iran.

Iranian government The Iranian government claims that Baháʼís are enemies of the state, were supporters of the former Shah's government and spies employed by imperialist governments of the West. The Ayatollah Khomeini, even before his return to Iran said in an interview that he believed that Baháʼís were traitors — Zionists — and enemies of Islam.

The Iranian representative to the United Nations tried several times, albeit unsuccessfully, between 1982 and 1984 to convince the United Nations diplomatic community that the Baháʼí Faith is a politicized organization with a record of criminal activism against the Iranian government and not a legitimate religion like Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism which are protected under Iranian law; Iran has not acknowledged that the Baháʼí Faith is a religion.

Iranian writers and academics The general belief among the Iranian people follows the statements of the Iranian government that Baháʼís are enemies of the state, and supporters of the previous government of the Shah:

There are many Iranians who have published how and why Iranians think of Baháʼís as outsiders. Dr. Mohammad Tavakoli, a Muslim-Iranian, who is a Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Toronto presents in Iran-Nameh, a Persian language academic journal, a study that examines the processes that led to the ghettoization and eventual "othering" of the Baháʼís in Iran by the political and religious forces within Iranian society. Other statements include:

On July 15, 2013, Mohammad Nourizad kissed the feet of a 4-year-old Baháʼí boy whose parents had been arrested for participation in the Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education saying: "…why shouldn't I kiss your feet as a representative of the office of [Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the [many] Shiʻite sources of emulation?" and published the event on his blog. The boy's father responded in a letter from prison dated July 18 saying in part: "Mr. Nourizad! You asked Artin to slap you and to spit on you. I heard this request as your attempt to ease his pain, and the utmost sign of your honesty and your acceptance of responsibility. At the same time, I wish that no human body should have to be exposed to such a thing, as the body houses the human spirit and the human spirit is a display of the Divine one."

Response from the United Nations