The Islamic Republic has increasingly targeted religious minorities, raiding their facilities and sentencing members to lengthy prison terms on vague charges, an expert from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) told The Jerusalem Post.
CSW’s Research and Advocacy Officer for the Middle East and North Africa, who can only be identified as “Mena” for security reasons, told the Post that Iran’s legislation targeting so-called “cults” has enabled the regime “to impose a range of punishments, including prison sentences of between two and five years; deprivation of civil rights, such as voting, for up to 15 years; and heavy monetary fines” for engaging in religious practices.
Mena’s comments came amid a renewed crackdown on religious minorities, following the arrest of multiple members of the Baha’i community by regime forces and statements by an official from the Yazd prosecutor’s office in early May announcing the arrest of three Christian leaders accused of running a religious “cult” linked to the “Zionist regime.”
While Iran’s ongoing internet shutdown has obscured the full scale of the arrests, human rights groups such as the Center for Human Rights in Iran have warned that regime authorities detained dozens of Baha’is in arbitrary arrests, holding many without charge and denying them communication with their families or legal counsel.
“For decades, Iran’s Baha’i community has faced severe state persecution, but since the January 2026 protests and subsequent February 2026 war, the authorities have dramatically intensified their campaign of repression,” said Bahar Ghandehari, CHRI’s Director of Advocacy. “The scale and coordination of arrests and home raids targeting Baha’i citizens in recent months point to a systematic pattern of persecution rather than isolated incidents.”
Iran’s constitution does not recognize the Baha’i faith as an official religion, according to Article 13 of the regime’s constitution. A 1991 secret legislation, exposed in 1993 by UN Special Representative Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, demanded that the religious minority community have “their progress and development be blocked.” This legislation ensured that the Baha’i community was excluded from education and kept in a near-constant state of fear.
“Iran’s Baha’i community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority, does not enjoy official recognition, and a covert 1991 Iranian government blueprint approved by the former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, designed a program of economic, educational, and social measures to systematically extinguish the community over time,” Mena commented.
Mena: Baha’is 'increasingly targeted with hate speech'
“Religious minorities appear to be viewed with particular suspicion and treated as threats by a theocracy that seeks to impose its strict interpretation of Shi’a Islam on the entire society,” Mena continued. “Baha’is have been increasingly targeted with hate speech, and face a raft of discriminatory and repressive policies, including denials of access to employment, further education and burial sites, and property seizures, demolitions and confiscations.“
Anisa Fanaeian, a mother of two, is one of the latest members of the Baha’i faith to be abducted by the regime.
First given an eight-month suspended sentence in 2025, she was arrested again on May 11 and sentenced to eight years by Branch 10 of the Semnan Province Court of Appeals over allegations she formed a group with the intent to disrupt national security and that she created propaganda against the state with her charitable efforts for children in Afghanistan, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
In a letter written to her children after her first arrest, Fanaeian claimed the regime forces abducted her after she drove Afghan children to school, as she was concerned that their lack of shoes would make walking on the hot desert floor dangerous.
“Because I cared for these children in need – and clearly because I am a Baha’i – I was convicted by the Semnan Revolutionary Court of ‘forming groups to act against national security, educational activities and propagating against Sharia Islam,’ and ‘propaganda against the regime,” she wrote, according to a publication of the letter shared by CHRI.
Multiple Iranian human rights groups have also reported on the case of Romina Goli, who was arrested on May 9 and charged with “propaganda against the regime” and “propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law. Regime forces confiscated her personal devices and prayer books.
Other members of the Baha’i community were also subjected to hours-long interrogations, beatings, and had their homes raided during searches by the regime’s security forces, during which valuable items like jewelry and laptops were confiscated.
Iran's discrimination extends to other groups
The regime’s mistreatment of religious minorities has also extended to other minority groups, Mena noted.
“Religious and political leaders also continue to speak negatively against Christianity, and the Christian community continues to experience repression in various forms, with converts to Christianity being particular targets,” Mena continued.
“The Iranian intelligence service closely monitors Christian activity and, together with the Revolutionary Guard, has raided Christian gatherings in private homes, arresting all in attendance and confiscating personal property," added Mena. "Those arrested have been subjected to intensive and often abusive interrogations.”
The Post previously spoke with Marziyeh Amirizadeh, a young woman sentenced to death in the Islamic regime for converting from Islam to Christianity. She described similar mistreatment at the hands of the Islamic regime’s judicial officials, especially during her time at Evin prison.
While Amirizedeh’s charge of apostasy was made clear to her, Mena warned that many Christians had been sentenced to up to 15 years with “vaguely worded and unsubstantiated security-related charges” used to “silence or punish perceived dissent.”
“The excessive nature of the charges brought against members of the Christian community appears pre-determined, and they have been handed down despite a paucity of supporting evidence. From the beginning of the trial until the time of sentencing, no material witnesses are called, and no testimony is offered in support of the charges,” Mena explained.
“In many instances, the presiding judge is alleged to have shown an extremely limited understanding of Christianity, and to have been reading from papers,” Mena continued.
Reports from diaspora groups in recent weeks have claimed that human rights lawyer Bahar Saharaian, who has frequently represented Christians, has been arrested on charges of “criminal association aimed at acts against national security,” “propaganda activities against the Islamic system,” and “spreading false news.”