The Iranian regime has increasingly weaponized judicial systems to discriminate against and violate the human rights of the Baha’i religious minority, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Baha'i International Community (BIC) on Wednesday.
Institutionalized discrimination against members of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, has been a systematic issue for the past 45 years, according to the report.
The BIC reported the occurrence of 750 persecutory acts against Baha’i between June and November 2025, “three times the number recorded during the same period in 2024.”
According to HRW, the recent uptick in persecution has been “marked by detentions in circumstances that may amount to enforced disappearances and an escalation in long prison sentences following grossly unfair trials.”
Baha'i in Iran face 'grossly unfair trials'
The unfair conditions of the trials included the reopening of legal proceedings against Baha’i individuals despite their previously being acquitted. Additionally, HRW stated that Iranian courts harshly sentenced Baha’is who had their convictions overturned or had retrials ordered by the Supreme Court.
Between the months of June and November, Iranian regime forces conducted over 200 raids on Baha’i homes and businesses. Over half of those raids resulted in arrest and detention, according to HRW and BIC.
According to the report, charges launched against Baha’i individuals include “membership in the Bahá’í sect,” “participation in deviant propagation and educational activities contrary to the holy Shari’a,” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
Simin Fahandej, the United Nations representative of the Baha’i International Community, claimed that the Iranian justice system “serves as a weapon of persecution against Baha’is, dissidents, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iran,” rather than being a system that delivers “fairness and neutrality and [serves] as refuge against oppression.”