Several UN Special Rapporteurs on Monday expressed concern over a spike in systemic targeting of Baha’i-religion women in Iran. The UN experts observed that Baha’i women have been facing systemic targeting, including arrests, summoning for interrogation, enforced disappearance, raids on their homes and confiscation of their personal belongings.
In a letter from July this year, the experts detailedly outlined the violations of due process rights by unlawful arrests and detentions of many Baha’i. Further, the grounds of arrest are often vague, which can be attributed to broadly and ambiguously worded legal provisions in the Iranian Penal Code. In the letter from this week, the experts further voiced concerns over the use of vaguely defined terms, including “threat to national security” and “propaganda against the State,” to limit the peaceful exercise of their rights. Women of the Baha’i faith are also banned from post-secondary education and public employment solely for their religious faith. The letter argued that such discrimination and targeting may constitute several international human rights violations.
Baha’is have historically faced discrimination in Iran, but the recent spike in targeting of Baha’i women reveals the intersectional vulnerability that is faced based on religion and gender. In their response to the letter, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations called the allegations “baseless,” asserting that Baha’i women do not face any discrimination in Iran. They did not comment on the several specific arrests and detentions that the experts mentioned in their letter and had emphatically asked for information on. Following this, the letter was recently submitted to the UNHRC and made public.
Iran is defined as an “Islamic state” and all laws must meet “Islamic criteria.” Recent amendments to the penal code invited criticism and concern over their potential to curtail religious freedom in an already hostile environment. Last year, the US Department of State also released a report on religious freedom in Iran, expressing concern about religious freedom in the region.
