The Bahai Temple on Mount Carmel in Haifa Photo: Lev Radin / Zuma Press / Profimedia
Iranian authorities have announced that they have identified and arrested members of the Bahai minority who were allegedly active in anti-regime demonstrations, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported, as quoted by AFP.
The Bahai community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, is frequently targeted by the authorities. The Islamic Republic considers them heretics and spies with ties to Israel, where their main religious center is located in Haifa.
Following “operational and intelligence measures (…) a network of 32 members of the Bahai espionage sect, active in riots and acts of vandalism, has been identified,” the Ministry of Information said. 12 of them have already been arrested.
Authorities in Tehran claim that the network was active throughout Iran, including Tehran, with their “main den” located in Mashhad.
Human Rights Watch stated in 2024 that the persecution of the Bahai community in Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution constituted a crime against humanity.
The number of followers of this religion is not known, but some estimates speak of hundreds of thousands of people.
Bahai members follow the teachings of Bahaullah, born in Iran in 1817, whom they consider the prophet and founder of this monotheistic religion.
