State-sponsored Persecution of Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

The largest non-Muslim minority in Iran, the Baha’i community, has been subjected to systematic religious persecution under the current Islamic regime. This article examines the nature of this persecution and the change in its pattern from a brutal and partly chaotic campaign in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution to an institutionalized process with well-defined policies. It also discusses the historical roots of hostility toward the Baha’i community and considers the prospects for its continued presence within Iranian society. The assault on Baha’is has not led to large numbers of conversions to Islam, and, in spite of anti-Baha’i propaganda, more Iranians today than ever before condemn the persecution of their Baha’i compatriots and consider them entitled to freedom of belief.