International reports on Egypt & Iran

To view Bahá'í International Community reports on the situation of the Bahá'ís in Egypt and Iran, click here.
To read the most recent updates from Iran, click here.

Below are excerpts of recent international news articles which make reference to the human rights situation of the Bahá’ís communities in Egypt and Iran. If the full article is available online, the headline will appear as a link.
(Please note: Some newspapers require registration or payment to view articles. Some links may have expired.)

Religion dilemma follows Baha'i university applicants
Daily News Egypt - 19 August 2008
CAIRO: In violation of a court order, the official university admissions office is denying Baha'i applicants the right to leave the religious denomination field blank on applications, giving them the option to list their religion as either Muslim or Christian.

Iran: Religious minority reports arson attacks
CNN - 29 July 2008
Iran's Baha'i community -- a religious minority that has faced persecution in the Islamic republic -- is reporting a string of arson attacks targeting homes and vehicles. The attacks, reported on Monday by the Baha'i movement, come on the heels of the recent arrests of seven members of Iran's national Baha'i coordinating group in March and May.

Baha'is detained in Iran contact families
CNN - 19 June 2008
Seven Baha'i leaders detained by Iranian authorities have contacted their families for the first time since their arrest more than a month ago, the Baha'i movement said Thursday.

Les bahaïs persécutés en Iran (only in French)
Réforme - 12-18 June 2008
Ala Mi-Mai, les autorités de la république islamique d’Iran ont arrêté les sept administ rateurs (deu x femmes et cinq hommes) de la communauté bahaïe.

Baha'i Leaders Arrested In Iran (click here to hear story as audio)
The Voice of America - 28 May 2008
The Iranian government confirmed the arrest and detention of six leaders of Iran’s Baha’i community.

En Iran, la direction de la minorité bahaïe décapitée après une vague d'arrestations (only in French)
Le Monde - 27 May 2008
La minorité religieuse bahaïe d'Iran - 300 000 fidèles - est sans nouvelle des six membres de sa direction (Jamal-Eddin Khanjani, Vahid Tizfahm, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Saïd Rezaï, Afif Naïmi et Farida Kamal-abadi) arrêtés et incarcérés le 14 mai à la prison d'Evin, à Téhéran.

Baha'is accuse Iran of discrimination
The Associated Press - Tehran, Iran, 22 May 2008
Seven Bahai leaders arrested and accused of endangering national security are being persecuted by Iran's government for their religious beliefs, leaders of the minority faith said Thursday.

Iran 'plans to destroy Baha'i community'
CNN - New York, 22 May 2008
A top Baha'i official has criticized Iran's claim that the six imprisoned leaders of the religious minority were held for security reasons and not because of their faith.

EU concerned by arrests of Baha'is in Iran
Reuters - Brussels, 21 May 2008
The European Union called on Iran on Wednesday to release six members of the Baha'i faith imprisoned on security-related charges, urging Tehran to allow full freedom of religion.

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on Baha'i arrests
Presidency of the European Union - 21 May 2008
The European Union is deeply concerned by reports that Ministry of Intelligence officers arrested six members of the Baha'i faith in Tehran on 14 May, who are currently being held in Evin prison.

World Leaders Should Press Iran to Free Baha'i Religious Prisoners
Anti-Defamation League - New York, NY, 20 May 2008
Reacting to the ongoing imprisonment of seven national leaders of the Baha'i religious community in Iran, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on "world leaders to join together and insist that Iran release these religious prisoners."

Iran arrests Bahai 'leadership'
BBC - 19 May 2008
The Iranian authorities have acknowledged the arrest of a number of members of the Bahai faith, which is considered to be heretical in Iran.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the arrests were a judicial matter and he did not give any further details.

Group says six Baha'is detained in Iran
Reuters - London, 19 May 2008
The Iranian authorities have detained six members of the Baha'i faith, an offshoot of Islam considered heretical by Iran's Shi'ite Muslim establishment, members of the religious group said.

Iran rights group speaks out against violations
AFP - Tehran, 18 May 2008
The rights group of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Sunday warned against a "systematic violation" of human rights in Iran and criticized the government over its treatment of dissidents and activists.

Canada expresses concern over arrest of Baha'i in Iran
AFP - Ottawa, 17 May 2008
Canada expressed concern over the apparent arrest of six Iranian Baha'i followers and called for their release, while deploring an "ongoing decline" in the country's human rights situation.
"Canada is deeply concerned by the arbitrary arrest of six Iranian Baha'is" on May 14, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said Friday.

Iran's arrest of Baha'is condemned
CNN - 16 May 2008
Six Baha'i leaders in Iran were seized and imprisoned this week, the religious group said. The act prompted condemnation and concern from the movement and a top American religious freedom panel.

Entire Baha’i Leadership in Iran Detained Without Charge
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran - 16 May 2008
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is calling on Iranian judicial authorities to account, in terms of Iranian and international law, for the detention on 14 May 2008 of six leading members of the Baha’i faith, who have been taken to Evin prison.

Iran: Arbitrary arrests/Prisoners of conscience
Amnesty International (MDE 13/068/2008) - 15 May 2008
Six leaders of a group managing the Baha’i community’s religious and administrative affairs in Iran were arrested at their homes by officers from the Ministry of Intelligence on 14 May and are now detained in Evin Prison in Tehran.

USCIRF Calls for Strong International Condemnation of Arrest of Baha’i Leaders
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom - Washington DC, 15 May 2008
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is gravely concerned by the arrest of seven prominent leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran and appeals to the U.S. government and international community strongly to condemn this flagrant abuse of religious freedom.

IHRDC Condemns the Arrest of Leading Bahá’ís
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center - New Haven, CT, 15 May 2008
Yesterday the government of Iran arrested the entire leadership of the Bahai community in Iran in a series of dawn raids. All those detained were members of the group that coordinates the activities of the Bahá’í community in Iran in the absence of a National Spiritual Assembly.

Arrests of Leadership of Iranian Baha’is
U.S. Department of State - Washington DC, 15 May 2008
We strongly condemn the May 14 arrest of six leaders of the Iranian Baha’i community-- Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm--by Iranian authorities and the continued imprisonment of a seventh leader, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet.

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the deteriorating situation of the religious minority Baha’i in Iran
Presidency of the European Union - 7 February 2008
The EU expresses its serious concern at the worsening situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, in particular to the plight of the Baha’i.

Persecution Of Iranian Baha'is
Voice of America — 5 February 2008
In Iran, fifty-four members of the Baha’i religious community have been convicted of the so-called crime of spreading anti-regime propaganda. Three were sentenced to four years in prison; the others received suspended one-year sentences.

Iran Executes Bribery Convict
New York Times — 30 January 2008
Tehran — Iran’s judiciary has executed an airport customs contractor accused of bribe-taking and other corruption and has sentenced three other airport employees to death, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported Tuesday.

Iran jails Bahai 'propagandists'
BBC — 29 January 2008
Iran has sentenced three members of the Bahai faith to four years in jail for security offences and 51 others to suspended prison terms.

Rejet de la demande d'un converti au christianisme d'inscrire sa religion
Le Monde — le 29 janvier 2008
Un tribunal égyptien a rejeté mardi la demande d'un musulman converti au christianisme de faire figurer sa nouvelle religion sur sa carte d'identité, a-t-on appris de source judiciaire.

Egypt Baha'is win court fight over identity papers
Reuters — Cairo, 29 January 2008
An Egyptian court granted Baha'is the right to obtain government identity papers on Tuesday, so long as they omit their faith, in an important ruling for members of unrecognised religions.

Egypt's Bahais score breakthrough in religious freedom case
AFP — Cairo, 29 January 2008
A Cairo court on Tuesday ruled to allow Egyptian Bahais to leave their religion blank on official documents, in effect restoring their access to jobs, schools and medical and financial services.

Prohibited Identities - Chapter IV. Egypt’s Baha’is and the Policy of Erasure
Human Rights Watch — November 2007 Volume 19, No. 7(E)
Diya’ Nur al-Din is a 24-year-old Egyptian...Since September 2005, he has been trying unsuccessfully to obtain a national ID card, known in Arabic as the raqam qawmi, or “national number,”the now-mandatory computerized identification document, with either Baha’i or “other” listed in the space reserved for religion.

UN panel voices deep concern at rights violations in Iran
AFP — United Nations, 21 November 2007
A General Assembly committee on Tuesday passed a resolution expressing "deep concern" at the "ongoing systematic violations" of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Iran. The vote in the assembly's human rights committee was 72 in favor, 50 against with 55 abstentions. It came after an Iranian motion for no action on the resolution was narrowly defeated.

Egypt forcing converts from Islam, members of Bahai faith to conceal their religion, watchdogs say
International Herald Tribune — Cairo, Egypt, 12 November 2007
Egypt must change its policy of not allowing converts from Islam and members of the Bahai faith to register their religion in official documents, two human rights groups said Monday.

Egypt: Allow Citizens to List Actual Religion on ID Cards -
End Discrimination, Harassment of Baha’is, Converts From Islam
Human Rights Watch — Cairo, Egypt, 12 November 2007
Egypt should allow all citizens to use their actual religious identity when required to list religion on government documents, Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said today. The government’s discriminatory practice of restricting identity to three religions, directed at Baha’is and preventing converts from Islam from listing their true belief, violate many rights and cause immense hardship.

Human Rights Report Says Egypt Violating Religious Freedoms
(For a link to the report in MP3 audio format, click here)
Voice of America News — Cairo, Egypt, 12 November 2007
Human rights groups are urging the Egyptian government to lift restrictions on religious freedom that discriminate against those who do not belong to one of three recognized religions.

"Murder with Impunity": Iran targets the Baha'i--again.
The Weekly Standard — 5 November 2007 (vol. 13, Issue 8)
The Iranian government is currently intensifying its persecution of its largest religious minority, the Baha'is. This reveals something of the government's nature, and also sheds light on the hotly debated question: Does the regime remain a revolutionary one, or has it become instead a "normal country," one that, despite its fervent rhetoric, aspires only to international acceptance and regional power?

Iran: Allow Baha’i Students Access to Higher Education
Government Discriminates against 800 Students on Basis of Faith
Human Rights Watch — New York, 20 September 2007
Iran should immediately end practices aimed at barring Baha’i students from attending universities, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should quickly resolve the situation of some 800 Baha’i students whom it prevents from obtaining their educational records and completing the university admission process.