Iran says it arrested 13 adherents of the banned Baha’i faith, accusing them of proselytizing to children and adolescents, local media reported, drawing condemnation from an international organization representing Baha’is.
A statement yesterday by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence unit, carried by state media, says the arrests were made in the central city of Isfahan.
It says the 13 arrested “were acting illegally and were indirectly promoting their ideological deviation by exploiting children and adolescents.” It does not elaborate.
The Baha’i International Community, which represents the faith worldwide, says in a statement that the arrested women “were facilitating simple children’s classes – arresting them is the equivalent of arresting people for teaching Sunday school.”
Simin Fahandej, representative of the Baha’i International Community to the UN in Geneva, describes the arrests as a senseless act against innocent women.
Last month a group of UN special rapporteurs expressed serious concern at what they described as a rise in systematic targeting of Baha’i women in Iran, including through arrests, interrogation and enforced disappearances. The Iranian government said in response that Baha’i women faced no restrictions.
The Islamic Republic considers the Baha’i faith a heretical offshoot of Islam.
Its faithful see Baha’i as an independent religion and its more than five million followers are spread across more than 190 countries.
Exiled Baha’i leaders say hundreds of followers have been jailed and executed since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Israel is home to around 12,000 members of the Baha’i faith, and the spiritual and administrative center of the religion is located in the northern Israel cities of Haifa and Acre.