Without Global Outcry, Religious Crackdowns in Iran Will Continue

Arash Emadi, Farhad Noori and Daniel Owji call for justice for Iran’s persecuted religious groups ahead of the December UN General Assembly vote. Photo of Arash Emadi

As members of three different Iranian religious traditions, we have personally experienced the Iranian government’s assault on religious freedom. We have been forced to leave our country and seek refuge, places where we can live without fear. Those Baha’is, Christians and Sufi Muslims still in the country, however, continue to face serious abuses of their rights to worship, assembly, education and more.

In 2010, the United Nations Human Rights Council conducted its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights situation in Iran. Iran voluntarily accepted 10 recommendations from the international community promising to amend its laws regarding the rights of religious groups. However, four years later, each recommendation remains unimplemented. 

In fact, Iran has actively been moving in the wrong direction on religious rights. The number of imprisoned people serving sentences for their religious practices continues to rise. Churches and prayer centers are being closed and private religious gatherings raided by the police. Without the voices of the larger global community raised in support of persecuted groups, their marginalization will continue with impunity.

On October 31, the Human Rights Council reconvened for a review of Iran’s human rights progress. Many countries noted their disappointment with Iran’s lack of progress and were forced to reassert a stronger version of the recommendations made four years ago.

As Iran pondered which recommendations to accept this round, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) voted in late November on an annual resolution that raises concern about the treatment of religious minorities in Iran, among other issues. Countries such as Timor-Leste and Trinidad and Tobago voted in favor of the resolution, drawing crucial international attention to the violations taking place regularly in Iran. 

Alarmingly, however, other countries did not rise to the occasion. Malawi and the Dominican Republic, for example, both changed their vote to an abstention, despite having voted yes the year prior. Similarly, Comoros, which voted in favor of the resolution just last year, shifted its vote to a no. What’s more, countries such as Somalia and Sao Tome an Principe did not even take a seat at the table. 

All countries have a common international obligation to address religious freedom and some clearly failed this during the last vote. Fortunately, in December, the countries that abstained or voted no will have a second chance when the UNGA votes for a final time on the resolution.

To be sure, the situation for religious minorities in Iran remains particularly grim. Baha’is in Iran have faced systematic repression for the past two decades; their properties have been confiscated and cemeteries destroyed. They are barred from a university education. At least 126 Baha’is are imprisoned simply for peacefully practicing their religion and organizing their community’s affairs. This includes seven Baha’i leaders, called the Yaran, who have been sentenced to 20 years in prison. And while the Constitution protects the rights of “recognized” minority religions in Iran, Baha’is are considered an unrecognized religious minority, and thus aren’t granted the legal right to practice their faith. 

Although Christians are a recognized minority, many are nonetheless deprived the right to practice freely, particularly newly converted Christians and those that minister to them. At least 49 Christians are currently in custody for their church activities, including Pastor Farshid Fathi, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for organizing an informal “house church.” At the same time, several registered churches have been shutdown altogether for allegedly allowing non-Christians to attend services. 

Even Muslims are not immune to religious persecution in the Islamic Republic. Muslims belonging to various minority groups or whose religious views differ from Iran’s leaders face a range of abuses including attacks on their places of worship, destruction of community cemeteries, and arrest of their leaders. Several Muslim Sufi lawyers, including Mostafa Daneshjou and Hamidreza Moradi, are in prison for defending the rights of Gonabadi Sufis. These men are suffering from serious health problems because of authorities’ neglect and a 35-day hunger strike they undertook to protest their illegal imprisonment.

This is Iran’s record. We have felt it firsthand. 

 The international community has the chance and the responsibility to hold Iran accountable for its human rights promises and ensure justice for Iran’s persecuted religious groups. As members of these groups, we call on all UN member states to vote yes at the December UNGA, as it firmly chronicles specific grievances with Iran’s religious freedom practices.

Arash Emadi is an Iranian refugee and Christian convert living in Turkey. He has operated websites for Christian ministries and activist groups inside and outside Iran, and was detained by Iranian authorities for five days in 2011.

Farhad Noori has been an active journalist since 2007 and is the editor in chief of Majzooban Noor, a news agency that covers news related to Gonabadi Sufis. He is a Gonabadi Sufi Muslim himself and an Iranian refugee resettled in Australia.

Daniel Owji is an Iranian refugee and Baha'i living in Australia. While in Iran, he was expelled from university due to his faith and later arrested in 2011 for participating in the alternative community-based Baha'i Institute for Higher Education.