International Bahá’í Community Expresses ‘Severe Concern’ Over Accelerating Property Confiscation of Iranian Bahá’ís

The international Bahá’í community expressed “severe concern” on Wednesday, February 16, regarding the accelerating process of property confiscation from Iranian Bahá’ís, which is organized and directed by the “Headquarters for the Execution of the Imam’s Order.”

The “Headquarters for the Execution of the Imam’s Order” is the largest economic holding affiliated with the office of Iran’s supreme leader and operates under the supervision of Ali Khamenei.

According to a statement published by the international Bahá’í community’s news platform, in the latest instance of this process, the Revolutionary Court of Semnān Province has issued an order to confiscate the properties of six Bahá’í citizens at the request of the “Headquarters for the Execution of the Imam’s Order.”

The statement reflected the remarks of Diane Alai, representative of the international Bahá’í community at the United Nations in Geneva.

According to Ms. Alai, the acceleration of the property confiscation process against Iranian Bahá’ís constitutes “a new and deeply troubling phase in the persecution” of these citizens, which has continued in various forms over the past four decades since the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

The Bahá’í community’s representative to the United Nations emphasized that recent instances of this process demonstrate that “these suppressions are planned by the highest levels of Iran’s leadership.”

Diane Alai stressed that Islamic Republic leaders are enriching themselves by impoverishing Iranian Bahá’ís through successive confiscation and seizure of these citizens’ property.

She viewed the confiscations carried out in Semnān, Mazandaran, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces as the beginning of “a worse crisis,” stating there is a danger that seizures may henceforth be carried out gradually and sporadically to avoid drawing international attention to the issue.

The Bahá’í community’s representative to the United Nations called on human rights defenders inside and outside Iran to condemn this “injustice” and demand the immediate annulment of rulings issued in favor of the Headquarters for the Execution of the Imam’s Order.

In mid-December of this year, thirteen parcels of agricultural land belonging to Bahá’ís in Kata village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province were seized.

Previously, multiple reports had been published about the destruction of homes of Bahá’í families and the appropriation of their agricultural lands in the village of “Roshankuh” in Sari.

Additionally, on January 13 of this year, the Special Court for Article 49 of the Constitution in Mazandaran issued a ruling confiscating the property of Shida Taaeid, a Bahá’í citizen residing in Qaemshahr, in favor of the “Headquarters for the Execution of the Imam’s Order.”

Bahá’ís in Iran face widespread pressure and discrimination. Over the past four decades, numerous reports have been published regarding the arrest, execution, and deprivation of Bahá’ís from university education and means of livelihood, and in some cases, the graves of followers of this faith have even been disrespected.

Source: Radio Farda