Five More Bahaʼis Imprisoned in Iran; When Religious Belief Becomes a “Security Charge”

Continuing the Islamic Republic’s judicial pressure on religious minorities in Iran, five Bahaʼi citizens residing in Karaj were detained after appearing before the Revolutionary Court of Shahr-e Qazvin to serve a one-year prison sentence; a case in which “propaganda against the system” and “deviant educational and propagandistic activities contrary to or violating the sacred Islamic law” served as the basis for conviction, once again heightening concerns about the transformation of minority religious beliefs and activities into security and judicial cases.

Five Bahaʼi citizens residing in Karaj were detained on Monday, September 30, 2026, after appearing before the Revolutionary Court of Shahr-e Qazvin to serve their prison sentence; an event that, within the broader context of the Islamic Republic’s judicial pressure against religious minorities in Iran, once again brings into focus the issue of freedom of religion and conscience, and the boundary between religious belief and security charges.

According to a report by the Hrana news agency, “Babak Zeinali,” “Sahba Taaef,” “Fouad Taaifi,” “Shervin Shebrakh,” and “Ali Bagherkashi,” after previous summons, went to the Revolutionary Court of Shahr-e Qazvin to serve their one-year prison sentence and were detained there. Their families had initially been informed that these individuals would be transferred to Tehran’s main prison, but the five Bahaʼi citizens were held in Shahr-e Qazvin detention facility and were later told that they might be transferred to Qazal Hesar Prison. At the time of the Hrana report’s publication, their exact detention location remained unclear.

These five individuals had previously been arrested on November 7, 2023, at Babak Zeinali’s residence in Mehr City, Karaj. After undergoing interrogation and judicial proceedings, they were released on bail, but judicial proceedings against them continued, and ultimately all five were sentenced to one year in prison under Article 500-repeat of the Islamic Penal Code. The charges brought against them were titled “propaganda against the system” and “deviant educational and propagandistic activities contrary to or violating the sacred Islamic law.”

Meanwhile, Babak Zeinali’s case demonstrates that judicial pressure against some Bahaʼi citizens is not necessarily limited to a single arrest or a confined sentence. Zeinali previously had a history of arrest and judicial conviction because of his religious belief.

However, what elevates this case beyond an ordinary judicial matter is its placement within the context of decades of structural pressure against religious minorities in Iran; pressure that international human rights bodies have repeatedly documented.

Human Rights Watch, in its global report on Iran, described the Islamic Republic’s policy toward Bahaʼis as “crimes against humanity of persecution” and reported the continuation of arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and confiscation of Bahaʼi property. The organization also emphasized that Bahaʼis in Iran have faced charges such as “propaganda against the system” and educational and propagandistic activities due to their religious and social activities.

More recent reports show that these pressures have not ceased. In April 2026, UN special mechanisms expressed concern over charges related to arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, torture, and inhumane treatment against members of the Bahaʼi community in Iran. In this connection, the names of several Bahaʼi citizens, including Peyvand Naeimi and Berna Naeimi, were mentioned, and the UN stated that it had received information about serious danger facing them.

Amnesty International also announced in a 2026 report that two Bahaʼi citizens, Peyvand and Berna Naeimi, are at risk of execution, and according to this report, security officials subjected them to torture and abuse and resorted to beatings, electric shocks, and mock executions to extract “confessions.” The organization also reported their deprivation of access to lawyers and medical care.

Pressure on Bahaʼis is not limited to arrest and imprisonment. Amnesty International has reported a range of measures against this community, including raids on homes, denial of university education, dismissal from jobs, forced closure of businesses, confiscation or destruction of property, travel restrictions, destruction of cemeteries, and denial of burial rights.

Christians, particularly converts to Christianity and those who participate in house churches, have not been spared similar pressures. Amnesty International has reported that Islamic Republic authorities have inspected house churches and arbitrarily arrested Christians. In another report, the organization reported the arrest of Christians and Bahaʼis in an intensified security environment in Iran.

Human Rights Watch’s report also emphasizes that various religious minorities, including Bahaʼis, Christians, Jews, Gonabadi Dervishes, Sunnis, and Yarsan, continue to face discrimination in law and practice. According to this organization, following Iran-Israel tensions in 2025, a new wave of arrests against some religious minorities, particularly Bahaʼis, Christians, and Jews, emerged with allegations of connection to Israel.

Bahaʼis, meanwhile, face different and more difficult circumstances, as they are not officially recognized as a religious minority under the Islamic Republic’s constitution. For this reason, the Bahaʼi community has long faced extensive deprivation in the areas of education, employment, property ownership, and social and religious activities. UN reports have repeatedly warned about discrimination against Bahaʼis and other religious minorities in Iran and have called on Tehran to reform laws and practices that cause religious discrimination.

Even minorities officially recognized in the Islamic Republic’s constitution, such as Christians and Zoroastrians, face limitations. Official recognition of a religious community in the law does not necessarily mean that all its members enjoy equal rights as citizens; because the legal and political structure of the Islamic Republic has granted extensive privileges to Muslims and especially followers of the government’s official interpretation of Islam in the political, social, and legal spheres.

Under such circumstances, the issue is not merely the imprisonment of five Bahaʼi citizens in Karaj. The issue is why religious activity, religious education, gatherings, and even the expression of personal belief can be transformed in Iran into a case with security-related titles.

In this case, five citizens have been detained to serve a one-year sentence; however, the charges themselves are also problematic. When the educational and propagandistic activity of a religious community is labeled as “deviant” and “contrary to or violating the sacred Islamic law” and enters a criminal case, the boundary between law enforcement and the imposition of a particular religious interpretation on citizens becomes increasingly blurred.

This is while freedom of religion and conscience does not merely mean the right to follow a religion; it also includes the right to have, change, teach, and express religious belief. The Islamic Republic speaks of “rights of religious minorities” while reports by international bodies present a completely different picture of the actual situation of these communities.

For a Bahaʼi citizen, Christian, or member of other religious minorities, the issue is not merely fear of imprisonment; the danger can extend from denial of university and employment to business closure, home searches, security summons, interrogation, property confiscation, and in some cases even risk of torture and severe punishment. Amnesty International has also emphasized that members of religious minorities in Iran have faced arbitrary detention, unfair trial, torture, and abuse because of their expression or practice of their religion.

This situation becomes even more alarming when the government views religious minorities not as citizens with equal rights, but through a security lens. In recent years, attributing connections to Israel to Bahaʼis and some Christians has been a clear example of this approach; an approach that, according to Amnesty International, has been accompanied by government propaganda and the creation of hostility toward some minorities.

Finally, the case of Babak Zeinali, Sahba Taaef, Fouad Taaifi, Shervin Shebrakh, and Ali Bagherkashi does not merely add five more names to Iran’s list of prisoners of conscience; this case presents a portrait of a structure in which religious difference can become a factor for surveillance, pressure, and punishment.

A society in which citizens are deprived of education, work, gatherings, or free expression of opinion because of their religious belief cannot easily reconcile the claim of citizen equality with its social reality.

From Bahaʼis to Christians, from Gonabadi Dervishes and Yarsan to other religious minorities, a fundamental question remains: Is citizenship in Iran only complete and safe when an individual holds the same religious belief approved by the power structure?

The answer to this question is not merely an issue of religious minorities, but a test of the concepts of justice, freedom of conscience, and human dignity in Iran.