A Bahá'í Couple Living in Golestan Arrested

Human rights sources have reported the arrest of a Bahá'í couple living in Golestan and the confiscation of some of their personal belongings by government agents. According to Hahrana, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, agents from the Ministry of Intelligence visited the home of Shahin Modat and his wife, Soudeh Mahdizadeh, on Tuesday, October 2, with a search and arrest warrant and detained them. Shahin Modat is a santur instructor at the 'Sound of Art Educational Research Center' in Golestan. According to Hahrana, after searching the couple's home, government agents took some of their belongings, including mobile phones, electronic devices, books related to the Bahá'í faith, and the home’s CCTV recording device. Hahrana reports that the agents also searched the electronic devices of other members of this Bahá'í family and filmed with three cameras. No information has been released regarding the charges against and the whereabouts of Shahin Modat and Soudeh Mahdizadeh. According to the 'Atlas of Iranian Prisons' website, Soudeh Mahdizadeh, a Bahá'í citizen, was arrested in 2012 on charges of 'propaganda against the regime' and sentenced to one year in prison. Concurrently with the presence of Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of the Fourteenth Government of the Islamic Republic, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Bahá'í International Community issued a statement on Tuesday, October 2, emphasizing that 'the promises have no effect on the bitter reality' and announced that the harassment and repression of Bahá'ís in Iran has intensified. The Bahá'í International Community expressed concern about 'new instances of the government's ongoing efforts to cleanse Iran of Bahá'í history and identity.' According to unofficial sources, over 300,000 Bahá'ís live in Iran, but the Islamic Republic's constitution does not recognize the Bahá'í faith and discriminates against it. Bahá'í citizens have faced executions, widespread social and political discrimination, and illegal actions, including arrests and desecration of their cemeteries, since the February 1979 revolution. Previously, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that over the past few decades, the Islamic Republic's officials have systematically targeted Bahá'ís, Christians, Gonabadi dervishes, Zoroastrians, Yarsanis, Shia and Sunni Muslims, and non-religious individuals for harassment, arrests, long-term imprisonment, exile, or prohibition from participating in political and social activities. A hearing is underway regarding the charges against 10 Bahá'í women in Isfahan; they have been accused of 'propaganda against the regime.' The Bahá'í community's reaction to Pezeshkian's presence at the UN: repression of Bahá'ís in Iran has intensified. Negar Mithaqian, a Bahá'í citizen living in Shiraz, has been accused of 'propaganda against the regime.' Agents from the Ministry of Intelligence raided the residence of Bahá'ís in Tabriz; three were arrested.