A Former Baha'i Community Leader in Karaj Arrested; Burial of Two Other Baha'is in Khavaran Cemetery

Continuing pressure on followers of the Baha'i faith, coinciding with the forced burial of two other Baha'i citizens, a former leader of the Baha'i community in Iran was arrested by the security forces of the Islamic Republic. According to the news agency of human rights activists in Iran on Saturday, April 29, Afif Naeimi, a former leader of the Baha'i community, was arrested by more than 10 security agents and transferred to Rajai Shahr prison, just four months after being released on bail. The report does not clarify the reason for Mr. Naeimi's arrest, but according to an informed source, he was with his relatives in a garden on the outskirts of Karaj at the time of his arrest. Afif Naeimi was a former leader of the Baha'i community known as 'Yaran Iran' who was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of five billion tomans by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Alborz province in a joint case with 10 others in Bahman 1401 (January-February 2023). This sentence is currently under review following a request for appeal. The group charges against these citizens included 'insulting and engaging in educational and promotional activities against Islamic law', 'participating in forming a group and managing individuals with the intent to disrupt national security' through 'promoting Baha'ism' among 'children and adolescents', 'educational and promotional activities contrary to Islamic law through teaching and promoting based on Baha'i teachings in kindergartens', and 'propagating against Islamic law through coaching education'. Pressure on Baha'i followers by the Islamic Republic has continued for the past 44 years, resulting in the arrest and execution of some, while Baha'is have been barred from education, prohibited from business, and in some cases, their properties have been confiscated. Previously, a human rights organization under the U.S. Department of State expressed concern about the situation of Mahvash Sabet, another imprisoned Baha'i citizen in Iran. Additionally, on Saturday, the Ministry of Intelligence secretly buried the bodies of two Baha'i citizens named 'Firoozeh Akhtar Khavari' and 'Ezzat Zargami' without informing their families in Khavaran Cemetery. According to citizen reports, Ms. Akhtari's body had been 'unresolved' for 31 days, and permission for her burial and that of four others in the Baha'i cemetery had not been granted. On Farvardin 10 (March 30), the Ministry of Intelligence also secretly buried another Baha'i citizen named 'Behzad Majidi' in Khavaran Cemetery, a site of mass graves for political executions from the 1980s. Simin Fahandej, a spokesperson for the Baha'i community, previously stated in an interview with VOA that the forced burial of Baha'i citizens has a history.