In a statement provided to IranWire, the Baha’i International Community reported that, in the latest action against Baha’is in Iran, “government agents raided the homes of Baha’i citizens across seven provinces, confiscating and seizing their personal belongings.”
The statement reads: “They scaled home walls, arrested parents in front of their two-year-old child, confiscated musical instruments, and turned flowerpots and rice bags upside down.”
Simin Fahandej, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, stated regarding these incidents: “This is government theft in broad daylight—the stealing of individuals’ personal property in the name of the state. Simply because it is the government entering your home and taking your jewelry, wedding rings, vehicle, and other assets does not grant this action legal legitimacy.”
Before the release of this latest statement, numerous reports had emerged detailing security force raids on the homes of several Baha’i citizens in Isfahan.
Sepehr Atefi, a journalist and filmmaker, reported on the social media platform X that intelligence agents raided his father’s home and office on the morning of Monday, August 24, in Isfahan. Publishing images of his parents’ home following the raid and a six-hour search, he noted that this marked the second such raid within recent months.
On Thursday, IranWire reported a raid by government agents on the home of Vahid Mouqen, another Baha’i resident of Isfahan. Information received by IranWire indicates that, in addition to the seizure and confiscation of the Mouqen family’s personal property, their daughter, Sarir Mouqen, was arrested and transferred to Dowlatabad Prison.
In another section of the statement, the Baha’i International Community described the objective of these actions as the “complete economic destruction of the Baha’is.” For over four decades, Baha’is have been denied higher education and public sector employment. The statement emphasizes that the Islamic Republic’s recent measures serve to “strip away, eliminate, and destroy the very limited livelihoods that Baha’i families have strived to build over decades.”