On escalating repression of the Baha'is in Iran

B100535/2025

European Parliament resolution on escalating repression of the Baha'is in Iran

(2025/2987(RSP))

The European Parliament,

having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran,

having regard to Rule 150 of its Rules of Procedure,

whereas the Bahá’í community in Iran does not enjoy official recognition and has for over four decades been subjected to systematic state persecution, including arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, confiscation of property, denial of education and employment, and incitement to hatred by state-controlled media; whereas Baha’i women are disproportionately affected;

whereas other religious and ethnic minorities in Iran, including Christians, Kurds, Balouchis, Ahwazi Arabs, and Afghan nationals, have been subject to arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment, intimidation, denial of due process, and imprisonment;

whereas Iranian authorities intensified the crackdown on Baha’is and other religious and ethnic minorities under the guise of national security in the aftermath of the June 2025 hostilities with Israel; whereas the Baha’is have been targeted through a coordinated state propaganda campaign, falsely accusing Baha’is as spies and collaborators with foreign entities; whereas since June 2025, at least 54 Christians have been arrested on equal charges and at least 35 members of the Jewish community were summoned and interrogated about their ties to relatives in Israel;

whereas reportedly Iranian senior officials have called for expedited trials and executions for “collaborating with hostile states” and the judiciary has announced the formation of special courts to prosecute “traitors and mercenaries”;

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Strongly condemns the Iranian regime’s systemic suppression and persecution of minorities, including Baha’is, Christians, Kurds and Baluchis, all of them facing ethnic and religious discrimination, arrest and violations of fundamental rights aimed at silencing dissent;

Expresses its solidarity with all Iranians persecuted for their beliefs, identities, or peaceful human rights activities, and specifically recognizes the courage of religious and ethnic minorities facing imprisonment, exclusion, and systemic discrimination;

Calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all individuals detained on account of their religion or belief or in relation to the defence of human rights, including those detained on charges of blasphemy or apostasy, and on vague national security charges related to their religion or belief;

Calls on the Iranian authorities to guarantee the right to freedom of religion or belief for all citizens, in line with Article 18 of the ICCPR to which Iran is a party;

Calls on the authorities to return places of worship, properties, land and materials seized from Bahai’is and other religious minority communities under national security-related or faulty judicial rulings;

Calls on the EU Institutions to raise the situation of religious and ethnic minorities at every level of dialogue with Iranian counterparts;

Reiterates its call on the Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation and to extend EU sanctions to all those responsible for human rights violations, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, Prosecutor-General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad and Judge Iman Afshari;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the relevant EU Insitutions, the Member States and the Government and Parliament of Iran.