what’s happening to baha’is in iran
told by me, a baha’i iranian.

first i just wanna say thank you to sonja for inspiring me to make this thread because a lot of people are unaware of the human rights violations in iran

also this thread won’t be about the 3 peaceful protesters that were sentenced to death in iran, so if you would like to know more, this thread has some info https://twitter.com/icarussfalling/status/1283222006498856961

quick overview about the baha’i faith:
the baha’i faith is a religion established in persia, now iran. it’s main teaching is the unity of mankind and the essential worth of all religions. the faith and it’s precursor has faced ongoing persecution since its inception in 1844

here’s a video if you wanna know more

im gonna start in 1979 when the islamic revolution took place and the pahlavi dynasty fell and was replaced with the islamic republic, ruled by ayatollah kh*meni.

the revolution was driven by, constitutionalists, marxists, and islamists as they were upset with the monarchy. one of the main reasons they were upset was thanks to the usa () because in 1953 the us government performed a coup d’etat and overthrew the-

-!!!DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED!!! Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. after they overthrew the pm the us then established a pro western, anti communist government. iranians then were obviously upset. they felt as if they were being controlled by the west, and they were.

they then revolted and placed ayatollah kh*memi as supreme leader of iran.

(there was honestly a lot of other things that happened but honestly this is super emotionally draining for me so if u wanna know more google is free.)

so once this new government was put in place, the systematic persecution of baha’i’s started. they were executed, tortured and imprisioned, lost their jobs, were expelled from school, and basically had no rights.

kh*meni said that it was because we were spies and a threat to national security. they also said we’re zionists because our main temple is in wasrael but it was recognized as palestine when is was built so i really don’t understand ???

anyways many many peoples lives were ruined, my mom was expelled from school for being a baha’i and couldn’t go to college and my grandpa was tortured and imprisoned for being a baha’i and the rest of them lost their jobs.

while many baha’i’s were executed under the islamic regime, the one soul i would like to speak on is Mona Mahmudnizhad. Mona was born in Yemen on 09/10/65 to iranian parents. she and her family moved back to iran in 1969 and settled in shiraz.

she and her family were very active in the baha’i community of shiraz, even after the revolution. Mona was kind and humble and was even known as “the angel of shiraz”. Mona was also deeply committed to the faith and taught children’s classes

at 7:30 pm on october 23, 1982, Mona and her father were kidnapped and arrested by iranian authorities and the authorities also raided their house for all things baha’i related. she was abused in prison for nine months until she was executed on june 18, 1983 with 9 other women.

she was just 17.

stuff like this is still happening in iran and i’ll try to update it with more information later. but tysm if you made it to the end!!