Officials from Iran's Baha'i community say Iranian security forces have destroyed more than 30 graves at the Golestan Javid, a cemetery dedicated to Baha'is in Tehran, in what they characterized as an attempt to erase the existence of the deceased because of their religious beliefs.
According to a statement from the Baha'i International Community group, the targeted graves were located in the Khavaran mass grave site and the demolition was done with the aim of completely obscuring the presence of the burial sites.
Simin Fahandej, the spokeswoman for the Worldwide Baha’i Community in Geneva, said the actions of the Islamic republic's authorities not only inflicted severe and fresh pain on these families, but also underscored the "inhumanity of their conduct" toward believers.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, hundreds of Baha'is have been arrested and jailed for their beliefs. At least 200 have been executed or were arrested and never heard from again.
Thousands more have been banned from receiving higher education or had their property confiscated, while Baha'i cemeteries are often desecrated in what Baha'is say is the systematic targeting of the group.
The Khavaran cemetery in the east of the capital was traditionally a final resting place for members of religious minorities who were interred there to keep them separate from the graves of Muslims.
But decades of forced disappearances and secret extrajudicial executions have made Khavaran best-known as a secret burial ground for some of the thousands killed.
The graves at Khavaran are unmarked, and Tehran has for decades barred families of the dead from mourning there and punished those who left flowers and mementos.
In April 2023, Baha'i believers Shadi Shahidzadeh, Mansour Amini, Vahid Qadamian, and Ataollah Zafar were arrested in connection with activities related to the cemetery. Three months later, Tehran's Revolutionary Court sentenced each to five years in prison.
Iran accuses Baha'is of having links to Israel, where the city of Haifa hosts a center of the Baha'i faith. Baha'i leaders reject the allegations and say they are used as a pretext to persecute members.
There are some 300,000 Baha'i adherents in Iran and an estimated 5 million worldwide.
In Iran, where their faith is not officially recognized in the constitution, its leaders say they face systematic persecution.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has on several occasions called the Baha'i faith a cult and, in a religious fatwa issued in 2018, he forbade contact, including business dealings, with followers of the faith.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda