IRAN
Ongoing Persecution

May 2000: Eleven Bahá’ís remain in prison; four are currently under death sentences. Individuals throughout the country continue to face restrictions, harassment and arrest on account of their religious beliefs. Bahá’ís continue to be denied admission to Iranian universities. Current situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran
May 2000: A Bahá’í arrested in the summer of 1999 and given a death sentence in February, 2000 was released from prison and has returned home.
April 2000: The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, at its annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, adopted a resolution expressing concern about “the discrimination against religious minorities, in particular the unabated pattern of persecution against the Bahá’ís, including death sentences and arrests.”
April 2000: A policy change by the Iranian government now allows couples who wed to register their marriages without declaring their religious affiliation. This allows Bahá’ís to officially register their marriages for the first time in more than two decades.
February 2000: Two Bahá’ís held in Mashhad since 1997 were informed that their death sentences, which had been under review for some months, were reconfirmed. The two were imprisoned for holding monthly “family life” meetings. A third Bahá’í, detained in the summer of 1999 on unknown charges related to his Bahá’í beliefs, was also issued a death sentence by the court in Mashhad.