Editing Baháʼí Faith (section)

== Persecution ==
{{Main|Persecution of Baháʼís}}
[[File:Cemetery of yazd.jpg|alt=Broken cinder blocks and felled palm trees|thumb|The Baháʼí cemetery in [[Yazd]] after its desecration by the Iranian government]]
Baháʼís continue to be persecuted in some majority-Islamic countries, whose leaders do not recognize the Baháʼí Faith as an independent religion, but rather as [[apostasy from Islam]]. The most severe persecutions have occurred in Iran, where more than 200 Baháʼís were executed between 1978 and 1998.{{sfn|International Federation of Human Rights|2003}} The rights of Baháʼís have been restricted to greater or lesser extents in numerous other countries, including Egypt, Afghanistan,{{sfn|International Religious Freedom Report|2013|loc=[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222323 Afghanistan]}}{{better source needed|date=July 2022}} Indonesia,{{sfn|International Religious Freedom Report|2013|loc=[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222133 Indonesia]}} Iraq,{{sfn|International Religious Freedom Report|2013|loc=[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222291 Iraq]}} Morocco,{{sfn|International Religious Freedom Report|2013|loc=[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222305 Morocco]}} Yemen,{{sfn|Baháʼí World News Service|2017}} and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.{{sfn|Smith|Momen|1989}}

=== Iran ===
The most enduring persecution of Baháʼís has been in Iran, the birthplace of the religion.{{sfn|Hartz|2009|pp=125–127}} When the Báb started attracting a large following, the clergy hoped to stop the movement from spreading by stating that its followers were enemies of God. These clerical directives led to mob attacks and public executions.{{sfn|Affolter|2005}} Starting in the twentieth century, in addition to repression aimed at individual Baháʼís, centrally directed campaigns that targeted the entire Baháʼí community and its institutions were initiated.{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2006}} In one case in Yazd in 1903 more than 100 Baháʼís were killed.{{sfn|Nash|1982}} Baháʼí schools, such as the Tarbiyat boys' and girls' schools in Tehran, were closed in the 1930s and 1940s, Baháʼí marriages were not recognized and Baháʼí texts were censored.{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2006}}{{sfn|Sanasarian|2000|pp=52–53}}

During the reign of [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], to divert attention from economic difficulties in Iran and from a growing nationalist movement, a campaign of persecution against the Baháʼís was instituted.{{efn|In line with this is the thinking that the government encouraged the campaign to distract attention from more serious problems, including acute economic difficulties. Beyond this lay the difficulty that the regime faced in harnessing the nationalist movement that had supported Musaddiq.{{sfn|Akhavi|1980|pp=76–78}}}} An approved and coordinated anti-Baháʼí campaign (to incite public passion against the Baháʼís) started in 1955 and it included the spreading of anti-Baháʼí propaganda on national radio stations and in official newspapers.{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2006}} During that campaign, initiated by Mulla Muhammad Taghi Falsafi, the Bahá'í center in Tehran was demolished at the orders of Tehran military governor, General [[Teymur Bakhtiar]].{{sfn|''The New York Times''|1955}} In the late 1970s the Shah's regime consistently lost legitimacy due to criticism that it was pro-Western. As the anti-Shah movement gained ground and support, revolutionary propaganda was spread which alleged that some of the Shah's advisors were Baháʼís.{{sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=432}} Baháʼís were portrayed as economic threats, and as supporters of Israel and the West, and societal hostility against the Baháʼís increased.{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2006}}{{sfn|Simpson|Shubart|1995|p=223}}

Since the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution]] of 1979, Iranian Baháʼís have regularly had their homes ransacked or have been banned from attending university or from holding government jobs, and several hundred have received prison sentences for their religious beliefs, most recently for participating in study circles.{{sfn|International Federation of Human Rights|2003}} Baháʼí cemeteries have been desecrated and property has been seized and occasionally demolished, including the House of Mírzá Buzurg, Baháʼu'lláh's father.{{sfn|Affolter|2005}} The House of the Báb in [[Shiraz, Iran|Shiraz]], one of three sites to which Baháʼís perform pilgrimage, has been destroyed twice.{{sfn|Affolter|2005}}{{sfn|Netherlands Institute of Human Rights|2006}} In May 2018, the Iranian authorities expelled a young woman student from university of [[Isfahan]] because she was Baháʼí.{{sfn|Center for Human Rights in Iran|2018}} In March 2018, two more Baháʼí students were expelled from universities in the cities of [[Zanjan, Iran|Zanjan]] and [[Gilan Province|Gilan]] because of their religion.

According to a US panel, attacks on Baháʼís in Iran increased under [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]'s presidency.{{sfn|CNN|2008}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2009}} The [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]] revealed an October 2005 confidential letter from Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Iran ordering its members to identify Baháʼís and to monitor their activities. Due to these actions, the [[Special Rapporteur (UN)|Special Rapporteur]] of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights stated on 20 March 2006, that she "also expresses concern that the information gained as a result of such monitoring will be used as a basis for the increased persecution of, and discrimination against, members of the Baháʼí faith, in violation of international standards. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this latest development indicates that the situation with regard to religious minorities in Iran is, in fact, deteriorating."{{sfn|Jahangir|2006}}

On 14 May 2008, members of an informal body known as the "Friends" that oversaw the needs of the Baháʼí community in Iran were arrested and taken to [[Evin prison]].{{sfn|CNN|2008}}{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2008b}} The Friends court case has been postponed several times, but was finally underway on 12 January 2010.{{sfn|CNN|2010a}} Other observers were not allowed in the court. Even the defense lawyers, who for two years have had minimal access to the defendants, had difficulty entering the courtroom. The chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said that it seems that the government has already predetermined the outcome of the case and is violating international human rights law.{{sfn|CNN|2010a}} Further sessions were held on 7 February 2010,{{sfn|Washington TV|2010}} 12 April 2010{{sfn|Djavadi|2010}} and 12 June 2010.{{sfn|Radio Free Europe|2010}} On 11 August 2010 it became known that the court sentence was 20 years imprisonment for each of the seven prisoners{{sfn|Siegal|2010}} which was later reduced to ten years.{{sfn|CNN|2010b}} After the sentence, they were transferred to [[Gohardasht prison]].{{sfn|AFP|2011a}} In March 2011 the sentences were reinstated to the original 20 years.{{sfn|AFP|2011b}} On 3 January 2010, Iranian authorities detained ten more members of the Baha'i minority, reportedly including Leva Khanjani, granddaughter of Jamaloddin Khanjani, one of seven Baha'i leaders jailed since 2008 and in February, they arrested his son, Niki Khanjani.{{sfn|The Jerusalem Post|2010}}

The Iranian government claims that the Baháʼí Faith is not a religion, but is instead a political organization, and hence refuses to recognize it as a minority religion.{{sfn|Kravetz|1982|p=237}} However, the government has never produced convincing evidence supporting its characterization of the Baháʼí community.{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2008|p=5}} The Iranian government also accuses the Baháʼí Faith of being associated with [[Zionism]].{{efn|A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Argentina explained that the exclusion was prompted by the fact that the Bahá’ís were a "misguided group… whose affiliation and association with world Zionism is a clear fact" and who could not be "in the same category as minorities like the Christian, Jews and Zoroastrians."{{sfn|Iran Human Rights Documentation Center|2006|p=22, n. 148}}}} These accusations against the Baháʼís appear to lack basis in historical fact,{{efn| The Iranian leader [[Naser al-Din Shah Qajar]] banished Baháʼu'lláh from Iran to the Ottoman Empire, from where he was later exiled by the Ottoman Sultan, at the behest of the Iranian Shah to territories further from Iran and finally to [[Akka, Palestine|Akka]], which only a century later was incorporated into the state of [[Palestine]].}}{{sfn|Simpson|Shubart|1995|p=223}}{{sfn|Tavakoli-Targhi|2008|p=200}} with some arguing they were invented by the Iranian government in order to use the Baháʼís as [[Scapegoating|scapegoats]].{{sfn|Freedman|2009}}

In 2019, the Iranian government made it impossible for the Baháʼís to legally register with the Iranian state. National identity card applications in Iran no longer include the “other religions” option effectively making the Baháʼí Faith unrecognized by the state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/iran-id-card-rule-highlights-plight-of-bahai/a-52149974|title=ID card law in Iran highlights plight of Baha'i – DW – 01/25/2020|website=dw.com}}</ref>

=== Egypt ===
During the 1920s, Egypt's religious Tribunal recognized the Baha'i Faith as a new religion, independent from Islam, due to the nature of the 'laws, principles and beliefs' of the Baha'is.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Baháʼí institutions and community activities have been illegal under Egyptian law since 1960. All Baháʼí community properties, including Baháʼí centers, libraries, and cemeteries, have been confiscated by the government and [[fatwa]]s have been issued charging Baháʼís with [[apostasy]].{{sfn|International Religious Freedom Report|2013|loc=[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222287 Egypt]}}

The [[Egyptian identification card controversy]] began in the 1990s when the government modernized the electronic processing of [[identity documents]], which introduced a de facto requirement that documents must list the person's religion as Muslim, Christian, or Jewish (the only three religions officially recognized by the government). Consequently, Baháʼís were unable to obtain government identification documents (such as national identification cards, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage or divorce certificates, or passports) necessary to exercise their rights in their country unless they lied about their religion, which conflicts with Baháʼí religious principle. Without documents, they could not be employed, educated, treated in hospitals, travel outside of the country, or vote, among other hardships.{{sfn|Bigelow|2005}}{{better source needed|date=July 2022}} Following a protracted legal process culminating in a court ruling favorable to the Baháʼís, the interior minister of Egypt released a decree on 14 April 2009, amending the law to allow Egyptians who are not Muslim, Christian, or Jewish to obtain identification documents that list a dash in place of one of the three recognized religions.{{sfn|Baháʼí World News Service|2009a}}{{better source needed|date=July 2022}} The first identification cards were issued to two Baháʼís under the new decree on 8 August 2009.{{sfn|Baháʼí World News Service|2009b}}{{better source needed|date=July 2022}}

=== Ottoman Empire ===
The Bahá'ís arrived in what is now Acre, Israel, in the 19th century, fleeing persecution. Ottoman authorities viewed Bahá'u'lláh as politically dangerous, which led to his exile to various locations within the Ottoman Empire, including Constantinople (Istanbul) and Adrianople (Edirne). After several exiles, Bahá'u'lláh finally arrived in Acre, where he lived under house arrest until his passing in 1892. His followers later established the Bahá'í Gardens and shrines in Haifa and Acre, both of which are now UNESCO World Heritage sites.<ref>[https://www.bahai.org/library/other-literature/official-statements-commentaries/bahaullah/4 Bahá'í Reference]</ref>