t I I I religious grounds. These protests have resulted in the Nonetheless,criticism of Sunni Muslims is also a I deaths of approximately 30 Iranians. punishable offense in Iran. In May Z}I},forces from the I Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps arrested persian lit- RELIGIOUSFREEDOM CONDITIONS 2018 I erature ProfessorHameed Samsaam for insulting Sunni Muslims Muslims in avideo clip posted online. I Over the past fewyears, Iranian authorities have charged Adherents to Sufi orders, which emphasize mystic I manyreformers within the Shi,a Muslim communityof elements of Islam, are targeted bythe government for "insulting Islam," I criticizing the Islamic Republic, and "following a deviant sect" that does not conform to the publishingmaterials that allegedly deviate from Islamic state's official interpretation of Islam. Members of Iran's I standards. In March 2018,the Iranian Intelligence Ser_ largest Sufi order, the Nematollahi Gonbadi, face a range I vices (Itila'aat) arrested cleric Hossein Shirazi, the son of abuses.In February20lB, Iranian police, securiw, and of detained I senior cleric Ayatollah Sadegh Shirazi. Iran,s intelligence agents surrounded the house of sufi leader Special ClergyCourt charged himwith criticizing Iran,s NoorAli Tabandeh, leading to clashes with protestors. I leadership and its system of rule of a single jurist. Atthe end of the reportingperiod, Tabandeh remained I The Sunni Muslim population in Iran is con_ under house arrest without an official explanation from centrated T in underdeveloped areas and experiences Iran's government. Iran has also targeted members of discrimination in employment. Repeated requests_ the Sufi communityitself. During Sufi protests in Feb_ t including some made in 20l8-byTehran,s Sunni ruary 2018,five security officers and one other person I Muslim community to build an official mosque have were killed and reports indicate 300 proiesrors sere been refused. t While the Iranian government claims arrested. Mohammed Salas, a Sufi Iranian, rvas accused Sunni Muslims in Tehran have nine mosques atwhich of driving a bus into security officers, killing three a to pray, ,,prayer most Sunni Muslim sites in Tehran are of them, during these protests. Following his arrest, a houses," which-unlike mosques-have no imam, Salaswas denied accessto his chosen lawyer, alleged\- I budget, or religious instruction. Most Sunni Muslim tortured into a confession, convicted by Tehran Appeals worship t in Tehran occurs in private homes or large : Court judge Mohammed Shahriari in March 201g,and rooms in other buildings. In August 2018,police blocked executed at Raji Shahr prison in Iune. Throughout 201g, t the entrances to prayerhouses in four districts of Tehran Sufi prisoners at Great Tehran prison and Shapour ! during the Eid al-Adha holiday. Sunni clerics were also Detention Center conducted hunger strikes protesting t the targets of violence in Iran in 2018.In July, gunmen Salas'execution and torture byprison guards. assassinated a Sunni cleric in southeastern Iran, and In August 20LB,Iran's revolutionary courts sen_ t in November a Sunni cleric was shot four times with a tenced a group of 208 Sufis held at Fashafuyeh and ! hunting rifle on his way home from a mosque. Qarchakprisons to prison terms ranging from four ! Sunni Muslim Kurds face particular discrimina_ months to 26 years, flogging, internal exile, a ban on tion persian, since they are neither Shi'a nor and are travel, and a prohibition on participation in certain T often targeted by Iranian social and political groups f authorities. Iran executed in the country. In some approximatelyS3 Kurds f In August 2018, lran's revolutionary cases,trials for these in2018. Theseinclude individuals lasted l courts sentenced. .208 Sulris. to no Zeinab Sekaanvand, longer than prisonterms . ln some cases, 15 minutes, a a child bride whowas and charges trialsfor these individuals/asted and evidence a allegedlybeaten and no longer than 15 minutes. against the defendants forced into confessing to were notmade publicly G her husband's murder; she available. That same G was executed in October month, six administrators f 2018. Approximately 100 Kurds norvremainon deatA ror*,, of the popular Sufi website Majzooban Noor were also including G thosewho were accusedof crirnesas minors. sentenced in absentia byludge Abolqasem Salvati, head f f 52 uscrRFIANNUAL REPORT20l9 G E !t ft ft It of the 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in arrested on the order of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court ft Tehran, to prison time (three received a seven-year sen- after criticizingthe arrests of Baha'is in his city. He was tence, two received a l2-year sentence, and one received released 10 days laterwith a bail of $42500 (200 million ft a26-year sentence), 74lashes, twoyears of internal tomans) but forced out of his council seat in October exile, and a two-year ban on journalistic activity. Mis- 20lB.That same month, intelligence and security forces treatment also occurred while approximately 300 Sufi arrested two additional Baha'is in Karaj. Muslims served prison terms during the year. In August All seven of the high-profile Baha'i leaders known 2018,prison guards beat detainees on a sit-in strike over as the "Friends of Iran," or Yaran, were released from the detention and physical abuse of four Sufi women prison by the end of 20lB after serving l0-year sentences. 2012 and four incarcerated at Qarchak Prison. In late August, eight Three of the seven Yaranwere releasedin Sufi Muslims were sent to solitary confinement at Great additional members were releasedin 2018:Saeid Rezaie, Tehran Penitentiary as punishment for their participa- Vahim Tizfahm, Jamaloddin Khanj ani, and Afif Naemi' tion in a prison protest that turned violent. In November, Nonetheless,more than 70 Baha'is remained in prison three Sufi women were beaten at Qarchak Prison and in Iran at the end of 2018. eight Sufi Muslims at Great Tehran Penitentiarywere Although the Iranian government maintains sent into solitary confinement. publicly that Baha'is are free to attend universit,v, the de facto policy of preventing Baha'is from obtaining Baha'is diplomas continued in 2018.At least 60 Baha'i students There are more than 300,000 Baha'is in Iran, who were prevented from beginning university studies together constitute the largest non-Muslim religious despite passing national university entrance exam- majorityin the country. Iran's government consid- inations on the pretense of having incomplete files or ers the Baha'i faith a heretical "deviant sect" whose not being registered. In other cases,Baha'i students members are de facto had their examination invalidated by the apostates.Despite Prom- scores ises by President Rouhani National Organization Baha'isare not recognized by the to end religious discrim- for Educational Test- state and are denied political,ecanomic, ination, Baha'is are not ing. Other Baha'is were cultural,and socialrights on this basis. recognized by the state expelled bytheir uni- and are denied political, versity security office or economic, cultural, and prevented from receiving social rights on this basis. Since 2014,more than 26,000 diplomas despite having completed, or nearly com- pieces of anti-Baha'i media have aired on official or pleted, their studies. semi- official Iranian television channels. Throughout 2018,Baha'i places of business were also Over the past 10years, more than 1,000Baha'is targeted. Security forces shut down Baha'i businesses have been arbitrarily arrested on the basis of their faith. .r inAbadan and Maku, and the Ministry of Intelligence Arrest orders come from revolutionary courts thatwere closed a business in Tabriz. In fuly, Mazandaran Prov- set up following the 1979Islamic revolution, and are ince county supervisor Esmail Hossein Zadehordered executed byboth securityforces and agents of Iran's restrictions on Baha'i businesses in Sari. TWenty-four Ministry of Intelligence. In February 2OI8, security Baha'i-owned businesses in Urmia shut down in?Ol7 by forces arrested seven Baha'is in Bushehr, and five the Office of Public Places remained closed at the end additional Baha'is were sentenced by the Revolutionary of the reporting period. Security forces also prevented Court of Mashhad. In September 2018,Iran's Ministry the burial of two deceased Baha'i individuals in a Baha'i of Intelligence escalated its crackdown on the Baha'i cernetery in Kerman after it was sealed in March 2018. commu n ity when its agents, along with security force s, In October, the body of a deceased Baha'i woman was arrested sixBaha'is in Karai, eightin Baharestan, and exhumed four days after her burial and abandoned in a six in Shiraz. Shiraz city councilman Mehdi Haiati was desert area outside the town of Jaban. usclRFIANNUAL REPORT2019 53.