Brussels – The Council of the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions and restrictive measures on a number of courts, judges and prisons in Iran in its decision 2025/774. These sanctions spotlight the role of judicial authorities and penal institutions in the systematic persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran.
The decision—adopted on 14 April 2024 by the Council of the EU, the institution where the 27 Member States of the EU deliberate together—represents one of the strongest mechanisms for communicating such condemnation available to the EU.
The decision implicates a number of judges in the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, the Tehran and Shiraz Courts of Appeal. It also targets Shiraz Central Prison (Adel Abad Prison) and the Head of the Fars Prisons Protection and Intelligence Department, in the persecution of the Bahá’ís. All these agencies and institutions have had significant roles, not only in sentencing Bahá’ís to years of arbitrary imprisonment, but also in ordering their execution in the early years of the revolution.
“The EU has joined the UN and other global institutions in unequivocally condemning the persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran, in the form of restrictive measures against those committing the injustice against the Bahá’ís”, said Rachel Bayani, Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the European Union.
In both Tehran and Shiraz, the named and sanctioned judges have convicted large numbers of Bahá’ís with harsh prison sentences solely for their beliefs. Trials were conducted without due process and in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing, relying on spurious charges aimed at oppressing and extinguishing religious identity.
Unjust court rulings against the Bahá’ís are not isolated incidents. They have for decades formed part of a systematic misuse of the legal system across the country to oppress the Bahá’ís solely for their beliefs, depriving them of the right to live as ordinary citizens.
The decision also highlights the role of prison authorities in the persecution of Bahá’ís. Not only are Bahá’ís unjustly detained, they are also subjected to harsh prison conditions, poor levels of sanitation and are frequently denied proper medical care. In addition, there are numerous cases where Bahá’í women have been arbitrarily imprisoned and separated from their infants and young children.
“The sanctioning of courts and judges in the EU’s decision brings to light the instrumental role of the judiciary in Iran in institutionalizing religious discrimination,” said Ms Bayani, “Far from being impartial arbiters of justice, these judicial actors have become active enablers of an oppressive state policy targeting Bahá’ís for their beliefs. When legal decisions result in the imprisonment, dispossession or intimidation of individuals for no other reason than their beliefs, they do more than enforce unjust laws—they permit discrimination under the guise of a legal process and legitimize the machinery of persecution. The EU’s condemnation serves as a powerful reminder of the central role courts and judges should play in upholding justice and human rights. Judges are supposed to be the custodians of justice, but in Iran, their judgements have instead contributed to the perpetuation of institutionalized oppression.”
