Reports indicate the destruction of rice fields belonging to Bahá’í families in the village of Ahmadabad, Sari County, the capital of Mazandaran Province, by regime agents.
Based on videos released, a group of agents from the regime used bulldozers to destroy the rice fields and their crops on Tuesday, May 28.
More than 80 Bahá’í families in Ahmadabad, a village in the Kalijan district of Sari County, have owned agricultural land and have been farming for generations to earn their livelihood.
The destruction of rice fields by the Iranian regime is cruel, constitutes economic apartheid, and aims at religious cleansing to drive Bahá’ís from their lands.
In March 2023, the regime’s forces, on behalf of the government, claimed ownership of about 100 hectares of agricultural land, rice fields, and walnut orchards belonging to Bahá’í families in Ahmadabad.
According to this report, the agents have not provided any official documentation or compensation to justify the confiscation of the land.
The systematic repression of Bahá’ís, the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, and the confiscation of their lands is considered forced displacement.
At the same time as the destruction of the Bahá’í rice fields, two members of a Bahá’í family were arrested by IRGC intelligence agents in Rasht.
No information has been released about the charges or the whereabouts of these two Bahá’í citizens.
Since the current regime came to power in Iran in 1979, extensive deprivations have been enforced against the Bahá’ís.
Human Rights Watch has described the Iranian regime’s actions in persecuting Bahá’ís in Iran as crimes against humanity.
Additionally, on Monday, May 27, a Bahá’í citizen was arrested by the IRGC’s terrorist intelligence agents in Ahvaz.
According to human rights sources, this Bahá’í citizen was taken to an unknown location after being arrested.
Sepideh Rashidi’s family home was searched by intelligence agents in January 2024, and some of her personal belongings, such as a computer and mobile phone, were confiscated.
