Religious Freedom
Iran’s government reportedly continued to imprison, harass intimidate and discriminate against people based on religious beliefs in 2013, according to an annual report by the U.S. State Department. …
On September 4, President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif used Twitter to wish a happy new year to the world’s Jews. “As the sun is about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a…
On September 4, President Hassan Rouhani used Twitter to wish a happy new year to the world’s Jews. Iran is home to some 25,000 Jews—the second largest population in the Middle East outside of Israel. His tweet contrasted…
Bijan DaBell
Iran may be the world’s only modern theocracy, but the Islamic Republic’s constitution actually mandates a political role for three religious minorities.…
Iran’s government reportedly imprisoned, harassed and discriminated against more people for their religious beliefs in 2012 than in the past, according to a new report by the U.S. State Department. It notes an increase in reports of…
Iran continues to engage in “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused,” according to an…
Among 197 countries, Iran ranked sixth in restricting freedom of religion, according to a Pew Research Center survey. It even ranked below Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. The following are selected results from The Pew Forum on…
On Sept. 10, the State Department applauded Iran’s release of a Christian Pastor who was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2010. The charges were reportedly dropped from apostasy to evangelizing Muslims, with a sentence of three years. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was released for time served,…
The State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report focused particular attention on Iran’s Baha’is, the country’s largest religious minority at between 300,000 and 350,000. In releasing the report for 2011, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Suzan…
On July 30, 2012, the U.S. Department of State released its annual International Religious Freedom Report, which highlighted serious human rights violations in Iran. The new report outlines persecution of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic.At a briefing on the 2011 report, Ambassador-at-…