Politics By law and practice, religious minorities can be elected to a representative body or to hold senior government or military positions, and have 5 of a total 270 seats in the majlis reserved for religious minorities. Three of these seats are reserved for members of the Christian faith, including two seats for the country's Armenian Christians, and one for Assyrians. There is also one seat for a member of the Jewish faith, and one for a member of the Zoroastrian faith. While members of the Sunni Muslim minority do not have reserved seats in the majlis, they are allowed to serve in the body. Sunni members tend to come from the larger Sunni communities. Members of religious minorities are allowed to vote. All of the minority religious groups, including Sunni, are barred from being elected
president. Even most of the time and occasions, all female citizens, including non-Muslims, are required to wear Hijab as Iran is currently an Islamic republic. There have been other requirements of citizens as well. In 1984 the government began to request religious affiliation on questionnaires for passports. Events held for religious groups were broken into and if the meetings were mixed sexed and or women were not wearing headscarves, arrests were made and meetings canceled. It was prohibited that Muslims attend these meetings of minority groups - some groups restricted events so only their own religious members could attend. There were restrictions on music at events. Many of these restrictions moderated in time or were applied to or affected one religion more vs others (see below) and the government has occasionally also taken steps to bring attention to issues important to a religion - in 1982 the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs printed a stamp commemorating the birth of Jesus. In the early 2000s, recognized religious minorities were allowed by the Government to establish community centers and certain cultural, social, sports, or charitable associations that they finance themselves; this did not apply to the Baháʼí community, which since 1983 has been denied the right to assemble officially or to maintain administrative institutions.
Religious conversion and proselytizing The Government does not ensure the right of citizens to change or renounce their religious faith. Apostasy, specifically
conversion from Islam, can be
punishable by death. In 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur expressed concern about the number of executions of members of minority communities, noting that members of the Baluch and Kurdish minorities accounted for 35% of executions in the first half of the year; the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran reported 576 executions in 2022, compared to 317 executions in 2021 and 248 in 2020. Since then, violence and harassment against women not wearing the hijab in accordance with Iranian government standards, whether by law enforcement personnel or pro-government vigilantes, has been reported, From 1980, women could not enter government or public buildings or attend their workplaces without a hijab. In 1983, mandatory hijab in public was introduced in the penal code, stating that "women who appear in public without religious hijab will be sentenced to whipping up to 74 lashes". In practice, however, a number of women, such as
Saba Kord Afshari and
Yasaman Aryani, were sentenced only to heavy prison terms. arrest and "re-educate" women they considered to be wearing the hijab incorrectly. Under routine circumstances, the detainees are brought to a center where they are re-instructed in the dress regulations, before being made to sign a pledge to uphold said regulations, and then being allowed to leave with their family.
Protests against the compulsory hijab have been common since the 1979 revolution.
One of the largest protests took place between 8 and 14 March 1979, beginning on
International Women's Day, a day after hijab rules were introduced by the Islamic Republic. In 2020, two representatives of Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei separately said that improperly veiled women should be made to feel "unsafe". The representatives later backtracked and said that their comments were misunderstood. Among the general population, an independent survey conducted in the same year showed that 58% of Iranians did not believe in hijab altogether, and 72% were against compulsory hijab rules. Only 15% insisted on the legal obligation to wear it in public. November 2022 saw the
death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of morality police, after she was detained for allegedly wearing her hijab in an incorrect way. By the end of the month, protests throughout the country had led to the deaths of at least 448 people and an estimated 18,170 arrests.
Baháʼís , a group of 7 Bahá'í leaders imprisoned in Iran, at a rally in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The
Baháʼí Faith originated in Iran during the 1860s. The Baháʼís believe their prophet to be the Messiah for this era. Initially it attracted a wide following among Shi'a clergy. The political and religious authorities of that time joined to suppress the movement, and since then the hostility of the Shi'a clergy to the Baháʼí Faith has remained strong. Baháʼís are considered apostates by the Shi'a clergy because of their claim to a valid religious revelation subsequent to that of Mohammed. The Baháʼí Faith is defined by the Government as a political "sect," historically linked to the
Pahlavi regime and, hence, counterrevolutionary, even though one of the tenets of the Baháʼí Faith is non-involvement in partisan politics. Baháʼís may not teach or practice their faith or maintain links with coreligionists abroad. The fact that the
Baháʼí world headquarters (established by the
founder of the Baháʼí Faith in the 19th century, in what was then
Ottoman-controlled
Palestine) is situated in what is now the state of Israel, allows the Iranian government to charge the Baháʼís with "espionage on behalf of Zionism," in particular when caught communicating with or sending monetary contributions to the Baháʼí headquarters. On May 14, 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. Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran searched and raided the homes of the six people in the early hours of May 14. The arrest of the six follow the detention of another Baháʼí leader in March, The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has stated that they are concerned for the safety of the Baháʼís, and that the recent events are similar to the disappearance of 25 Baháʼí leaders in the early 1980s.
Jews blaming Jews for the
9/11 attacks. While
Jews are a recognized religious minority, allegations of official discrimination are frequent. The Government's
anti-Israel policies, along with a perception among radical Muslim elements that all Jewish citizens support
Zionism and the
State of Israel, create a threatening atmosphere for the small Jewish community. In the past, Jewish leaders reportedly were reluctant to draw attention to official mistreatment of their community due to fear of government reprisal. Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) reviewed school textbooks in 2022 and noted that Jewish history in Iran is avoided and the Holocaust is ignored; there is also much antisemitic rhetoric, anti-Israeli propaganda, and anecdotes which present the Jews as partners to Sunni Muslims, without any counterbalancing material.
Mandaeans According to the
U.N. High Commission for Refugees Background Paper on Iran, the
Mandaeans are regarded as Christians, and are included among the country's three recognized religious minorities. However, Mandaeans regard themselves not as Christians, but as adherents of a religion that predates Christianity in both belief and practice. Mandaeans enjoyed official support as a distinct religion prior to the revolution, but their legal status as a
religion has been the subject of debate in the Majles and by 2002 it was not yet clarified. ==Abuses of religious freedom==